Book Description
Heyday is a brilliantly imagined, wildly entertaining tale of America’s boisterous coming of age–a sweeping panorama of madcap rebellion and overnight fortunes, palaces and brothels, murder and revenge–as well as the story of a handful of unforgettable characters discovering the nature of freedom, loyalty, friendship, and true love.
In the middle of the nineteenth century, modern life is being born: the mind-boggling marvels of photography, the telegraph, and railroads; a flood of show business spectacles and newspapers; rampant sex and drugs and drink (and moral crusades against all three); Wall Street awash with money; and giddy utopian visions everywhere. Then, during a single amazing month at the beginning of 1848, history lurches: America wins its war of manifest destiny against Mexico, gold is discovered in northern California, and revolutions sweep across Europe–sending one eager English gentleman off on an epic transatlantic adventure. . . .
Amid the tumult, aristocratic Benjamin Knowles impulsively abandons the Old World to reinvent himself in New York, where he finds himself embraced by three restless young Americans: Timothy Skaggs, muckraking journalist, daguerreotypist, pleasure-seeker, stargazer; the fireman Duff Lucking, a sweet but dangerously damaged veteran of the Mexican War; and Duff’s dazzling sister Polly Lucking, a strong-minded, free thinking actress (and discreet part-time prostitute) with whom Ben falls hopelessly in love.
Beckoned by the frontier, new beginnings, and the prospects of the California Gold Rush, all four set out on a transcontinental race west–relentlessly tracked, unbeknownst to them,
by a cold-blooded killer bent on revenge.
A fresh, impeccable portrait of an era startlingly reminiscent of our own times, Heyday is by turns tragic and funny and sublime, filled with bona fide heroes and lost souls, visionaries (Walt Whitman, Charles Darwin, Alexis de Tocqueville) and monsters, expanding horizons and narrow escapes. It is also an affecting story of four people passionately chasing their American dreams at a time when America herself was still being dreamed up–an enthralling, old-fashioned yarn interwoven with a bracingly modern novel of ideas.
"In this utterly engaging novel, the author of Turn of the Century brings 19th-century America vividly to life . . . While this is a long book, it moves quickly, with historical detail that's involving but never a drag on the action; the characters are beautifully drawn. A terrific book; highly recommended."
–Library Journal
"Heyday is fuled by manic energy, fanatical research, and a wicked sense of humor.... It's a joyful, wild gallop through a joyful, wild time to be an American."
-Vanity Fair
Customer Reviews:
A Phenomenal Read!.......2007-09-20
This novel is educational, exciting and well-written. Kurt Andersen is a talented author who has certainly done his research, and beautifully combines history with fiction. Read this book!
Great adventure from east to west coast........2007-09-03
This is a long book but worth it. Be prepared to commit yourself to this. You won't want to miss the ending. Great characters, interesting history. Books written in this era are always so fun to read. You won't be disappointed if you enjoy epic, romantic adventure filled stories.
A fun ride, but lots of negatives.......2007-08-21
I was torn between giving this book 4 stars or only 3. There are lots of negatives that distracted me from really enjoying this book, but, when I got to the end, I realized that it was worth the read.
I won't describe the plot - plenty of others have done that, and the book's summary is sufficient. Suffice it to say that the plot itself is one of the book's weaknesses: other reviewers mentioned the coincidences that forced me to suspend disbelief over and over again, but I think, as the book progresses, you get so used to these coincidences that it doesn't matter. In the end, the book is a kind of fairy tale, and coincidence is essential for such stories.
What bothered me most, however, is the author's need to flex his historical muscles at every turn. He clearly did lots of research, and wants to make sure you know it. He almost uses Tom Swifties - bits of exposition that go overboard to explain what he's presented - when tossing around "authentic" elements from the time. Inventions, clothing, food, and anything else he can present, Andersen keeps reminding us that he did his homework. Yet this ends up more distracting than if he simply mentioned these things in passing, or, rather, _didn't_ mention them all.
I read a lot of 19th century fiction, and Heyday does fit well into that style (though clearly it is contemporary, ie 21st century, 19th century fiction.) It's a fun read, full of interesting characters, and only a few tics mar its overall effect.
