Customer Reviews

History of the Donner Party: A Tragedy of the Sierra

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3 star:		(1)
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1 star:		(3)

 

 

The McGlashan book has been in print almost continuously for nearly 120 years. While not the entire story, it is still the book against which all Donner Party stories are measured. It is a compelling story of the classic American tragedy of the western migration, showing the many complex sides of the individuals involved in the story. It is mandatory reading for anyone interested in our western history

It's hard to believe that what is written down in this book ir real. But, real it is. Once you start reading it you can't put it down. It holds you spellbound. Pulls at your heartstrings as you read what this party had to go through. It would be impossible today for people to stand up to what these people did. This book is well worth the reading. These people had the strength, fortitude that is seldom found today.

While certainly a worthwile book on the tragedy of the Donner Party, the book does have its weaknesses. Specifically, McGlashan's research is less than objective. As George Stewart points out in his better book on the subject, "Ordeal By Hunger," McGlashan was very sloppy with his facts. His personal friendship with a few of the Donner Party survivors also biases his writing. Still, the book is a very important read for those interested in this historic tragedy. For the money, though, Stewart's book is the better choice

A huge wagon train split up at the western end of the great salt lake. Most of the emigrants took the traditional route to California. Some of them decided to go through Hasting's cutoff. Hasting had gone to California on the regular route. He wrote The Emigrant's Guide To California. Inside the book, there was a new route, a route which Hastings thought up. He had never actually tried it out when the Donner Party came. It turned out to be much rougher, and even longer than the regular route. 3 people died before they even reached Donner Lake. At Donner Lake, the party was trapped in the snow. They built several cabins, but the Donners themselves never got to the lake. They put up several tents on Alder Creek. They ran out of food, and sent several small, unsuccessful parties to California. They became desperate, and sent out one last party, "The Forlorn Hope." Those who were strong enough, set out for California. There were 15 people in the Forlorn Hope. The first to die of hunger and cold was a 13 year old, Lemuel. His sister couldn't watch as the rest of the Forlorn Hope ate Lemuel. More people died, but eventually, the remaining seven, reached Sutter's fort. Meanwhile, James F. Reed, who had been banished from the party, assembled a rescue party. The first try to reach the people at the lake was unsuccessful. Eventually they get to the lake, and rescue the people they could. This is a great book about the Donner Party. It was written in a way that makes it hard to read for anyone under 12, but it captured the drama perfectly.

This "book" is of such poor quality that reading it from front cover to the footnotes is more challenging than the thought of consuming the flesh of fellow travelers in the mountains. It doesn't even include an ISBN for inclusion in the Library of Congress. The ASCII font was the first tip-off that the reader was indeed trapped in the Donner Pass of literature. The only tragedy was the money we lost by buying this book.

This book on Kindle, gives eye witness accounts from survivors and rescuers of the Donner party's unfortunate endeavor to reach California and their trials and tribulations. It is a very detailed book that contains a few quotes from one of the people who traveled with the Donner Party who kept a journal of the events taking place at the time. It is a very detailed account and I would not recommend this book to young readers or readers that don't have a strong stomach. I would recommend this book however if you want to know what took place at that time.

I've read a few books on the Donner Party and have found the cast of characters daunting and the number of rescue missions difficult to sort out. Charles Fayette McGlashan lays out the general travel of the Donner party most clearly and provides the best overview.

McGlashan at times writes in a very melodramatic fashion, sometimes peppered with exclamation marks to drive home the plight of the travelers. At one point, he defends the need for the Donner Party to kill some Indian guides for food. Not politically correct for today, it sheds light on the attitude towards Indians at the time.

Included are excerpts from letters and diaries written on the trail, and interviews made afterward. I found the interview with Lewis Keseberg most fascinating. He is so often characterized as a willing cannibal. I have never read his account of the story before and it is well worth downloading this book just to read his interview.

The last part of the book recounts a short biography of John A. Sutter, who helped supply the rescue operations, and also the fate of each survivor. Some might find that interesting, but the cast of characters is so huge that I found it time consuming and a bit of a drag.

The Kindle version does not sport a clickable table of contents. The chapters are numbered, followed by a curious string of words which look like they could be a mass of titles jumbled together in a paragraph. For instance, the first chapter begins with, "Donner Lake A famous Tourist Resort Building the Central Pacific California's Skating Park The Pioneers The Organization of the Donner Party Ho! for California! A mammoth Train The Dangers by the Way . . . ." It went on for another five lines. I made sure to skip it but found it distracting.

Altogether, it was a good read with some distractions. For a more personal tale of the Donner party, I recommend The Indifferent Stars Above: The Harrowing Saga of a Donner Party Bride

While I cannot comment on the accuracy of the accounts since this is the only history of the Donner Party I've read its an amazing account of a time and hardships I can't imagine. The book was a bit hard to follow as it was more of an account than a story but shows well the time and trials of the people.

I found it a very worthwhile read. The author (a Donner) was a small girl during the trip. She would see things through her child's eye. I thought it a good defense of the Donner party and a good story. It was amazing how difficult it was to get help to agree to come rescue the party. I had always thought that "back then" everybody was a good neighbor willing to jump in and help. I guess not. I would recommend this book.

Maudlin, hypersentimental tripe, worthless as either a history or a scientific inquiry into the events surrounding its subject. A wandering bard's laments with a street organ would be more valuable as a historical source than this piece of sycophancy, a purported "history" bursting at the seams with errors and largely devoid of accurate facts, chronology or topography.

McGlashan befriended Donner party survivors during compiling his material and what he eventually thrusts on the world as a "history" is a ludicrous, simpering ode to both the living and the dead concerned with no regard for the truth, a pathetically transparent attempt at fanning his new-found "friends" raw sensibilities on the subject (no pun intended), and appeasing his own quixotic knights-on-white-steeds world-view.

Bancroft, talking about the Donner party incident in his "History of California", says "C.F. McGlashan published a volume on the subject in 1879, treating it in a manner that has left little or nothing to be desired". Was Bancroft under the gun or under the influence when he wrote those words? We shall never know. What we do know is that such irresponsible eulogizing by his peers catapulted McGlashan's ham-handed, lopsided "history" to undeserved posterity.

If you want to read a real history of the Donner party incident, George Stewart's "Ordeal by Hunger" would be a good place to start. In comparison, McGlashan's composition is good for entertainment. His flowery language frequently elicits chuckles, not a minor achievement considering the extreme grimness of the subject matter.

Had McGlashan, obese with flowery prose and sentimental rambling stumbled onto a certain grizzled gathering at the shores of Lake Truckee in the winter of 1846, the questionable gourmets present may have appreciated him far better than the modern student of history....