Ordeal by Hunger (Paperback)

~ George R. Stewart (Author) "TAMSEN DONNER was gloomy and dispirited as the wagons pulled aside; Mr. Thornton noted it in his diary..." (more)
Key Phrases: George Donner, Yerba Buena, Sutter's Fort (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

The tragedy of the Donner party constitutes one of the most amazing stories of the American West. In 1846 eighty-seven people -- men, women, and children -- set out for California, persuaded to attempt a new overland route. After struggling across the desert, losing many oxen, and nearly dying of thirst, they reached the very summit of the Sierras, only to be trapped by blinding snow and bitter storms. Many perished; some survived by resorting to cannibalism; all were subjected to unbearable suffering. Incorporating the diaries of the survivors and other contemporary documents, George Stewart wrote the definitive history of that ill-fated band of pioneers; an astonishing account of what human beings may endure and achieve in the final press of circumstance.

About the Author

George R. Stewart (1895-1980) taught for more than fifty years at the University of California, Berkeley. He is the author of Pickett's Charge, Earth Abides, and numerous other books of history, biography, and fiction.

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Product Details Paperback: 416 pages Publisher: Mariner Books (January 30, 1992) Language: English ISBN-10: 0395611598 ISBN-13: 978-0395611593 Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.4 x 1.1 inches Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies) Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (27 customer reviews) Amazon.com Sales Rank: #250,217 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!

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Inside This Book (learn more)

First Sentence:
TAMSEN DONNER was gloomy and dispirited as the wagons pulled aside; Mr. Thornton noted it in his diary. Read the first page

Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
George Donner, Yerba Buena, Sutter's Fort, Tamsen Donner, Mule Springs, Jacob Donner, Milt Elliott, Virginia Reed, Billy Graves, Fort Bridger, Great Salt Lake, San Francisco, Patrick Breen, Yuba Bottoms, Edwin Bryant, John Denton, Fort Hall, Mary Graves, Sacramento Valley, Uncle Billy, Almighty God, Captain Sutter, Gravelly Ford, John Rhoads, Mary Donner

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Citations (learn more)

This book cites 17 books:

• History of the Donner Party by F. C. Mcglashan on page 318, page 350, and Back Matter
• History of the Donner Party by C. F. McGlashan on page 318, page 350, and Back Matter
• History of California by Hubert H. Bancroft on page 318, Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
• The Expedition of the Donner Party by Eliza P. Donner Houghton on page 295, and Back Matter
• Echoes of the Past (The Far Western Frontier) by John Bidwell in Back Matter

See all 17 books this book cites

 

46 books cite this book:

• The Archaeology Of The Donner Party (Wilbur S. Shepperson Series in History and Humanities) by Donald L Hardesty on 15 pages
• Samuel Brannan and The Golden Fleece: A Biography by Reva Scott in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
• A Furnace Afloat: The Wreck of the Hornet and the Harrowing 4,300-mile Voyage of Its Survivors by Joe Jackson in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
• The Fall into Eden: Landscape and Imagination in California (Cambridge Studies in American Literature and Culture) by David Wyatt on page 149, and Back Matter
• Pioneer Children On The Journey West by Emmy E Werner in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)

See all 46 books citing this book

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What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

	71% buy the item featured on this page: Ordeal by Hunger 4.6 out of 5 stars (27) $10.17
	18% buy Desperate Passage: The Donner Party's Perilous Journey West 4.9 out of 5 stars (24) $11.53
	4% buy The Perilous Journey of the Donner Party 4.8 out of 5 stars (14) $13.60
	3% buy The Indifferent Stars Above: The Harrowing Saga of a Donner Party Bride 4.4 out of 5 stars (63) $17.15

