Drawing upon more than one hundred unpublished diaries, Schultz profiles the individuals who embarked on these journeys and demonstrates how markedly the gold rush voyages differed from general commercial trading and whaling ventures."--BOOK JACKET.
The story of the men who dared and did so much in the early days of the discovery of GOLD on the Pacific Slope has never been fully told. In the pages of this remarkable book we are given in plain straightforward language without any attempt at embellishment, by one who participated in them, the trying experiences that comprised the adventures and achievements of the hardy volunteers forming the little army of gold seekers who crossed the plains immediately following the cry that awoke the land from ocean to ocean as no other word could have done....FROM THE BOOKS.
In April, 1849, a little over six months before he was twenty-one, Kimball Webster caught the gold fever. Characteristic of his methodical ways, he kept a journal of his journey across the country and of his experiences as a miner in California and land surveyor in Oregon. His experiences in the Land of Gold is told in his own vivid language in these pages, and forms one of the most interesting narratives of the days of the gold-seekers of the Pacific Slope. Under trying circumstances that we can't fully appreciate today, the hardy men and women of the Gold Rush, the '49ers, faced danger from disease, accident, Native Americans, other miners, and most likely, poverty. Yet nearly 300,000 came to California to seek their fortune and tempt fate. Kimball Webster didn't strike it rich but went on to make a good life for himself. And he made us richer by leaving his account of those tumultuous years of the 1849 Gold Rush. Be sure to LOOK INSIDE or download a sample.
• A New Republic Best Book of the Year • The Globalist Top Books of the Year • Winner of the Maine Literary Award for Non-fiction Particularly relevant in understanding who voted for who during presidential elections, this is an endlessly fascinating look at American regionalism and the eleven “nations” that continue to shape North America According to award-winning journalist and historian Colin Woodard, North America is made up of eleven distinct nations, each with its own unique historical roots. In American Nations he takes readers on a journey through the history of our fractured continent, offering a revolutionary and revelatory take on American identity, and how the conflicts between them have shaped our past and continue to mold our future. From the Deep South to the Far West, to Yankeedom to El Norte, Woodard (author of American Character: A History of the Epic Struggle Between Individual Liberty and the Common Good) reveals how each region continues to uphold its distinguishing ideals and identities today, with results that can be seen in the composition of the U.S. Congress or on the county-by-county election maps of any hotly contested election in our history.