A slow start grows into an engrossing, richly detailed book.......2007-08-02
This is a loooong novel (640 pages), and as the editorial review from Publishers Weekly notes, one with a "slowish" beginning. The book opens in April 1948 with young Englishman Ben Knowles' arrival in America. On his first day in the new world, he encounters two of the other main characters, the beautiful actress Polly Lucking and her firefighting brother, Duff (the fourth main character, Timothy Skaggs, is introduced a bit later). However, the timeline then reverts back to six months before, when Ben has traveled to Paris to visit a friend. Although the events that occur in Paris are integral to the story that follows (including the introduction of another major character, Sergeant Drumont), I think that the author's use of a flashback here is the reason the first 100 pages or so of this novel tend to drag somewhat.
Once the book returns to the present time, however, the story begins to pick up. Author Andersen provides a fascinating glimpse of life in the mid-1800s, from dietary staples to the newspaper boom to brothels and bathroom habits. He's clearly done his research--for example, he often makes a point of incorporating more colloquial terms in describing "modern" life at that time. Andersen also uses several major historical events as vehicles for his plot, such as France's "February Revolution" and the California gold rush. Major historical figures appear as well--Charles Darwin, Walt Whitman, and others are actual characters in the book, while Abraham Lincoln and similar famous personage receive prominent mentions.
Each of the four main characters--Ben, Polly, Duff, and Skaggs--is afforded with plenty of time and a point of view voice. Early on, the focus is more on Ben's experiences in France and Polly's checkered history, but as the novel progresses, we learn more of Duff's secret past and Skaggs' aspirations; Drumont's perspective is given as well. Heyday is a book is full of both tragedy and humor, although with more of an emphasis on the latter. At the novel's conclusion, I felt that my extended stay in the nineteenth century was time well-spent, and I believe that you will too.
Appealingly impossible novel.......2007-07-30
"Heyday" presents the reader with a totally impossible plot, in the sense of one filled with outrageous coincidences plus main characters that somehow manage to meet almost every prominent figure and participate in every major event or historical movement on two continents in the middle of the 19th century. The resulting incredulity almost turns the story, despite the intense violence and mayhem, into a comedy.
Then there are the characters themselves, as flat and static as can be. They move around a lot, but they do not evolve, regardless of the monumental challenges with which are are constantly faced.
The book's sole strength--and it's a good one--is in the details of everyday life of the time. The author has done his homework! What luxurious descriptions of life in Paris, London, New York City, the Midwest, and California during the Gold Rush, including numerous titillating details about sexual habits and instruments!
But in the end, the book is just too long to sustain interest in detail alone
Book Description
It has always been understood that the 1848 discovery of gold in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada influenced the battle over the admission of California to the Union. But now, in this revelatory study, award-winning historian Leonard L. Richards makes clear the links between the Gold Rush and many of the regional crises in the lead-up to the Civil War.
Richards explains how Southerners envisioned California as a new market for slaves and saw themselves importing their own slaves to dig for gold, only to be frustrated by California’s passage of a state constitution that prohibited slavery. Still, they schemed to tie California to the South with a southern-routed transcontinental railroad and worked to split off the southern half as a separate slave state. We see how the Gold Rush influenced the squabbling over the Gadsden Purchase, the Kansas-Nebraska Act, the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, and various attempts to take Cuba and Nicaragua. We meet David Broderick, a renegade New York Democrat who became a force in San Francisco politics in 1849, and his archrival William Gwin, a major Mississippi slaveholder and politician who arrived in California with the intent of making it a slave state and himself one of its first senators. Richards recounts the Washington battles involving Taylor, Clay, Calhoun, Douglas, Davis, Webster, Fillmore, and others, as well as the fiery California political battles, feuds, duels, and perhaps outright murder as the state came shockingly close to being divided in two.
When war did break out efforts were made to push California to secede, but there was little general enthusiasm for secession, and many prominent Southerners went off to join the Confederate Army. And with the South out of the Union, the Pacific Railroad Act passed, insuring a comfortably northern route.
Customer Reviews:
Good try.......2007-07-31
I think that the authro had an interesting hypothesis and did attack the Civil War from an interesting perspective. But, the bottom line is that California was never really threatened to become a slave state or leave the Union at the time of the Civil War. I think it was a real stretch to suggest that those hypotheses were any more than very unlikely and really didn't even come close to happening. I believe that the vote was over 80% in favor of "free state" status.