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Customer Reviews

27 Reviews 5 star:  (19) 4 star:  (7) 3 star:    (0) 2 star:    (0) 1 star:  (1)           Average Customer Review 4.6 out of 5 stars (27 customer reviews)		Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews 16 of 16 people found the following review helpful: 5.0 out of 5 stars This book is well worth reading., December 27, 1998 By  John E. Sarna ([e-mail]) (Sacramento, California, USA) - See all my reviews This book is well worth reading. It follows the Donner Party from their unfortunate choice of a bad route after they crossed the continental divide in Wyoming to their final "walk" over the Sierras. It concludes with several chapters discussing their ordeal, its causes and consequences, including some postscripts about the fate of each individual afterward. First, the story does not focus on the cannibalism, which members of the party independently resorted to on several occasions. As Stewart writes, "the cannibalism, although it might almost be called a minor episode, has become in the popular mind the chief fact to be remembered about the Donner Party. For a taboo always allures with as great strength as it repels." Instead, the story places the Donner Party in the setting of this country's westward migration, identifying its challenges and the diverse solutions the pioneers developed along the way. It includes several compelling human interest stories. It's hard to forget how one member, Reed, who was earlier ostracized from the party and went ahead, returned to meet his starving wife and two children, staved and barely walking down the west side of the snow-covered Sierra Nevada. Reed then goes ahead to try to save their other two children, who were in worse condition at Donner Lake. When the wife sees bare ground for the first time in months, she observes the leader of the "official" rescue party having his men rub his feet, because he thought he might have frostbite. The irony is obvious in the wife's sardonic comment: "we had better take care of him, reverse the order of things." It's also apparent that the leader's role in the rescue was important, even though he was content to send others ahead to brave the dangers while he ran things from camp. More irony is apparent when the second rescue party, composed mostly of mountain men and trappers, get the worst of it due to a late March storm in the Sierras. The perverse side of human nature comes out when one of the rescue party, rather than carrying out the one remaining baby, makes off with its weight in booty. Stewart also leaves in the ambiguities. Was the only survivor in the cabins in spring, really evil, enough to strangle a boy in his sleep before hanging him up the next morning like a piece of meat to be devoured? It's impossible to know. Yet the telling brings out another side of human nature --- in facing some evidence of this, the rescuers, the boy's father among them, were moved by pity and, although they thought of it, didn't simply kill him then and there.. Yes, this is a good store about human nature, what it takes to survive, and that motivation can be a stronger force than experience. 24 of 26 people found the following review helpful: 5.0 out of 5 stars Heartbreaking tale of sorrow, starvation, cannibalism., October 7, 2000 By  LackOfDiscipline (FLAGSTAFF, AZ USA) - See all my reviews I read this book pretty rapidly because it was so unbelievable. The experience of the Donner Party is one that is impossible for most of us to imagine. If you are familiar with the book (or movie) Alive, by Piers Paul Read, then you will have some sense of what takes place. Many passages brought tears to my eyes. If you are not familiar with the story of the Donner Party, they were a group of 87 pioneers who set out for California from Illinois in the spring of 1846. They traveled via a passage (which was essentially untried at that time) that was being hawked by a man named Hastings. The trail led them through an ordeal that included near death from thirst, marauding Indians, at least one murder, and, finally, their entrapment in the Sierra Nevada through the worst-ever recorded winter in that region. Sadly, most of the party that survived did so by yielding to the necessity of cannibalism. About half of the original party got out alive. If you are as fascinated by true tales of extreme survival as I am, then this book will certainly prove gripping. One is reminded of the story of Shackleton's Endurance, or of the Uruguayan rugby team which suffered a plane crash in the Andes of South America. I recommend it without reservation to anyone who can stand it - but it is a most depressing saga. 18 of 19 people found the following review helpful: 4.0 out of 5 stars An epic tale of heroism and despair, January 27, 2004 By  Chris K. Wilson "Chris Kent" (Dallas, TX United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)    George R. Stewarts" "Ordeal By Hunger" is the ultimate work based upon the ill-fated Donner Party expedition - one of the most horrifying events in American history. Originally published in the 1930s, Stewart's book has been the final word on this tale for multiple generations. Oddly enough, to date it is the most comprehensive study on this story, stocked with excellent detail and insight. It is almost impossible to imagine the suffering these 80-plus pioneers were forced to endure. After reading "Ordeal By Hunger," one will be much less likely to take their own lives for granted. And that is what the heart is of this story and Stewart's novel. The year is 1846, and the great pioneer migration west has begun. A group of families, inspired by a recent book by Lansford Hastings promoting a shortcut to California, decide to pack up their belongings and go west. They take the shortcut, though Hastings, who promised to lead them through, is nowhere to be found. They become lost, cutting a trail through the Wasatch Mountains, which to this day is a major highway in Salt Lake City. They cross the great Salt Lake desert, losing wagons and oxen, and eventually find themselves desolate in the Sierra Nevada Mountains with little food, inadequate shelter and trapped by the worst snowstorm in recorded history. Eventually people begin to die. In order to survive, many resort to cannibalism. After four relief efforts, about half of the party finally makes it to California. In all, over 40 perished. To this day, the Donner Party expedition is studied by sociologists and doctors alike. The group slowly fell into an "Every Man for Himself" dynamic, with the elderly and the infants perishing first. Then single men without families died. Ironically, most of the women and children survived, though explanations for this, touched upon in Stewart's work, have varied from the fat content in female bodies to the family dynamic remaining barely entact, thus aiding in survival. Multiple murders took place during this expedition, including the slaying of two Native American volunteers who were eventually consumed for nourishment. "Ordeal By Hunger" details such unimaginable horror, examining a group of tragically unfortunate people who were forced to rely on their most basic instincts. The reasons for such circumstance, touched upon in Stewart's novel, included bad luck, bad decision and poor leadership. Such tales of basic instinct/survival exist in the anals of world history, but there are very few - if any - that have actually taken place on American soil. The Donner Party expedition is the dark tale whispered to us by our parents. It is a story wrought with great heroism and heartbreaking tragedy. It is an epic of despair that serves as an example of how crucial the family dynamic is towards survival in any society. After reading "Ordeal By Hunger," one will ask themselves, "What would I have done in the same situation?" Today, "Ordeal By Hunger" is rather dated if only because there are no visuals. The maps are poorly detailed. An excellent companion book is Frank Mullen's recent "The Donner Party Chronicles," which includes photographs and color maps of the actual locations where these horrors and struggles took place. But for those yet unaware of this historical footnote, "Ordeal By Hunger" should be the first step towards understanding the dark side of the human experience. Thus, there is wisdom to be found in these pages.		Ad feedback   Most Recent Customer Reviews 5.0 out of 5 stars Thrilling, Inspiring, and Educational I cannot tell you how intense this book is! I just could not stop reading because I was so worried about the characters. Read more Published 14 months ago by Jesse M. Dunlap 5.0 out of 5 stars The Donner Party was no party... Ordeal by Hunger is George Stewart's definitive book on the Donner Party. The Donner Party was a pioneer wagon train on it's way to California in the 1840's. Read more Published 16 months ago by Steven Emrick 5.0 out of 5 stars The Shortcut That Led Them Into Hell For those who seek adventure and history at the same time this book is for you.The tale of the Donner Party is well known, at least to those who find the formation of the west... Read more Published 19 months ago by Richard DiCanio 5.0 out of 5 stars WOW We bought this book at the Reno Nevada airport after spending a week in the Truckee area. My wife and I both went through the book in record time. Read more Published on August 23, 2007 by Peter A. Wilberding 5.0 out of 5 stars Timeless Story Written over 70 years ago, this account of the Donner Party is still captivating and contemporary. Stewart was a fastidious historiographer as well as a gifted storyteller. Read more Published on July 16, 2007 by mjmcc61 5.0 out of 5 stars Cliched but true: "A harrowing tale" All of the words I want to apply to this book have been so overused they no longer have much real value, but in the case of the Donner-Reed story, they are apt: Harrowing,... Read more Published on February 3, 2007 by Showme 5.0 out of 5 stars You'll Hunger For More! This is one of those books that is very hard to put down once you begin. It details the tragic overland expedition undertaken by the Donner-Reed party in 1846. Read more Published on December 4, 2006 by The Comtesse DeSpair 4.0 out of 5 stars AN AMERICAN SURVIVAL STORY... This book presents an account of the Donner Party, a wagon train of about eighty-seven people who in July 1846 started off for California via a new, untried route through the... Read more Published on January 1, 2005 by Lawyeraau 5.0 out of 5 stars Six Star Material Yes, the maps are next to useless. Yes, Stewart probably has some facts skewed. Yes, he had his biases. BUT, this book WILL leave you paralyzed with horror and wonder. Read more Published on February 9, 2004 by Sam Palmer 5.0 out of 5 stars An American Epic ...This is a thoroughly researched and incredibly well narrated account of The Donner Party. Perhaps considered still the definitive work on the topic, despite having been written... Read more Published on November 19, 2002 Search Customer Reviews Only search this product's reviews

