WESTWARD HOFOR 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.
Liveright Publishing Corporation The best land under heaven: the donner party in the age of manifest destiny, paperback/michael wallis
