The Captured cover art

The Captured

A True Story of Abduction by Indians on the Texas Frontier

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The Captured

By: Scott Zesch
Narrated by: Grover Gardner
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About this listen

On New Year's Day in 1870, 10-year-old Adolph Korn was kidnapped by an Apache raiding party. Traded to Comanches, he thrived in the rough nomadic existence, quickly becoming one of the tribe's fiercest warriors. Forcibly returned to his parents after three years, Korn never adjusted to life in white society. He spent his last years living in a cave, all but forgotten by his family.

That is, until Scott Zesch stumbled upon his great-great-great-uncle's grave. Determined to understand how such a "good boy" could have become Indianized so completely, Zesch traveled across the West, digging through archives, speaking with Comanche elders, and tracking eight other child captives from the region with hauntingly similar experiences. With a historian's rigor and a novelist's eye, Zesch paints a vivid portrait of life on the Texas frontier in The Captured and offers one of the few nonfiction accounts of captivity.

©2004 Scott Zesch (P)2004 Blackstone Audiobooks Americas Indigenous Peoples State & Local United States Disappearance Native American American Indian

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Critic reviews

"A fascinating, meticulously documented chronicle of the often-painful confrontations between whites and Indians during the final years of Indian Territory." ( Booklist)
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A captivating, honest and incredible insight into native american history. Would happily listen to multiple times.

An epic listen.

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Great listen this, interesting and fascinating stories from start to finish.
So glad I got it, great narration as well.
100% recommend it to anyone

Kidnapping Indians

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it's the small details of the captives lives with the Native Americans that make this book so interesting.

Facinating story well told.

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What a thoroughly fascinating piece of history this is. Well-researched and beautifully read, this has been well worth my time. I couldn’t stop listening, the detailed accounts took me right out of my everyday routines into the 1870s frontier experience. One of Audible’s best listens, strongly recommended 👍

Absorbing 😊

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I loved it and kept me interested all the way….and finally I found a native trail

Great insight of that period

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If you have any interest in history then this is a great listen. Easy on the ear and the narrative paint a picture of the events and places.

Easy to listen too. Real history

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Very easy listen really enjoyed it highly recommend about a very interesting man’s life that nearly went untold

Brilliantly

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The whole subject of white settlers being captured by native American Indians wasn't something I'd ever heard of, so seeing this book while perusing Audible sparked interest in me.

This book tells the stories of several children captured by Indians and how those individuals adjusted to their new lives. However, before really getting into that, this book provides some useful background history as a foundation from which to better appreciate these stories.

The book covers a small number of accounts of captured children, about five or so, as I recall. I imagine the source material for this fairly rare occurrence is pretty thin on the ground, given the length of time that has passed and, in some cases, the reluctance of those returned back to their former lives to talk about their captivity in any great detail. However, we do have some vivid accounts of the initial capture and various incidents that occurred during their captivity. I was frankly astonished by the levels of brutality shown by the captors during the abduction in two particular cases.

It was also fascinating to read how some captured individuals integrated into their new and very different lives. So much so, that in at least two cases, the former captives actively participated in raids on their former settlers. Bonds were created extraordinrily quickly in most cases and rapid adoption of the new language and culture all occurred in a short space of time.

This is a fascinating read, well written, researched and narrated competently by the perfect choice for this material, Grover Gardner. His voice is just right to narrate tales of the wild west.

After reading this, you will have a greater appreciation of just how wild, shockingly savage-at times and often brutal frontier life was back in those days.

A recommended read.

The White Indians

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Such a well researched and beautifully written account. Non fiction that felt like fiction due to the wildness of what was going on in that time. I loved the easy going narration too, nice to listen to. I felt sad when the book was over- I’ve been listening to it like an addict but also, it’s all over for those incredible native people and their vulnerable white Indians. This wasn’t biased and wasn’t romanticised- it was balanced and informative.

I couldn’t stop listening

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It is a shame that that the original people of America never stood a chance to live their lives in the way that they had always lived, and were butchered by interlopers, who were just interested in depriving the indians of life itself.
It is still the same today as it was back then, (you have it and I want it!
Very interesting, if you are interested in the in Native American, not the people who say that they are American.

Native American Indian History.

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