Desperate Passage The Donner Party Perilous Journey West (Audible Audio Edition) Ethan Rarick Christopher Prince Audible Studios Books
Download As PDF : Desperate Passage The Donner Party Perilous Journey West (Audible Audio Edition) Ethan Rarick Christopher Prince Audible Studios Books
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.
Desperate Passage The Donner Party Perilous Journey West (Audible Audio Edition) Ethan Rarick Christopher Prince Audible Studios Books
The story of the Donner Party joins the ranks of those whose lives are touched by tragedy, courage and cowardliness, yet there is more to the story of the Donners and the others who attempted to make it across an unforgiving terrane at a time when there was little or no help. Ethan Rarick writes from his research in letters, diaries and newspapers of the day, as well as accounts of survivors who lived to tell the harrowing tale of life and death that most people will never experience. At a time when "going west" meant leaving friends and loved ones as well as the safety of the familiar behind, the Donners left Independence, Missouri on May 11, 1846 for their goal two thousand miles away in California. Rarick's account of the legendary trek of the families who met the extremes of human survival and how they confronted it will leave the reader asking, was it worth it? The Donner's story is part of an American tragedy which has been covered in half-truths and myths, but which Rarick beautifully and heartbreakingly illustrates here.Product details
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Desperate Passage The Donner Party Perilous Journey West (Audible Audio Edition) Ethan Rarick Christopher Prince Audible Studios Books Reviews
The most complete chronicle I've ever read about the tragically destined Donner Party and their incredible hardships. With a late start on their pilgrimage to California, and with no real incentive for the speed of travel required, these 80 doomed pilgrims were to face snows to depths of 30 feet and temperatures that plunged to incredible lows. Living in the poorest of hovels, starving and quarreling, these unfortunate travelers were at last forced to subsist by the awful choice of cannibalism. Not a book for the faint of heart, but. a true tale very well written and researched. An incredible book, and one I heartily recommend for those who want to know the real story of the doomed party of travelers.
Non-Fiction by Ethan Rarick. The book is incredibly researched and so well written. I don't believe Mr. Rarick missed a detail.
A chronology of the ill-fated Donner Party's trek west to California in 1846. Through several ill-timed errors, the Party finds their crossing of the Sierra Nevada mountain range coming much too late and are hard pressed to deal with the winter conditions in the mountain range. Essentially, they are stranded in harsh conditions, with snow has deep as thirty feet.
The book would be a very good read if it was a novel. Keeping in mind it's a true story, makes for an excellent read.
Through history books, many know of the Donner Party and what is today, Donner Pass. This is so well done, history comes to life.
The chronology does end a bit over half way through. The following chapters could be referred to as an epilogue. They give rise to what happened to surviving members, as well as newspaper and books written about these unfortunate souls. Most accounts in the aftermath of the failed westward crossing were merely sensationalism, nothing more.
This well versed, true account, brings the mid-19th century to life in a fascinating way
I have always enjoyed reading about the pioneer experience. I had heard about the Donner party and how they became stranded. This book has brought their ordeal to life for me in a vivid, thought-provoking way. Much of it is based on surviving diaries. I wonder how I would have fared under such conditions. I am about 3/4ths of the way thru the book, and don't want it to end--although of course I DO want them (those who endured) to reach safety. It is a hard story to read, but also good that it has been preserved and being told. Another point that keeps hitting me this was not all that long ago. Look how far our country has developed since then.
I am always fascinated by American history in all forms, but especially the events where people somehow managed to survive horrific conditions. This book is filled with top notch information on the events which led to the events we are all familiar with. Yet it reads like a good novel. I had trouble putting it down and looked forward to picking it up every evening to see what happened next. There were times I would make little gasps and grunting sounds as I read what they endured, wondering how in the world they were able to get through that and stay alive. I have lived in extreme cold (Alaska) to know what that feels like, and I can't even begin to imagine how they trekked through that extremely deep snow and cold to get help, or be hunkered down in the elements until they could move on. To boil hides and eat the "glue" or fry up fringe off the bottom of a jacket.......mind boggling and breath taking. You won't forget what these people went through. I have been to the area they wintered over and I am in awe they were able to walk out of there.
One of the best non-fiction books I've ever read. You can't really go wrong with this subject, but the objectivity and depth of research of this history makes me frankly ANGRY about all the lesser attempts I've read and seen over the years. The inaccuracies on Wikipedia are particularly infuriating. The books goes into detail about all aspects of this ordeal and the legends that have grown up around it. As is often the case, the truth is more gripping and hair-raising than the various fictions.
DO NOT waste time with any other history of the Donner Party unless you have read this first.
The story of the Donner Party joins the ranks of those whose lives are touched by tragedy, courage and cowardliness, yet there is more to the story of the Donners and the others who attempted to make it across an unforgiving terrane at a time when there was little or no help. Ethan Rarick writes from his research in letters, diaries and newspapers of the day, as well as accounts of survivors who lived to tell the harrowing tale of life and death that most people will never experience. At a time when "going west" meant leaving friends and loved ones as well as the safety of the familiar behind, the Donners left Independence, Missouri on May 11, 1846 for their goal two thousand miles away in California. Rarick's account of the legendary trek of the families who met the extremes of human survival and how they confronted it will leave the reader asking, was it worth it? The Donner's story is part of an American tragedy which has been covered in half-truths and myths, but which Rarick beautifully and heartbreakingly illustrates here.
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