The White Chief of Cache Creek

"What a treat this wonderful book is! Beautifully written and an accessible and easy read, it is both a scrupulously honest and totally engrossing account of the Reformed Presbyterian Indian Mission to the Comanche-Kiowa-Apache reservation near Fort Sill in what is now Oklahoma.…You have to get this book."

GORDON J. KEDDIE author, retired pastor

"Having lived in neighboring Kansas and known people like the pioneering missionaries described in this book, I was fascinated with the details captured here. Based on meticulous research and a vast archive of letters, it tells a story that is well worth remembering and understanding."

ROBERT WUTHNOW, professor of sociology, Princeton University, author of What Happens When We Practice Religion: Textures of Devotion in Everyday Life

In 1889, William Work Carithers went to Oklahoma with two urgent goals—bringing the good news of Christ to the Indians, and helping them gain skills necessary to survive the white culture that was about to engulf them. But he had only twelve years before white settlers arrived on the reservation, 30,000 in a single day. The effect on the Indian way of life was devastating. The narrative follows Carithers to the end of his life, when his once successful mission begins to falter, and he assesses what has been accomplished.