Download or read book The Best Land Under Heaven The Donner Party in the Age of Manifest Destiny written by Michael Wallis and published by Liveright Publishing. This book was released on 2017-06-06 with total page 575 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Longlisted for the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence Finalist for the Oklahoma Book Award A Publishers Weekly Holiday Guide History Pick “A book so gripping it can scarcely be put down.... Superb.” —New York Times Book Review "WESTWARD HO! FOR OREGON AND CALIFORNIA!" In the eerily warm spring of 1846, George Donner placed this advertisement in a local newspaper as he and a restless caravan prepared for what they hoped would be the most rewarding journey of a lifetime. But in eagerly pursuing what would a century later become known as the "American dream," this optimistic-yet-motley crew of emigrants was met with a chilling nightmare; in the following months, their jingoistic excitement would be replaced by desperate cries for help that would fall silent in the deadly snow-covered mountains of the Sierra Nevada. We know these early pioneers as the Donner Party, a name that has elicited horror since the late 1840s. With The Best Land Under Heaven, Wallis has penned what critics agree is “destined to become the standard account” (Washington Post) of the notorious saga. Cutting through 160 years of myth-making, the “expert storyteller” (True West) compellingly recounts how the unlikely band of early pioneers met their fate. Interweaving information from hundreds of newly uncovered documents, Wallis illuminates how a combination of greed and recklessness led to one of America’s most calamitous and sensationalized catastrophes. The result is a “fascinating, horrifying, and inspiring” (Oklahoman) examination of the darkest side of Manifest Destiny.
Download or read book History of the Donner Party written by Charles F. McGlashan and published by Courier Corporation. This book was released on 2013-10-10 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This gripping account of the doomed expedition combines survivor interviews with diary entries to reveal not only a stark tale of desperation but also many inspiring acts of heroism.
Download or read book Desperate Passage written by Ethan Rarick and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2008-02-04 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In late October 1846, the last wagon train of that year's westward migration stopped overnight before resuming its arduous climb over the Sierra Nevada Mountains, unaware that a fearsome storm was gathering force. After months of grueling travel, the 81 men, women and children would be trapped for a brutal winter with little food and only primitive shelter. The conclusion is known: by spring of the next year, the Donner Party was synonymous with the most harrowing extremes of human survival. But until now, the full story of what happened, what it tells us about human nature and about America's westward expansion, remained shrouded in myth. Drawing on fresh archaeological evidence, recent research on topics ranging from survival rates to snowfall totals, and heartbreaking letters and diaries made public by descendants a century-and-a-half after the tragedy, Ethan Rarick offers an intimate portrait of the Donner party and their unimaginable ordeal: a mother who must divide her family, a little girl who shines with courage, a devoted wife who refuses to abandon her husband, a man who risks his life merely to keep his word. But Rarick resists both the gruesomely sensationalist accounts of the Donner party as well as later attempts to turn the survivors into archetypal pioneer heroes. "The Donner Party," Rarick writes, "is a story of hard decisions that were neither heroic nor villainous. Often, the emigrants displayed a more realistic and typically human mixture of generosity and selfishness, an alloy born of necessity." A fast-paced, heart-wrenching, clear-eyed narrative history, A Desperate Hope casts new light on one of America's most horrific encounters between the dream of a better life and the harsh realities such dreams so often must confront.
Download or read book The Donner Party Chronicles written by Frank Mullen and published by a Halycon. This book was released on 1997 with total page 384 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Reno Gazette-Journal and the Nevada Humanities Committee present Frank Mullen's account of the Donner Party, accompanied by hundreds of historical illustrations and Marilyn Newton's photographs of the trail today.
Download or read book The Expedition of the Donner Party and Its Tragic Fate written by Eliza Poor Donner Houghton and published by IndyPublish.com. This book was released on 1911 with total page 474 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Eliza Houghton (b. 1843) was the youngest child of George Donner, one of two Springfield, Illinois, brothers who organized the ill-fated California-bound emigrant party that bore their name. Eliza and her older sisters were rescued by relief parties that made their way to the stranded travellers at Donner Lake, but their parents perished, and the girls were left to make their way alone in the West. The expedition of the Donner party and its tragic fate (1911) begins with Mrs. Houghton's account of her childhood and the family's tragic overland journey, and rescue. She continues with her life as an orphan, first at Fort Sutter, and then with a family in Sonoma and with her older half-sister in Sacramento. She describes the impact of the gold rush and new immigration on the area, farm work and domestic work, and her own education in public schools and St. Catherine's Convent in Benicia. She writes at length of the emotional scars caused by contemporary rumors of cannibalism among the Donner Party and offers full accounts of Donner family history as well as the background of her husband, Samuel Houghton. An appendix contains several documentary sources for the history of the Donner Party.