A Close Run Thing: California, CSA.......2007-04-07
A Close Run Thing: California, CSA
The California Gold Rush and the Coming of the Civil War, Richards, Leonard L., Knopf Publishing, 304 pp., illus., maps, 2007.
Gold Rush! California, like Kansas in the 1850s, was caught between pro- and anti-slavery settlers. To migrating Southerners, the labor-intensive mines in the Sierra Nevada Mountains begged for slave labor. Southern slave holders, who did not migrate to California, viewed Californaia as a new market for slaves. The Mexican state of California became the U.S. state of California through intense political maneuvering, timely military presence, and impassioned hypocritical rhetoric. A 'free state' (wage labor as opposed to slave labor) California narrowly missed being divided, north to south, wage labor and slave labor.
Conversely, Northern migrants envisioned the building of ports which in turn would lead to extensive participation in the China trade. The struggle for California statehood, the divisions within the Democratic Party, the contentious spirit of the American (Know Nothing) Party, the demise of the Whig Party, and the explosive growth of the Republican Party is subperbly described by the author. Slanders, duels, law suits, graft, were a frequent occurrence. In an era when voters received paper ballots at home and then went to the polls, party organization was essential.
The author offers telling details within in the mural of the political, social and economic panorama of California. Richards opens the story with the murder of an Irish Catholic Democratic U.S. Senator and ends the book with the unmourned death of one of the conspirators 20 years later. In the middle of the work, Richards reveals that the senator predicted his own death within a next few months. Seamlessly moving from the Sierra Nevada goldfields to San Fransico, from Panama and to the halls of Congress, and then back again, Professor Richards tells a story of gold and railroads, Mexicans and Anglos, miners and politicians, frontier women and ballroom damsels.
Refreshingly, Richards draws his conclusions hestitantly. He offers no platitudes nor does he reveal an agenda. The reader draws his own conclusions and meanings regarding the Slave Power Conspiracy, Stephen Douglas' quest for a railroad for the West, James Buchanan's activism and paralysis, and John Fremont's reputation and his actual accomplishments. This reader realized how close California was to becoming North California and South California. How may have the Civil War turned out if the North had not received almost $3 million dollars a month during the Civil War from the California gold fields? How may have the war turned out if gold had been king and cotton had been queen of the South?
California's Unknown Political History Between the Gold Rush and the Civil War.......2007-03-15
Most books about the American Civil War ignore the West. At best they will take up the 1862 Confederate invasion of New Mexico, and perhaps mention that a handful of Confederate troops made it as far west as Tucson.
Otherwise, aside from the Union occupation of New Orleans, Grant's actions in Tennessee and Mississippi, and Sherman's March to the Sea, most books on the conflict concentrate on Lee's campaigns in Virginia and his two invasions of the North. Books about the approach of the war take up the issues of slavery and States' Rights in the context of the politics in the East and the repercussions of the Kansas-Nebraska Act. The West is not usually discussed. Yet, California's gold helped finance the Union victory, and Californians were deeply involved in the politics that led to the conflict.
Leonard L. Richards, professor of history at the University of Massachusetts, tries to redress this imbalance. In this new book he takes up the politics of California, from the entrance of John C. Frémont on the eve of the Mexican War, through the Gold Rush and California's admission as a state, to the 1860 election that led to the war.
Many Northern Californians today often wonder why the state couldn't have been divided into two? The more ecologically-minded north could manage its own water, and the thirsty south would have had to limit its unbridled growth. Richards tells us how the state almost did become divided, several times in fact. The closest division came was in 1858 when the California legislature passed an act to separate the state, creating a Territory of Colorado south of the vicinity of San Luis Obispo. Richards says this was because of a desire among the Mexicans of the south for more self-determination, but they would have never succeeded without the votes of the pro-Southern Democrats in the north who hoped to create a slave state in southern California.
The southern part of the state voted three to one in a referendum in support of the plan, but the US Congress, faced with the approaching Civil War, ignored the proposal. Considering the great interest among many in Congress and the Buchanan Administration in the vain attempt to create a pro-slavery Kansas, their negligence of a much more possible new slave state in southern California is surprising, but by 1858 the Republicans were in the ascendancy and the Democrats were fragmenting.
