Desperate Passage: The Donner Party's Perilous Journey West

Drawing on fresh archaeological evidence, recent research on topics ranging from survival rates to snowfall totals, and heartbreaking letters and diaries made public by descendants a century-and-a-half after the tragedy, Ethan Rarick offers an intimate portrait of the Donner party and their unimaginable ordeal: a mother who must divide her family, a little girl who shines with courage, a devoted wife who refuses to abandon her husband, a man who risks his life merely to keep his word. But Rarick resists both the gruesomely ... Read More

Drawing on fresh archaeological evidence, recent research on topics ranging from survival rates to snowfall totals, and heartbreaking letters and diaries made public by descendants a century-and-a-half after the tragedy, Ethan Rarick offers an intimate portrait of the Donner party and their unimaginable ordeal: a mother who must divide her family, a little girl who shines with courage, a devoted wife who refuses to abandon her husband, a man who risks his life merely to keep his word. But Rarick resists both the gruesomely sensationalist accounts of the Donner party as well as later attempts to turn the survivors into archetypal pioneer heroes. "The Donner Party," Rarick writes, "is a story of hard decisions that were neither heroic nor villainous. Often, the emigrants displayed a more realistic and typically human mixture of generosity and selfishness, an alloy born of necessity." Read Less

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  	This is a digital edition of this title. Rent eBook (2 Options) 180 Day Rental: $8.45 (Expires Aug 16, 2025) 365 Day Rental: $9.75 (Expires Feb 17, 2026) Buy eBook Lifetime Access: $12.99 Title: Desperate Passage by Ethan Rarick Publisher: Oxford University Press Academic US Print ISBN: 9780195383317, 0195383311 eText ISBN: 9780199756704 Edition: 2009 Format: EPUB eBook	$8.45 Rent eBook This is a digital eBook Nothing will be shipped to you Works with web browsers and the VitalSource app on all Windows, Mac, Chromebook, Kindle Fire, iOS, and Android devices Most eBooks are returnable within 14 days of purchase Questions? See our eBook FAQ