Download or read book The Emigrant s Guide to Oregon and California written by Lansford Warren Hastings and published by Applewood Books. This book was released on 1994 with total page 157 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Published in 1845, this guidebook for pioneers is a reproduction of one of the most collectible books about California and the Western movement. It was the guidebook used by the Donner Party on their fateful journey. In addition, because Hastings' shortcut route through the Rockies produced such tragedy, the War Department commissioned The Prairie Traveler.
Download or read book Donner Dinner Party Nathan Hale s Hazardous Tales 3 written by Nathan Hale and published by Abrams. This book was released on 2013-08-06 with total page 136 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In author-illustrator Nathan Hale’s Donner Dinner Party, discover the shocking and true story of the ill-fated expedition in this Hazardous Tale from the New York Times bestselling graphic novel series. “These books are, quite simply, brilliant. . . . Thrilling, bloody, action-packed stories from American history.” —New York Times In the spring of 1846, a group of families left Illinois and began the long journey toward a new life in California. To save time, they took an ill-advised shortcut—with disastrous consequences. Their story would not take them to California but into history. Bad weather, bad choices, and just plain bad luck forced the pioneers to spend a long, cold winter in the mountains, slowly starving. What they did to stay alive and the lengths that others went to in order to rescue them make this one of the most tragic and infamous stories of the American frontier. Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales take young readers into American history with graphic novels that bring the dangerous, bloody, exciting history of America to life. The Revolutionary War and the Civil War, World War I and World War II, the Donner Party, the Marquis de Lafayette, Harriet Tubman, the Alamo, and more all come to life in a way that will excite young readers of history. Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales! Read them all—if you dare! One Dead Spy: A Revolutionary War Tale (#1) Big Bad Ironclad!: A Civil War Tale (#2) Donner Dinner Party: A Pioneer Tale (#3) Treaties, Trenches, Mud, and Blood: A World War I Tale (#4) The Underground Abductor: An Abolitionist Tale about Harriet Tubman (#5) Alamo All-Stars: A Texas Tale (#6) Raid of No Return: A World War II Tale of the Doolittle Raid (#7) Lafayette!: A Revolutionary War Tale (#8) Major Impossible: A Grand Canyon Tale (#9) Blades of Freedom: A Tale of Haiti, Napoleon, and the Louisiana Purchase (#10) Cold War Correspondent: A Korean War Tale (#11) Above the Trenches: A WWI Flying Ace Tale (#12)
Download or read book Death in the Donner Party written by Emily Rose Oachs and published by Lerner Publications (Tm). This book was released on 2016-08 with total page 44 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Explore the tragedy of the Donner party, a group of American pioneers trapped in the Sierra Nevada mountains during the harsh winter of 1846-1847. Cause-and-effect analysis reveals how the decisions made by leaders of the expedition ended in disaster.
Download or read book The Donner Party written by George Keithley and published by George Braziller. This book was released on 1989-09-01 with total page 254 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Donner Party consists of three books of poems. Each book has nine poems.
Download or read book The Indifferent Stars Above written by Daniel James Brown and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2009-04-28 with total page 357 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the #1 bestselling author of The Boys in the Boat comes an unforgettable epic of family, tragedy, and survival on the American frontier “An ideal pairing of talent and material.… Engrossing.… A deft and ambitious storyteller.” – Mary Roach, New York Times Book Review In April of 1846, twenty-one-year-old Sarah Graves, intent on a better future, set out west from Illinois with her new husband, her parents, and eight siblings. Seven months later, after joining a party of pioneers led by George Donner, they reached the Sierra Nevada Mountains as the first heavy snows of the season closed the pass ahead of them. In early December, starving and desperate, Sarah and fourteen others set out for California on snowshoes, and, over the next thirty-two days, endured almost unfathomable hardships and horrors. In this gripping narrative, New York Times bestselling author Daniel James Brown sheds new light on one of the most legendary events in American history. Following every painful footstep of Sarah’s journey with the Donner Party, Brown produces a tale both spellbinding and richly informative.
