Most Helpful Customer Reviews
23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
This book is well worth reading., December 27, 1998
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.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
31 of 33 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Heartbreaking tale of sorrow, starvation, cannibalism., October 7, 2000
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.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
An epic tale of heroism and despair, January 27, 2004
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.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
|
![American Culture [under construction]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/61f%2B7EkDHmL._AA60_.jpg)
