Sign-In
Cart
The Best Land Under Heaven: The Donner Party in the Age of Manifest Destiny
Paperback
19th Century United States HistoryExplorationRegional: West
Publisher Price: $18.99
ISBN13: 9781631494000
Publisher: Liveright Publishing Corporation
Published: May 29 2018
Pages: 496
Weight: 0.85
Height: 0.90 Width: 5.50 Depth: 8.10
Language: English
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.
Also in
Regional: West
Born of Lakes and Plains: Mixed-Descent Peoples and the Making of the American West
Hyde, Anne F.
Hardcover
Tin Can Coast: A History of Industry, Greed, and Fishing in the Golden State
Ogilvy, Joseph
Hardcover
Where the Deer and the Antelope Play: The Pastoral Observations of One Ignorant American Who Likes to Walk Outside
Offerman, Nick
Paperback
Brave the Wild River: The Untold Story of Two Women Who Mapped the Botany of the Grand Canyon
Sevigny, Melissa L.
Paperback
City on the Edge: Technology, Politics, and the Fight for the Soul of San Francisco
Weber, Jonathan
Hardcover
We Pointed Them North: Recollections of a Cowpuncher
Smith, Helena Huntington
Abbott, E. C. Teddy Blue
Paperback
Cowboys, Mountain Men, and Grizzly Bears: Fifty of the Grittiest Moments in the History of the Wild West
Mayo, Matthew P.
Paperback
Season of the Witch: Enchantment, Terror, and Deliverance in the City of Love
Talbot, David
Paperback
Cadillac Desert: The American West and Its Disappearing Water, Revised Edition
Reisner, Marc
Paperback
Short Nights of the Shadow Catcher: The Epic Life and Immortal Photographs of Edward Curtis
Egan, Timothy
Paperback
Zodiac: The Shocking True Story of the Hunt for the Nation's Most Elusive Serial Killer
Graysmith, Robert
Paperback
Bring Me the Head of Joaquin Murrieta: The Bandit Chief Who Terrorized California and Launched the Legend of Zorro
Boessenecker, John
Hardcover
Bay Curious: Exploring the Hidden True Stories of the San Francisco Bay Area
Allen-Price, Olivia
Paperback
A Place Called Yellowstone: The Epic History of the World's First National Park
Wilson, Randall K.
Paperback
Los Angeles Central Library Pops: Celebrating a Century of the Light of Learning
Rice, Christina
Hardcover
Wakara's America: The Life and Legacy of a Native Founder of the American West
Mueller, Max Perry
Hardcover
Appetite for America: Fred Harvey and the Business of Civilizing the Wild West--One Meal at a Time
Fried, Stephen
Paperback
An American Genocide: The United States and the California Indian Catastrophe, 1846-1873
Madley, Benjamin
Paperback
A History of Montana in 101 Places: Sites and Stories from the Montana Historical Society
Brown, Christine
Kohl, Martha
Baumler, Ellen
Paperback
The Castle on Sunset: Life, Death, Love, Art, and Scandal at Hollywood's Chateau Marmont
Levy, Shawn
Paperback
Together in Manzanar: The True Story of a Japanese Jewish Family in an American Concentration Camp
Slater, Tracy
Hardcover
Wonderlandscape: Yellowstone National Park and the Evolution of an American Cultural Icon
Clayton, John
Paperback
Life Without Reservations: Growing Up at the Famed Ambassador Hotel 1921 to 1938
Benjamin, Carlyn Frank
Gilmour, Lisa Benjamin
Paperback
Zodiac: The Shocking True Story of the Hunt for the Nation's Most Elusive Serial Killer
Graysmith, Robert
Paperback
Aloha Rodeo: Three Hawaiian Cowboys, the World's Greatest Rodeo, and a Hidden History of the American West
Wolman, David
Smith, Julian
Paperback
Chief Joseph & the Flight of the Nez Perce: The Untold Story of an American Tragedy
Nerburn, Kent
Paperback
Hush of the Land: A Lifetime in the Bob Marshall Wilderness
Maggi, Eva-Maria
Elser, Arnold Smoke
Paperback
Deep Time in the Mono Lake Basin: Nature and History Over the Last 10,000 Years
Marks, Robert B.
Hardcover
Deadliest Sea: The Untold Story Behind the Greatest Rescue in Coast Guard History
Thompson, Kalee
Paperback
Lost Kingdom: Hawaiia's Last Queen, the Sugar Kings, and Americaa's First Imperial Venture
Siler, Julia Flynn
Paperback
Saving the Big Sky: A Chronicle of Land Conservation in Montana
Wright, John B.
Bugbee, Bruce A.
Kiesling, Robert J.
