Gold Rush Saints: California Mormons and the Great Rush for Riches (Kingdom in the West: The Mormons and the American Frontier) [Paperback]

Kenneth N. Owens (Author), Will Bagley (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 6, 2005 | Series: Kingdom in the West: The Mormons and the American Frontier

From 1846 to 1857 Mormons played a crucial role in shaping events in California and the West. They were the first American settlers of San Francisco, and without them, John Sutter might not have built his sawmill and thus discovered gold in 1848.

In Gold Rush Saints, Kenneth N. Owens combines narrative history and documentary accounts to reveal a hidden wealth of California and Mormon history. The first-person accounts of pioneer Mormons, both men and women, offer new perspectives on myths and realities of gold rush California.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Kenneth N. Owens is Professor Emeritus of History and Ethnic Studies at California State University, Sacramento. He is the author or editor of numerous books, including Riches for All: The California Gold Rush and the World.

Will Bagley is an independent historian who has written about overland emigration, frontier violence, railroads, mining, and the Mormons. Bagley has published extensively over the years and is the author and editor of many books, articles, and reviews in professional journals. Bagley is the series editor of Arthur H. Clark Company's documentary history series, KINGDOM IN THE WEST: The Mormons and the American Frontier. Bagley has been a Wallace Stegner Centennial Fellow at the University of Utah and the Archibald Hannah, Jr. Fellow in American History at Yale University's Beinecke Library. Blood of the Prophets: Brigham Young and the Massacre at Mountain Meadows has won numerous awards including a Spur Award from Western Writers of America, the Bancroft History Prize from the Denver Public Library, Westerners International Best Book, and the Western History Association Caughey Book Prize for the most distinguished book on the history of the American West. So Rugged and Mountainous: Blazing the Trails to Oregon and California, 1812-1848 is the first of four volumes of Overland West: The Story of the Oregon and California Trails Series.

Product Details

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press (September 6, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0806136812
• ISBN-13: 978-0806136813
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,079,347 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Mormon social and political confrontations, March 16, 2006

By 

D. Donovan, Editor/Sr. Reviewer "California B... (California, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Gold Rush Saints: California Mormons and the Great Rush for Riches (Kingdom in the West: The Mormons and the American Frontier) (Paperback)

From 1846-1857 Mormons shaped events in California: they were the first American settlers of San Francisco. Narrative history blends with documentary accounts on California Mormon history: first-person accounts of early pioneers provide new insights on gold rush history and experiences. Chapters survey social and political controversies of the time between Mormons and between Mormons and other groups, examine the roles they played in settling California and overcoming the state's isolation, and include insights from the pioneers themselves. An excellent addition to California history.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An extensively researched history, February 9, 2005

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Gold Rush Saints: California Mormons and the Great Rush for Riches (Kingdom in the West: The Mormons and the American Frontier) (Hardcover)

Volume 7 of the "Kingdom in the West: The Mormons and the American Frontier", Gold Rush Saints is an extensively researched history drawing heavily upon documents and primary sources to chronicle the role that Mormons played and the effect they had in California during the Gold Rush era. The text is scholarly in tone yet accessible to lay readers as it presents exciting stories of travel, cooperation, success, and destitution. Focusing especially upon influential and charismatic Mormon personalities, the hardships they endured and the legacies they contributed to, Gold Rush Saints is a welcome and seminal contribution to American and California history shelves.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Gold Rush Saints, December 16, 2009

By 

Omer W. Whitman "Greg Whitman" (Fountain Valley, CA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Gold Rush Saints: California Mormons and the Great Rush for Riches (Kingdom in the West: The Mormons and the American Frontier) (Paperback)

Very well researched history of the Mormons in the Gold Rush era. It has helped me with information for my next book.