Customer Reviews

The Shirley Letters: From the Calfornia Mines, 1851-1852

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Dame Shirley's classic (and often humorous!) letters portray the California gold rush in all its excitement and ethnic diversity. At last an edition has appeared that sets her writings in context! Editor Marlene Smith-Baranzini has done students, researchers, and history buffs a huge favor by putting together THE definitive Dame Shirley collection, complete with excellent introduction, interpretive footnotes, maps, photographs, and even a glossary. Reccommended for anyone interested in California history or just in search of a good read.

Edited with an Introduction by Marlene Smith-Baranzini, The Shirley Letters: From The California Mines 1851-1852 by Louise Amelia Knapp Smith Clappe presents the contemporary reader with vivid first-person accounts of what it was like to live in the midst of the great California gold rush. Written in the form of letters by a doctor's wife who lived through the thick and thin of boisterous events, The Shirley Letters encompass mob violence, summary justice, a duel to the death, a rowdy July 4th celebration, and much, much more. A first-rate primary source, The Shirley Letters offers especial insight to American history and is highly recommended for both personal reading lists and academic reference collections.

I enjoyed this book. It give a fine first hand account of what life was like in the California gold mines at the beginning of the gold rush. The letters are well written with great attention to detail.

This book is a marvelous true story of what it was like, in California, during a time which will never come again. The author's detailed descriptions and wonderful style of writing takes the reader there, to the Old California, when it wasn't a state, it was a wild untaimed country unto itself. Truly beautiful.

I have one of under 200 original copies, signed by the author, it is my treasure. I am so glad to see it here, offered to the general public. I obtained it just last month, and wanted to share it with every woman, man, child I know! I thought I was going to have to type the entire book just to give a copy to my mother. I thought that because of the small number printed that there wasn't any way I would find another one, but low and behold, here it is, reprinted only this year, on Amazon. A must for any Californian.

Stunningly vivid work. I've read many books that cover the Gold Rush era. This one is by far the best at bringing it to life. It was written by a woman who lived right where it was happening, when it was happening. Written for the popular (newspaper) press of the time, her stories paint a picture of the setting, the people, and the values of the day that is simply unmatched.

Even better, the editor has done an admirable work of putting the author's life and work into context, with a helpful introduction, endnotes, and glossary of place names.

This is one of the best diaries I have the pleasure of reading. "Dame Shirley" is an elegant and educated women coping with the harshest of environments with a keen and happy attitude. I highly recommend this book.

Original letters from the wife of a gold rush doctor to her sister back east. These are considered some of the better original source material from the gold rush. Louise Clappe is a very readable writer. I found it enjoyable and engaging reading