"WESTWARD HO! FOR OREGON AND CALIFORNIA!" 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. With The Best Land
Under Heaven, Wallis has penned what critics agree is "destined to
become the standard account" (Washington Post) of the notorious
saga. Cutting through 160 years of myth-making, the "expert
storyteller" (True West) compellingly recounts how the unlikely
band of early pioneers met their fate. Interweaving information
from hundreds of newly uncovered documents, Wallis illuminates how
a combination of greed and recklessness led to one of America's
most calamitous and sensationalized catastrophes. The result is a
"fascinating, horrifying, and inspiring" (Oklahoman) examination of
the darkest side of Manifest Destiny.
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