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Product Details

• Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: Mariner Books (January 30, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0395611598
• ISBN-13: 978-0395611593
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #250,217 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book is well worth reading., December 27, 1998

By	John E. Sarna ([e-mail]) (Sacramento, California, USA) - See all my reviews

This book is well worth reading. It follows the Donner Party from their unfortunate choice of a bad route after they crossed the continental divide in Wyoming to their final "walk" over the Sierras. It concludes with several chapters discussing their ordeal, its causes and consequences, including some postscripts about the fate of each individual afterward.

First, the story does not focus on the cannibalism, which members of the party independently resorted to on several occasions. As Stewart writes, "the cannibalism, although it might almost be called a minor episode, has become in the popular mind the chief fact to be remembered about the Donner Party. For a taboo always allures with as great strength as it repels." Instead, the story places the Donner Party in the setting of this country's westward migration, identifying its challenges and the diverse solutions the pioneers developed along the way.

It includes several compelling human interest stories. It's hard to forget how one member, Reed, who was earlier ostracized from the party and went ahead, returned to meet his starving wife and two children, staved and barely walking down the west side of the snow-covered Sierra Nevada. Reed then goes ahead to try to save their other two children, who were in worse condition at Donner Lake. When the wife sees bare ground for the first time in months, she observes the leader of the "official" rescue party having his men rub his feet, because he thought he might have frostbite. The irony is obvious in the wife's sardonic comment: "we had better take care of him, reverse the order of things." It's also apparent that the leader's role in the rescue was important, even though he was content to send others ahead to brave the dangers while he ran things from camp.

