The Best Land Under Heaven: The Donner Party in the Age of Manifest Destiny

The Best Land Under Heaven: The Donner Party in the Age of Manifest Destiny

by Michael Wallis
The Best Land Under Heaven: The Donner Party in the Age of Manifest Destiny

The Best Land Under Heaven: The Donner Party in the Age of Manifest Destiny

by Michael Wallis

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Overview

Longlisted for the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence
Finalist for the Oklahoma Book Award
A Publishers Weekly Holiday Guide History Pick

“A book so gripping it can scarcely be put down.... Superb.” —New York Times Book Review

"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.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780871407702
Publisher: Liveright Publishing Corporation
Publication date: 06/06/2017
Sold by: Barnes & Noble
Format: eBook
Pages: 496
Sales rank: 569,865
File size: 27 MB
Note: This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

About The Author
Michael Wallis, the best-selling author of Route 66 and Billy the Kid, has published eighteen books and won numerous honors and awards. He is a popular public speaker and a highly acclaimed voice actor. He lives in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Table of Contents

Author's note xiii

Introduction 1846 xv

Prologue: Donner Lake, June 6, 1918 xix

1 Call of The West

1 A Migrating People 5

2 The Best Land under Heaven 8

3 Gray Gold 16

4 Snake Heads 22

5 California Dreaming 27

6 The Bold Plunge 33

7 Wagons Ho! April 1846 39

8 Farewell, April 14-15, 1846 42

9 Independence Bound, April 15-May to, 1846 48

2 The Journey

10 Queen City of the Trails, May 10-12, 1846 55

11 Indian Country, May 12-18, 1846 60

12 Soldier Creek, May 19, 1846 65

13 The Others, May 20, 1846 70

14 People of the South Wind, May 21-24,1846 75

15 Alcove Spring, May 25-29, 1846 82

16 The Rhetoric of Fear, May 30-June 2, 1846 89

17 Ebb and Flow, June 3-7, 1846 95

18 On the Platte, June 8-10, 1846 100

19 Life Goes On, June 10-15, 1846 103

20 A Letter from Tamzene Donner, June 16, 1846 112

3 The Promised Land

21 Change of Command, June 16-19, 1846 117

22 Chasing Mirages, June 19-25, 1846 122

28 Sage Advice, June 26-27, 1846 126

24 A Sense of Urgency, June 28-July 12, 1846 133

25 Parting of the Ways, July 13-19, 1846 141

26 The Donner Party, July 20-28, 1846 147

27 Betrayed, July 28-31, 1846 150

28 The Hastings Cutoff, August 1-22, 1846 157

29 The Fearful Long Drive, August 23-September 10, 1846 164

30 Race against Time, September 11-October 4, 1846 175

31 Blood Rage, October 5-20, 1846 181

32 Perseverance, October 21-30, 1846 194

4 Out of Time

33 Snowbound, November 1846 205

34 Desperate Times, Desperate Measures, November-December 1846 217

35 The Forlorn Hope, December 1846 230

36 Camp of Death, December 1846 240

37 The Starring Time, January 1847 250

38 In Dire Straits, January-February 1847 262

39 Man on a Mission, January-February 1847 269

40 To the Rescue, February 1847 278

41 The First Relief 282

42 The Second Relief 292

43 The Third Relief 339

44 The Fourth Relief 351

Aftermath 355

Appendix 1 Donner Party Members and Affiliation with Group 359

Appendix 2 Relief Teams and Donner Party Survivors/Deaths 371

Acknowledgments 375

Notes 379

Bibliography 427

Index 437

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