Against the background of the national debate, Richards describes the local politics in California, a free state dominated by pro-slavery Southerners, highlighted by a famous duel between the pro-slavery Chief Justice of the California Supreme Court and an anti-slavery US Senator. The several plans to create a transcontinental railroad are also described against the background of the slavery issue and the Kansas statehood debate.
My only wish is that the Epilogue, a concise summary of California and California soldiers during the Civil War, should instead have been expanded into several chapters. The book is called "...the Coming of the Civil War" and that's what it is. But when there are so few books that discuss California during the war, it would have been nice if Richards could have written more.
Not the California History You Learned in School..........2007-02-22
This was an extremely interesting book that discusses a time period (between the Gold Rush and the outbreak of the Civil War) in California history that has been downplayed.
The book opens with a 1859 dual in San Francisco between David Broderick, California's US Senator, and David Terry, a former Chief Justice of the California Supreme Court over slavery-related politics in which Broderick was mortally wounded. It then moves back in time to the discovery of Gold in the Mother Lode and the increasing value of California to the nation. From that point, Richards then demonstrates how political and social tensions became so fierce in California in the 1850's.
The book provides an nice overview of the history of the Gold Rush and then illustrates the surpising number of cross-influences between California and the growing sectional conflict in the nation. It discusses in some detail early California politics in the 1850's and how much it was affected by activist pro-slavery and abolitionist forces. As an example, I was quite surprised the number of times that they proposed dividing California in two - a free Northern half and a pro-slave Southern half. In fact, a proposal to do just that was approved by both the California Assembly and Senate and signed by the Governor in the late 1850's. Only James Buchanan's relcutance to push it forward to avoid antagonizing an increasingly polarized congress stopped it for good.
This is a great book for people interested in California history or people interested in the build up to the Civil War on a national stage. Readers interested in both topics will be especially delighted.
Amazon.com
Texas A&M University professor H.W. Brands enhances his reputation as one of America's great popular historians with The Age of Gold, which tells the story of the California gold rush through rollicking narrative and intelligent analysis. "James Marshall's discovery of gold at Coloma [in 1848] turned out to be a seminal event in history, one of those rare moments that divide human existence into before and after," he writes. It launched "the most astonishing mass movement of people since the Crusades" and "helped initiate the modern era of American economic development." Brands describes how thousands of people from all over the world hazarded the journey, faced the scientific challenge of extracting precious metal from the earth, and finally struggled "to sink roots" where so many came merely "to strip the land." This book is something of a departure for Brands, who most recently has written biographies of Benjamin Franklin and Theodore Roosevelt (both of them excellent). Yet he tackles this new topic with confidence, telling dozens of stories about John Fremont, Leland Stanford, and less famous forty-niners. He concludes by describing why these tales have a national and even global importance. The Age of Gold is magnificent in its sweep, and not to be missed by fans of American history. --John Miller
Book Description
By the Author of the Bestselling Pulitzer Prize Finalist THE FIRST AMERICAN
THEY WENT WEST TO CHANGE THEIR LIVES AND IN THE BARGAIN THEY CHANGED THE WORLD. THIS IS THE EXTRAORDINARY STORY OF THE MEN AND WOMEN OF THE GOLD RUSH.
When gold was first discovered on the American River above Sutter's Fort in January 1848, California was sparsely populated frontier territory not yet ceded to the United States from Mexixo. The discovery triggered a massive influx as hundreds of thousands of people scrambled to California in search of riches, braving dangerous journeys across the Pacific, around Cape Horn, and through the Isthmus of Panama, as well as across America's vast, unsettled wilderness. Cities sprang up overnight, in response to the demand for supplies and services of all kinds. By 1850, California had become a state -- the fastest journey to statehood in U.S. history. It had also become a symbol of what America stood for and of where it was going.
In The Age of Gold, H. W. Brands explores the far-reaching implications of this pivotal point in U.S. history, weaving the politics of the times with the gripping stories of individuals that displays both the best and the worse of the American character. He discusses the national issues that exploded around the ratification of California's statehood, hastening the clouds that would lead to the Civil War. He tells the stories of the great fortunes made by such memorable figures as John and Jessie Fremont, Leland Stanford and George Hearst -- and of great fortunes lost by hundreds now forgotten by history. And he reveals the profound effect of the Gold Rush on the way Americans viewed their destinies, as the Puritan ethic of hard work and the gradual accumulation of worldly riches gave way to the notion of getting rich quickly.