More irony is apparent when the second rescue party, composed mostly of mountain men and trappers, get the worst of it due to a late March storm in the Sierras. The perverse side of human nature comes out when one of the rescue party, rather than carrying out the one remaining baby, makes off with its weight in booty.

Stewart also leaves in the ambiguities. Was the only survivor in the cabins in spring, really evil, enough to strangle a boy in his sleep before hanging him up the next morning like a piece of meat to be devoured? It's impossible to know. Yet the telling brings out another side of human nature --- in facing some evidence of this, the rescuers, the boy's father among them, were moved by pity and, although they thought of it, didn't simply kill him then and there..

Yes, this is a good store about human nature, what it takes to survive, and that motivation can be a stronger force than experience.

24 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Heartbreaking tale of sorrow, starvation, cannibalism., October 7, 2000

By	LackOfDiscipline (FLAGSTAFF, AZ USA) - See all my reviews

I read this book pretty rapidly because it was so unbelievable. The experience of the Donner Party is one that is impossible for most of us to imagine. If you are familiar with the book (or movie) Alive, by Piers Paul Read, then you will have some sense of what takes place. Many passages brought tears to my eyes.

If you are not familiar with the story of the Donner Party, they were a group of 87 pioneers who set out for California from Illinois in the spring of 1846. They traveled via a passage (which was essentially untried at that time) that was being hawked by a man named Hastings. The trail led them through an ordeal that included near death from thirst, marauding Indians, at least one murder, and, finally, their entrapment in the Sierra Nevada through the worst-ever recorded winter in that region. Sadly, most of the party that survived did so by yielding to the necessity of cannibalism. About half of the original party got out alive.

If you are as fascinated by true tales of extreme survival as I am, then this book will certainly prove gripping. One is reminded of the story of Shackleton's Endurance, or of the Uruguayan rugby team which suffered a plane crash in the Andes of South America. I recommend it without reservation to anyone who can stand it - but it is a most depressing saga.

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An epic tale of heroism and despair, January 27, 2004

By	Chris K. Wilson "Chris Kent" (Dallas, TX United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

George R. Stewarts" "Ordeal By Hunger" is the ultimate work based upon the ill-fated Donner Party expedition - one of the most horrifying events in American history. Originally published in the 1930s, Stewart's book has been the final word on this tale for multiple generations. Oddly enough, to date it is the most comprehensive study on this story, stocked with excellent detail and insight.

It is almost impossible to imagine the suffering these 80-plus pioneers were forced to endure. After reading "Ordeal By Hunger," one will be much less likely to take their own lives for granted. And that is what the heart is of this story and Stewart's novel.

The year is 1846, and the great pioneer migration west has begun. A group of families, inspired by a recent book by Lansford Hastings promoting a shortcut to California, decide to pack up their belongings and go west. They take the shortcut, though Hastings, who promised to lead them through, is nowhere to be found. They become lost, cutting a trail through the Wasatch Mountains, which to this day is a major highway in Salt Lake City. They cross the great Salt Lake desert, losing wagons and oxen, and eventually find themselves desolate in the Sierra Nevada Mountains with little food, inadequate shelter and trapped by the worst snowstorm in recorded history. Eventually people begin to die. In order to survive, many resort to cannibalism. After four relief efforts, about half of the party finally makes it to California. In all, over 40 perished.

To this day, the Donner Party expedition is studied by sociologists and doctors alike. The group slowly fell into an "Every Man for Himself" dynamic, with the elderly and the infants perishing first. Then single men without families died. Ironically, most of the women and children survived, though explanations for this, touched upon in Stewart's work, have varied from the fat content in female bodies to the family dynamic remaining barely entact, thus aiding in survival.

Multiple murders took place during this expedition, including the slaying of two Native American volunteers who were eventually consumed for nourishment. "Ordeal By Hunger" details such unimaginable horror, examining a group of tragically unfortunate people who were forced to rely on their most basic instincts. The reasons for such circumstance, touched upon in Stewart's novel, included bad luck, bad decision and poor leadership.

Such tales of basic instinct/survival exist in the anals of world history, but there are very few - if any - that have actually taken place on American soil. The Donner Party expedition is the dark tale whispered to us by our parents. It is a story wrought with great heroism and heartbreaking tragedy. It is an epic of despair that serves as an example of how crucial the family dynamic is towards survival in any society. After reading "Ordeal By Hunger," one will ask themselves, "What would I have done in the same situation?"

Today, "Ordeal By Hunger" is rather dated if only because there are no visuals. The maps are poorly detailed. An excellent companion book is Frank Mullen's recent "The Donner Party Chronicles," which includes photographs and color maps of the actual locations where these horrors and struggles took place. But for those yet unaware of this historical footnote, "Ordeal By Hunger" should be the first step towards understanding the dark side of the human experience. Thus, there is wisdom to be found in these pages.