Download or read book I Escaped the Donner Party written by Scott Peters and published by . This book was released on 2020-08-19 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Survival Series that celebrates the awesome history of us. "a must for every reading list" The shocking story of the doomed Donner Party expedition is told through the eyes of a brave young pioneer in this powerful survival adventure. From multi-award winning Ellie Crowe and Scott Peters.15-year-old Zeke is thrilled to be heading west with over eighty settlers on the famed Oregon Trail. But when their wagon train takes an ill-advised short cut, the pioneers find themselves trapped in a frozen mountain pass. As howling winter storms rage around the Donner Party, there's no way forward or back. Soon, starvation sets in. Zeke is faced with a terrible choice: join the other survivors in an unspeakable deed to survive, or attempt to walk out of the wilderness on sheer willpower alone. Can he ever hope to make it to California? Can he ever hope to escape? This is the 5th children's book in the I Escaped Series about brave kids who face real world challenges and find ways to escape. Sure to appeal to fans of books like I Survived by New York Times Bestseller Lauren Tarshis, stories about the Titanic, and readers of Alan Gratz. An important, relevant read about bravery and friendship during a terrible tragedy in American history.
Download or read book What I Saw in California written by Edwin Bryant and published by IndyPublish.com. This book was released on 1849 with total page 500 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Patty Reed s Doll written by Rachel K. Laurgaard and published by Turtleback Books. This book was released on 1989-08 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For use in schools and libraries only. A wooden doll recalls the hope with which a group of pioneers begins their journey and the ordeals they face as they travel from Springfield, Illinois, to California.
Download or read book Donner Party Cookbook written by Terry del Bene and published by Horse Creek Pub. This book was released on 2003 with total page 136 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The tale of the 1846-1847 Donner Party whose members were snowbound in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Anthropologist, Terry Del Bene uncovers the layers of social and cultural belief and action that resulted in the tragedy. To lighten the mood, the author also includes 19th century recipes that the travelers cooked on the trail--before the food ran out.
Download or read book Ordeal by Hunger written by George R. Stewart and published by HMH. This book was released on 2013-09-30 with total page 419 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Compulsive reading—a wonderful account, both scholarly and gripping, of a horrifying episode in the history of the west.” —Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. The tragedy of the Donner party constitutes one of the most amazing stories of the American West. In 1846 eighty-seven people—men, women, and children—set out for California, persuaded to attempt a new overland route. After struggling across the desert, losing many oxen, and nearly dying of thirst, they reached the very summit of the Sierras, only to be trapped by blinding snow and bitter storms. Many perished; some survived by resorting to cannibalism; all were subjected to unbearable suffering. Incorporating the diaries of the survivors and other contemporary documents, George Stewart wrote the definitive history of that ill-fated band of pioneers; an astonishing account of what human beings may endure and achieve in the final press of circumstance.
Download or read book The Snow Fell Three Graves Deep written by Allan Wolf and published by Candlewick. This book was released on 2020-09-08 with total page 417 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In powerful, vivid verse, the master behind The Watch That Ends the Night recounts one of history’s most harrowing—and chilling—tales of survival. In 1846, a group of emigrants bound for California face a choice: continue on their planned route or take a shortcut into the wilderness. Eighty-nine of them opt for the untested trail, a decision that plunges them into danger and desperation and, finally, the unthinkable. From extraordinary poet and novelist Allan Wolf comes a riveting retelling of the ill-fated journey of the Donner party across the Sierra Nevadas during the winter of 1846–1847. Brilliantly narrated by multiple voices, including world-weary, taunting, and all-knowing Hunger itself, this novel-in-verse examines a notorious chapter in history from various perspectives, among them caravan leaders George Donner and James Reed, Donner’s scholarly wife, two Miwok Indian guides, the Reed children, a sixteen-year-old orphan, and even a pair of oxen. Comprehensive back matter includes an author’s note, select character biographies, statistics, a time line of events, and more. Unprecedented in its detail and sweep, this haunting epic raises stirring questions about moral ambiguity, hope and resilience, and hunger of all kinds.
Download or read book The Donner Party written by Susan Sales Harkins and published by Mitchell Lane. This book was released on 2020-02-10 with total page 41 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Tells the story of a group of California bound American settlers who set out in the spring of 1846and became snowbound in the Sierra Nevadas during the winter of 1846 and 1847.