Customer Reviews:
Great approach - lays out the impact of gold in California.......2007-04-10
If you are looking for a book about gold mining in the 1850s in California, this actually isn't it. The book spends very few pages talking about the actual mining of of gold. Instead, Brands takes a broader approach, looking at the historical impact of the discovery of gold in California and comes up with some very interesting insights.
The first thing Brands analyzes in Age of Gold is how the masses that flocked to California actually got there and where they came from. By using personal stories, Brands really brings the voyages and the hardships to life. He finds individuals who came to California from Chile, Australia, Europe and the Eastern U.S. and explains what was unique and common to each of their experiences. It's truly amazing to someone living in the age of commercial jets to read about the trails of getting from New York to San Francisco in 1850, no matter the choice of land or sea.
The second aspect of Brand's analysis is the culture of California in the 1850s and beyond. How the cities of the territory emptied on the discovery of gold and then filled up. Brands talks about the bar and brothel filled towns and settlements and the initial lack of women in California. He also points out how hard it was to set up a civil society with everyone in town simply for the purpose of getting rich quickly off of gold. The rapidity with which California goes through different phases is fascinating.
Brands then looks at how California's population explosion forced the statehood debate for California into the fore in Congress and ultimately forced the slavery debate into prominence again. Every state that came into the Union at this time was hotly contested as to whether it would be a free state or a slave state, with huge ramifications for the balance of free/slave power in congress.
The whole of the story is told through peoples' stories and experiences and has a very personal feel. Well worth reading.
Interesting , anecdotal.......2007-02-09
Brands uses the experiences of the common forty niner and the likes of John Fremont, Leland Stanford and William T. Sherman to show how the gold rush eventually resulted in the demise of the old south and the actualization of the American dream. A good pace and extensive use of anecdotes made this an enjoyable read.
Excellent Book...one of the best I've ever read.......2007-01-10
Truly the most fascinating historical account of the California Gold Rush. The author, through his research, has brought to life the troubles and tribulations of those who left their homes and families to come to the golden state. I highly recommend it. I am an historical researcher and writer and I have read alot of history books, and this one takes the prize.
California Here We Come!.......2006-11-21
The Age of Gold
The California Gold Rush and the New American Dream.
H. W. Brands has writen a compelling and comprehensive account of the California gold rush starting with the discovery at Sutters Mill.
As the news spread from California, people from all over the world came to join in the mining. Others like John and Jessie Fremont were merely in the right place at the right time.
At first pans were used to sift the gold from the sand; later a cradle was used. Even later the "Long Tom,"--an improvement on the cradle--made even better returns.
Many people that moved to California during the gold rush stayed there for the remainder of their lives. Large towns such as San Francisco grew at unprecedented rates because of the influx of people that came by boat.
This written account of the gold rush by Brands illustrates America's continual quest for the perfect get rich quick scheme. Many people did make their fortunes, but many others didn't survive the journey, and still others died when they arrived, or died working in the mines. The Age of Gold tells of the good, and the bad; the honest, and the scoundrel in an enjoyable fashion.
A great,great book.......2006-11-13
While this book has been out quite a while I read it after reading some of Brands other books. I personally feel this is his best book. By following the story of the famous and the obscure on their way to the California goldfields and their life thereafter he lends a truly human scope to the story. By looking at the affect of the gold rush on the immigrants from various countries as well as the native americans already there he tells the big picture. This is a must read for anyone with an interest in the settlement of California or the "taming" of the west. Excellent!!
Product Description
An avid Santa Barbara surfer gets into sea urchin diving as a means to explore the waves of the Channel Islands. His travels take him from the harbor at Santa Barbara to the harsh waters of the North Coast, and the shark-infested Farallon Islands. This intimate snapshot follows a unique group of underwater pioneers from 1978 through 1996, chronicling the adventure, humor, and tragedy of the people involved in this fascinating way of life.
Customer Reviews:
An amazing story that you'll find yourself sharing with others.......2007-08-30
As the last reviewer said, if your heart is in any way connected to the ocean, be it through surfing, boating, diving, fishing, or just spending time around the beach, you'll have a profound appreciation for this book.
Tom is an amazing story teller and Bluewater Gold Rush is an wonderful mix of adventure, friends, love, and loss. I often find myself retelling Tom's stories to friends, recounting them while I'm diving, or using new terms that I picked up from the book like "white buffalo". There are stories in the book that are laugh-out-loud funny and stories where you can't help but share the loss along with Tom when bad things happen to good people.
