Desperate Passage
The Donner Party's Perilous Journey West
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Desperate Passage
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Narrated by:
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Christopher Prince
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By:
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Ethan Rarick
About this listen
In late October 1846, the last wagon train of that year's westward migration stopped overnight before resuming its arduous climb over the Sierra Nevada Mountains, unaware that a fearsome storm was gathering force. After months of grueling travel, the 81 men, women and children would be trapped for a brutal winter with little food and only primitive shelter. The conclusion is known: by spring of the next year, the Donner Party was synonymous with the most harrowing extremes of human survival. But until now, the full story of what happened--and what it tells us about human nature and about America's westward expansion--remained shrouded in myth.
Drawing on fresh archeological evidence, recent research on topics ranging from survival rates to snowfall totals, and heartbreaking letters and diaries made public by descendants a century-and-a-half after the tragedy, Ethan Rarick offers an intimate portrait of the Donner party and their unimaginable ordeal: a mother who must divide her family, a little girl who shines with courage, a devoted wife who refuses to abandon her husband, a man who risks his life merely to keep his word. Rarick resists both the gruesomely sensationalist accounts of the Donner party as well as later attempts to turn the survivors into archetypal pioneer heroes. "The Donner Party," Rarick writes, "is a story of hard decisions that were neither heroic nor villainous. Often, the emigrants displayed a more realistic and typically human mixture of generosity and selfishness, an alloy born of necessity."
A fast-paced, heart-wrenching, clear-eyed narrative history, Desperate Passage casts new light on one of America's most horrific encounters between the dream of a better life and the harsh realities such dreams so often must confront.
©2009 Ethan Rarick (P)2009 Audible, Inc.Listeners also enjoyed...
What listeners say about Desperate Passage
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anduko101
- 30-06-21
Really detailed account
Definitely worth a listen. Amazing story. Well documented and good listening pace. It's maybe worth watching a few on line videos first to get a mental picture of the characters involved.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Neff
- 03-10-22
Incredibly detailed
Well read, well written, and fascinating. I've read and listened to a lot of things about the Donner party before, and this is one of the best books I can recommend for giving you the details that play such a crucial part in this story, such as wagon manifolds and whose oxen struggle first. It also keeps the tone steady and respectful without over-sensational description of the cannibalism, but without shying away from detail either.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
- Dr. Robert Griffiths
- 23-03-10
Desperate Passage
Probably not the most cheerful of subjects to listen to on audio book. But almost from the first few minutes I was whisked off into nineteenth century America. I?ve spent the last three mornings sitting in the work car park waiting for a chapter to end before being able to leave the car!! I?m now over half way through the audio book and actually looking forward to going into work tomorrow ? or at least the drive in and the drive home!! Don?t think about it ? get this audio book!!!!
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Kindle Customer
- 22-01-18
great book but a bit short on details
loved the book and the quality of the audio is great. I wish there were more details, information shared
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- miss Laura Z Burden
- 17-09-18
very informative to those who know the legend
good story but it leaves you wanting more information on the party, it's ok
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