The
Archaeology of the Donner Party (Wilbur S. Shepperson Series in History
and Humanities)
by Donald L. Hardesty, Michael J. Brodhead
Card catalog description: The Archaeology of the Donner Party offers
a new interpretation of the history of the Donner Party, based on the careful
analysis of recently discovered artifacts. By supplementing the documentary
record with the fruits of their scientific interpretation of physical remains,
Hardesty and his colleagues not only provide exciting new information about
the Donner Party but suggest promising avenues for further research.
History
of the Donner Party : A Tragedy of the Sierra
by Charles F. McGlashan, George H. Hinkle (Editor)
Ordeal
by Hunger
by George R. Stewart
Book Description: In 1846, the nation was turning 70. Herman
Melville and Walt Whitman were 27, Lincoln was 37. The first telegraph
lines were up and humming. California was still part of Mexico, but already
faint parallel lines—wheel tracks left by emigrant wagon trains—marked
the California Trail. Close to half a million emigrants would cross the
plains before completion of the transcontinental railroad in 1869, but
in July, 1846, there were only 800 Americans in California, and the routes
across the Continental Divide and the Sierra Nevada were not yet well established.
It was on the 20th of that month that the Donner Party set out for California
from Little Sandy Creek, Wyoming—enough time, they thought, to cross the
Sierras before the winter snows fell.
Eighty-seven men, women and children set out on the journey, and their
tragic fate constitutes one of the most gripping and chilling chapters
in the exploration and settlement of the American West. Much has been written
over the years about the Donner Party—and a powerful documentary film,
Simple Justice, was made by Ric Burns in 1993 and shown on PBS—but George
Stewart's spell-binding and compassionate narrative, Ordeal by Hunger,
published initially in 1936, remains the gold standard. In his introduction
to our edition, James D. Houston writes: "Sixty-five years after its first
publication, this remarkable narrative still stands as the definitive account,
giving dramatic life to a haunting and emblematic tale."
Though there is horror and tragedy in this story, there are also acts
of courage and selflessness. It is a powerful human drama. As the author
puts it, the story tells "what human beings may achieve, endure, and perpetrate
in the final press of circumstance."
In addition to James Houston's authoritative, new introduction, we have
incorporated new illustrations and maps, aided in this effort by many organizations,
most especially The Bancroft Library of The University of California, Berkeley.
--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Paperback: 392 pages ; Dimensions (in inches): 1.11 x
8.27 x 5.54
Publisher: Mariner Books; Reissue edition (January 1992)
ISBN: 0395611598
The
Perilous Journey of the Donner Party
by Marian Calabro (Author)
(Hardcover)
Patty
Reed's Doll: The Story of the Donner Party
by Rachel K. Laurgaard, Elizabeth Sykes Michaels (Illustrator)
(Paperback - September 1989)
A
Teacher's Guide to 'Patty Reed's Doll: The Story of the Donner Party
by Louise Baldwin
(Paperback)
Snow
Mountain Passage
by James D. Houston
(Hardcover)
Winter
of Entrapment: A New Look at the Donner Party
by Joseph A. King, Jo King
(Paperback)
The
Donner Party Chronicles: A Day-by-Day Account of a Doomed Wagon Train,
1846-47
by Frank Mullen
(Paperback)
The
Journal of Douglas Allen Deeds : The Donner Party Expedition, 1846 (My
Name Is America)
by Rodman Philbrick
(Hardcover)
The
Donner Party VHS
from PBS Home Video
The
Donner Party DVD
from Warner Home Video
