Product Description

In all the sagas of human migration, none can top the drama of the journey by mid-Western farmers to Oregon and California in the years 1840-49. Seeking the promised land, these travellers trekked two thousand miles by covered wagon from Missouri to their destination on the Pacific. Although they used mountain men as guides, they went almost literally into the unknown, braving dangers from hunger, thirst, disease, drowning and Indians. Left far behind them were the extended family, schools, doctors, churches, stores and the rule of law. The early overlanders got through only after Herculean efforts, but later in the decade complacency set in, and the result was disaster, especially in the case of the Donner party, marooned in the snows and reduced to cannibalism. Using the original diaries and memoirs, Frank McLynn underscores the incredible heroism and dangerous folly on the overland trails. His year-by-year narrative includes many thematic investigations: the wagons and animals used by the pioneers, the role of women, relations with Indians, crime and punishment beyond the pale of civilisation, and much else. The narrative builds to a climax with the dreadful tale of the Donner party but achieves closure with the triumphant story of Brigham Young and the Mormons. Sandwiched between the era of the fur trappers and the post-1849 gold fever, this account of the pioneering years in the overland trails highlights and explains a unique experience both in American and world history.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #117557 in Books
• Published on: 2003-03-06
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 528 pages

Richard Gott, Literary Review
'one of Britain’s largely unrecognised national treasures.’

From the Publisher
A key, defining era in American history, full of extraordinary stories and larger than life characters.

About the Author
Frank Mclynn is currently Visiting Professor in the Department of Literature at Strathclyde University. His most recent books include Carl Gustav Jung (short-listed for the 1997 NCR Award), Napoleon, 1066 and Villa and Zapata.

Customer Reviews

Briliant and very interesting.
Being a fan of anything to do with the pioneers or prairies etc I was looking forward to reading this book, which had actually been sitting in my house sometime before I got round to reading it. It being a large book and needing some time and brain power to read! It did not take long before I was hooked on this book. I actually could not put it down. It covers every year from 1840-1849 and looks in fascinating detail at the main wagon trains in each year. I was worried that it might be a male orientated look at the frontier but I was impressed and pleased that Frank McLynn covered the women's and children's lives on the trails as well as the men's.
It also relates the tales of Meeks cut-off and the notorious Donner party tragedy. The author portrays these epic journeys in an objective fashion pointing out the bravery but also the sometimes foolhardiness of some pioneers on the trails. Altogether a great and absorbing book.

Inspirational Tale
Frank McLynn has written a fascinating and inspirational tale of the Pioneers; exhaustively researched, and full of fascinating facts, McLynn ensures we understand not only the trials and tribulations they underwent, but also "the reason why". I look forward to more along similar lines from an erudite commentator of this astonishing period of human history.

Good but not great...
This is definitely a case of 'less is more'. It's a very interesting read and incredibly comprehensive, but that's perhaps too much detail. The author takes the history of the pioneers year-by-year, but since most emigrants were treading the same trails, there's a lot of overlap and repeating of information. When you've read about one party of emigrants' reactions to Chimney Rock, you've read them all! It's also quite confusing - there's a lot of use of emigrants' diaries, but a lot of the diarists weren't necessarily major players in their particular group, so you're reading the reactions and thoughts of someone without really knowing who he is or who he fitted into the overall group. But it's a good read, nonetheless, but that's perhaps more because of the material than the writing.