| International Standard Book Number |
9780871407696 hardcover
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| International Standard Book Number |
0871407698 hardcover
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| International Standard Book Number |
9781631494000 (paperback)
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| Personal Name |
Wallis, Michael, 1945- author.
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| Title Statement |
The best land under heaven : the Donner Party in the age of Manifest Destiny / Michael Wallis.
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| Varying Form of Title |
Donner Party in the age of Manifest Destiny.
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| Edition Statement |
First edition.
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| Production, Publication, Distribution, Manufacture, and Copyright Notice |
New York : Liveright Publishing Corporation, a division of W.W. Norton & Company, 2018, [2017]
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| Physical Description |
xx, 455 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 25 cm.
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| Content Type |
text txt rdacontent.
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| Media Type |
unmediated n rdamedia.
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| Carrier Type |
volume nc rdacarrier.
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| Bibliography, Etc. Note |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
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| Formatted Contents Note |
Introduction: 1846 -- Prologue: Donner Lake, June 6, 1918 -- Call of the West -- A migrating people -- The best land under heaven -- Gray gold -- Snake heads -- California dreaming -- The bold plunge -- Wagons ho! April 1846 -- Farewell, April 14-15, 1846 -- Independence bound, April 15-May 10, 1846 -- The journey -- Queen city of the trails, May 10-12, 1846 -- Indian country, May 12-18, 1846 -- Soldier Creek, May 19, 1846 -- The others, May 20, 1846 -- People of the south wind, May 21-24, 1846 -- Alcove Spring, May 25-29, 1846 -- The rhetoric of fear, May 30-June 2, 1846 -- Ebb and flow, June 3-7, 1846 -- On the Platte, June 8-10, 1846 -- Life goes on, June 10-15, 1846 -- A letter from Tamzene Donner, June 16, 1846 -- The promised land -- Change of command, June 16-19, 1846 -- Chasing mirages, June 19-25, 1846 -- Sage advice, June 26-27, 1846 -- A sense of urgency, June 28-July 12, 1846 -- Parting of the ways, July 13-19, 1846 -- The Donner party, July 20-28, 1846 -- Betrayed, July 28-31, 1846 -- The Hastings cutoff, August 1-22, 1846 -- The fearful long drive, August 23-September 10, 1846 -- Race against time, September 11-October 4, 1846 -- Blood rage, October 5-20, 1846 -- Perseverance, October 21-30, 1846 -- Out of time -- Snowbound, November 1846 -- Desperate times, desperate measures, November-December 1846 -- The forlorn hope, December 1846 -- Camp of death, December 1846 -- The starving time, January 1847 -- In dire straits, January-February 1847 -- Man on a mission, January-February 1847 -- To the rescue, February 1847 -- The first relief -- The second relief -- The third relief -- The fourth relief -- Aftermath.
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| Summary, Etc. |
"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. Now, celebrated historian Michael Wallis--beloved for his myth-busting portraits of legendary American figures--continues his life's work of parsing fact from fiction to tell the true story of one of the most embroidered sagas in Western history..."--Jacket.
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| Summary, Etc. |
An account of the 1846 Donner-Reed expedition reveals the true events surrounding the tragedy, profiling the adventurous characters who shaped the group and how various interpersonal factors led to their harrowing experiences.
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| Subject Added Entry - Topical Term |
Frontier and pioneer life West (U.S.)
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| Subject Added Entry - Topical Term |
Overland journeys to the Pacific.
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| Subject Added Entry - Topical Term |
Pioneers California History 19th century.
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| Subject Added Entry - Topical Term |
Pioneers West (U.S.) History 19th century.
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| Subject Added Entry - Topical Term |
Donner Party.
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| Subject Added Entry - Topical Term |
Donner Party. fast (OCoLC)fst00896860.
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| Subject Added Entry - Geographical Term |
United States Sierra Nevada.
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| Subject Added Entry - Geographical Term |
California.
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| Subject Added Entry - Geographical Term |
Sierra Nevada (Calif. and Nev.) History 19th century.
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| Subject Added Entry - Geographical Term |
United States, West.
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| Location |
978.02 WAL 31662001786276
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