My one regret was purchasing the book in the middle of a particularly harsh work week. My job kept me really busy during the days and the book keep me up most of the nights. I simply couldn't put it down. I made it through the book by the end of the week but sleep deprivation almost did me in!
I had the opportunity to visit one the main settings in the book after I read it and I felt compelled to send Tom an email afterwards. I would like to close by sharing this email.
------
I found myself in Santa Barbara for work a few weeks ago. I had some spare time one evening so I went down to the dock and stood there with a few dozen other spectators as the urchin boats unloaded. I couldn't help but wonder if any of the characters that I read about in your book were right there in front of me. I had a tremendous appreciation for the whole process after reading your book and found myself telling my coworkers tales from the book later that night at dinner.
The next night I managed to drag 3 of my buddies over to Brophy Bro's Bar. We went upstairs and I showed everyone the picture of Wiener. I volunteered to buy the drinks that night on the condition that they listen to a few stories first. I told them a little about your book and some of the adventures that you guys had. I told them about Wiener and how he got his nickname. I also told them about the shark. Of all of the things that you said about Wiener in your book and during your talk, the one that I always remember first was that he was the kind of guy would go up to his friends and give them a big hug and tell them that he loved them. We enjoyed our shots of tequila with the toast, "To Weiner - a man who wasn't afraid to tell his friends that he loved them!". It was a neat experience!
First rate, a must for lover's of the ocean and ocean lore.......2007-07-19
After reading excerpts in The Surfer's Journal and hearing friends in the West Coast water world rave about this gem of a book, I bought it and devoured it a weekend. This is a terrific read, at once an honest, deeply personal memoir and an entertaining swash-buckling tale of adventure. Kendrick writes in a clear, deceptively easy style that grabs you off the dock on the first page and the next thing you know, you're down 85 feet deep on a big money dive in the gin clear waters of a virgin reef by the Channel Islands. And it doesn't let up.
Kendrick was a member of the Santa Barbara, California-based sea urchin divers who pioneered this offbeat fishery, reaping its rewards and facing lethal dangers, opening new waters in Northern California, even--and this is insane--harvesting urchins at the Farallon Islands, the stalking ground of the Great White Shark. There are some great stories here, moments of danger and reward, death and laughter, all told with great insight. This is a memorable book that deserves to be in the book collection of anyone who loves the ocean and the lore of the sea.
Rumor has it that the author has been hired to write a screenplay adaptation. This book is an absolute natural for the big screen. Highest recommendation.
John Grissim, author, Pure Stoke and The Lost Treasure of the Concepcion
Identify.......2006-10-26
Picked this up from the author at a party recently. We had met for the first time & we found that we had quite a few similar experiences. Set about to read this book immediately it and finished it today.
Reading this book was a nostalgic experience for me. His writing style is friendly, accurate and fast. His years in the Urchin harvesting business were heady-times and he loved those years intensely; it comes across in many ways and makes this book a joy to read.
His take on things is not polished, gender neutral or politically correct which is absolutely refreshing. This is not a dull, chronological report of the evolution of a commercial diver, but a fast paced, personal account that will hold your interest and provide an education regarding one of the most interesting activities on the west coast in the last 50 years.
If you like diving, surfing, boats, fishing, interesting coastal stories or you just like to go out to the coast every once in a while, this is a book that I highly recommend.
Average customer rating:
- a life changing journey
- One of my favorites
- My All Time Favorite Book
- VARTY INTERESTING
- WONDERFUL BOOK!!!
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Seeds of Hope: The Gold Rush Diary of Susanna Fairchild, California Territory 1849 (Dear America Series)
Kristiana Gregory
Manufacturer: Scholastic Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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| Fiction
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| History & Historical Fiction
| Children's Books
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Dear America
| Historical
| Series
| Children's Books
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| Ages 9-12
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General
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ASIN: 0590511572 |
Book Description
Susanna Fairchild and her family are on board a ship sailing from New York to the West, where they plan to start a new life in Oregon. But tragedy strikes when Susanna¹s mother is lost to the sea. Hearing stories of great wealth, Susanna¹s physician father decides he wants to join the hordes of men rushing to California to mine for gold.
