Indifferent Stars Above, The: The Harrowing Saga of the Donner Party (P.S.)

Product Information

urn:lcp:indifferentstars00dani:epub:85cd87f2-8e0d-4457-93fd-6073c79d9c1e Foldoutcount 0 Identifier indifferentstars00dani Identifier-ark ark:/13960/t6nz9bw3n Isbn 0061348112 Like Mary Ann Graves, who, at the top of Donner Pass—after a grueling and death-defying climb, looking ahead to the many grueling and death-defying experiences yet to endure—paused to appreciate the stunning beauty of the mountain vista.

The stunning story of one of America’s great disasters, a preventable tragedy of Gilded Age America, brilliantly told by master historian David McCullough. I found out about this book through Last Podcast on the Left, which did a phenomenal three-part episode series on the Donner Party and used this book as the primary source for their information. I was so fascinated and intrigued by this story, which I'd only ever heard about in vague details, that I decided to read the book for myself. Part One of The Indifferent Stars Above is short but effective, establishing the key players in the story and providing appropriate context. Part Two’s title however, harkens to the increasing trouble to come: “The Barren Earth.” However, as the Graves, Donner, and Reed families officially link up and begin their journey as a unit, things keep going from bad to worse. By the time we arrive at Part Three, hauntingly titled “The Meager By the Meager Were Devoured,” the full extent of the Donner Party’s nightmare begins to unfold.Interestingly, Yeats would later revisit and republish this poem. The updated version was published as follows, and alternatively, the title “An Epitaph:”

There are countless other books about the Donner Party and I'm sure some focus more on the brothers, George and Jacob Donner, than the other families. This book shines a spotlight on the Graves family and specifically their newly married daughter Sarah. The book takes you with Sarah and her family on the journey and so, it is through Sarah's eyes that you experience everything. Interestingly, author Daniel Brown has a connection with the Graves family, if a tenuous one; his great-uncle George Foster met the Graves while on their way west. The Fosters took the correct route and made it safely to California. The Graves took a “shortcut” encouraged by a man named Hastings who bought land in CA and was eager to convince easterners that the route could be faster and easier than getting to Oregon (he was wrong, clearly). The Fosters also helped with the rescue efforts and took Sarah and her siblings in briefly after the disaster. The speaker of ‘ A Dream of Death’ establishes that this will be the retelling of a dream they’ve experienced. They dream of someone passing away in a “strange place,” and describe that no accustomed hands are nearby. By this, it is likely meant that there are no hands nearby that they are used to, suggesting they are alone in a strange land. They are not given a name, they are simply “one,” suggesting there is little or no personal connection between the deceased person and the narrator. This could be a reflection of the dream landscape, where individuals are often difficult to recognize.An ideal pairing of talent and material. … Engrossing. … A deft and ambitious storyteller.”— Mary Roach, New York Times Book Review In this gripping narrative, Brown reveals the extremes of endurance that underlie the history of this nation, and more than that, of humanity in any part of the world, even today, surviving great peril in search of a better life.”— Nina Burleigh