Hardcover
Finding Everett Ruess: The Life and Unsolved Disappearance of a Legendary Wilderness Explorer
Roberts, David
Paperback
The Cruelest Miles: The Heroic Story of Dogs and Men in a Race Against an Epidemic
Salisbury, Gay
Salisbury, Laney
Paperback
While Idaho Slept: The Hunt for Answers in the Murders of Four College Students
Appelman, J. Reuben
Paperback
Spooky Colorado: Tales Of Hauntings, Strange Happenings, And Other Local Lore, First Edition
Schlosser, S. E.
Hoffman, Paul G.
Paperback
Tearing Down the Orange Curtain: How Punk Rock Brought Orange County to the World
Jackson, Nate
Kohn, Daniel
Hardcover
Where the Deer and the Antelope Play: The Pastoral Observations of One Ignorant American Who Loves to Walk Outside
Offerman, Nick
Hardcover
The White Boy and the Indians: A Memoir of Reservation Life, the Depression, and the Okies
Jennings, Paul Austin
Paperback
The Last Ride of the Pony Express: My 2,000-Mile Horseback Journey Into the Old West
Grant, Will
Hardcover
This Is Chance!: The Great Alaska Earthquake, Genie Chance, and the Shattered City She Held Together
Mooallem, Jon
Paperback
Alaska's History, Revised Edition: The People, Land, and Events of the North Country
Ritter, Harry
Paperback
A Shark Going Inland Is My Chief: The Island Civilization of Ancient Hawai'i
Kirch, Patrick Vinton
Paperback
No Forgiveness: Family, Polygamy, Murder, and Justice among Idaho's pioneering Mormons
Neal, Daniel H. H.
Paperback
Black Robes Enter Coyote's World: Chief Charlo and Father de Smet in the Rocky Mountains
Thompson, Sally
Hardcover
Life Without Reservations: Growing Up at the Famed Ambassador Hotel 1921 to 1938
Gilmour, Lisa Benjamin
Benajmin, Carlyn Frank
Hardcover
River Master: John Wesley Powell's Legendary Exploration of the Colorado River and Grand Canyon
Kuhne, Cecil
Paperback
Outlaw Tales of Idaho: True Stories Of The Gem State's Most Infamous Crooks, Culprits, And Cutthroats
Stapilus, Randy
Paperback
Tassajara Stories: A Sort of Memoir/Oral History of the First Zen Buddhist Monastery in the West--The First Year, 1967
Chadwick, David
Hardcover
Black Lives in Alaska: A History of African Americans in the Far Northwest
Hartman, Ian C.
Reamer, David
Paperback
The Father of Glacier National Park: Discoveries and Explorations in His Own Words
Grinnell, Francis Hugh
Paperback
This Land: How Cowboys, Capitalism, and Corruption Are Ruining the American West
Ketcham, Christopher
Paperback
Trespassers at the Golden Gate: A True Account of Love, Murder, and Madness in Gilded-Age San Francisco
Krist, Gary
Hardcover
Myths and Legends of Yellowstone: The True Stories behind History's Mysteries
Therriault, Ednor
Paperback
Black Rock Dead: True Tales From One of Nevada's Most Treacherous Deserts
Brooks, Christopher
Preston, Christina
Paperback
Lewis and Clark Among the Nez Perce: Strangers in the Land of the Nimiipuu
Pinkham, Allen V.
Evans, Steven R.
Paperback
The Cowboy's Cookbook: Recipes and Tales from Campfires, Cookouts, and Chuck Wagons
Monahan, Sherry
Paperback
Trampling Out the Vintage: Cesar Chavez and the Two Souls of the United Farm Workers
Bardacke, Frank
Paperback
The Age of the Borderlands: Indians, Slaves, and the Limits of Manifest Destiny, 1790-1850
Isenberg, Andrew C.
Hardcover
In the Scent of Horses, Hay, and Old Barns: The Story of Eleanor Prince, Intrepid American Horsemanship Educator
Galbreath, Pamela
Paperback
The Whole Country Was... 'One Robe': The Little Shell Tribe's America
Vrooman, Nicholas C. P.
Hardcover
Theodore Roosevelt in California: The Presidential Adventure That Saved the Wilderness
Chris Epting
Paperback
Sunny Skies, Shady Characters: Cops, Killers, and Corruption in the Aloha State
Dooley, James
Paperback
The Earth Is All That Lasts: Crazy Horse, Sitting Bull, and the Last Stand of the Great Sioux Nation
Gardner, Mark Lee
Paperback
Spooky Yellowstone: Tales Of Hauntings, Strange Happenings, And Other Local Lore
Schlosser, S. E.
Hoffman, Paul G.
Paperback