Customer Reviews:
a life changing journey.......2006-11-28
I would recommend this book to girls who like journal style writing. Kristiana Gregory writes this book as the main character, Suzanna's, diary. She uses the elements of suspense and surprise to hold your attention; including how, when, and where Suzanna and Clara's mother died. I learned a lot from this book about the Gold Rush. I learned what gold fever was and how some men became thieves because of it. If you want to learn more about the Gold Rush and you like surprises then you should definitely read this book.
One of my favorites.......2006-06-12
I am a huge fan of all the Dear America books. The Gold Rush is really cool and this book made me feel like I was there. This story is about a young girl who leaves her home to go and live with relatives. On the way her father gets gold fever, so they head out west. I really enjoyed reading about Susanna and all her many adventures
My All Time Favorite Book.......2006-04-30
This book is the most fantastic book I have ever read! Susanna(the main charecter of this book)a girl who has no mom, a father who is a doctor in the Gold Rush, a bossy older sister, and who gets merried at the age of 15. She is always getting into trouble during the Gold Rush, But Wait! I don't want to spoil the whole story! I want you to read it yourself. I love this story more than anything ! Please consider this amazing book!
VARTY INTERESTING.......2005-04-05
If your like me loving the past than you should read this book. It's about a girl and her father is a minner so they have to go differnet places so he can find work. At some parts it's hard for her and her sister. I SAY YOU SHOULD READ IT!!!
WONDERFUL BOOK!!!.......2004-11-20
This book is about a girl named Susanne whose dad finds out about the California Gold Rush. They decide to stay for about a year, then go back to Oregon. Their dad goes away for a little while, leaving Susanne and her sister in charge of the cabin. A boy gets sick, and they want to help him, but their dad is away. They go searching for him, and they come upon a chunk of gold weighed around 1,000 dollars. Back then, that was a lot of money to just find. Anyway, this is a very good book and I suggest it to readers. READ IT!!!
Book Description
In this vivid account of the birth of modern California, J.S. Holliday frames the gold rush years within the larger story of the state's transformation from the quietude of a Mexican hinterland in the 1840s to the forefront of entrepreneurial capitalism by the 1890s. No other state, no nation experienced such an adolescence of freedom and success. By 1883 California was hailed as "America, only more so."
Holliday's boldly interpretive narrative has the authority and immediacy of an eyewitness account. This eminent historian recreates the masculine world of mining camps and rough cities, where both business and pleasure were conducted far from hometown eyes and conventional inhibitions. He follows gold mining's swift evolution from treasure hunt to vast industry; traces the prodigal plunder of California's virgin rivers and abundant forests; and describes improvised feats of engineering, breathtaking in their scope and execution.
Holliday also conjures the ambitious, often ruthless Californians whose rush for riches rapidly changed the state: the Silver Kings of the Comstock Lode, the timber barons of the Sierra forests, the Big Four who built the first transcontinental railroad, and the lesser profit-seekers who owned steamboats, pack mules, gambling dens and bordellos--and, most important for California's future, the farmers who prospered by feeding the rapidly growing population. This wildly laissez-faire economy created California's image as a risk-taking society, unconstrained by fear of failure.
The central theme of Rush for Riches is how, after decades of careless freedom, the miners were finally reined in by the farmers, and how their once mutually dependent relationship soured into hostility. This potential violence led to a dramatic courtroom decision in 1884 that shut down the mighty hydraulic mining operations--the end of California's free-for-all youthful exuberance.
Unique in its format, this beautiful book offers not only a compelling narrative but also almost two hundred fifty illustrations, one hundred in full color, that richly illuminate the themes and details of the text: daguerreotypes, photographs, paintings, lithographs, sketches, and specially drawn maps.
Los Angeles Times Best Nonfiction Book of 2000
Customer Reviews:
A beautiful book, beautifully written........2005-11-14
This is a beautiful book, beautifully written by one of the foremost experts on the gold rush and its impact on California history. Thoroughly researched, insightful, engaging, and richly illustrated. Highly recommended.
-David Burkhart, author of Earthquake Days: The 1906 San Francisco Earthquake & Fire in 3-D.
A truly horribly written book..........2005-07-15
If I were the author and publisher, I would be embarrassed to have put this book to print. In 2005, it seems deplorably irresponsible that any "scholar" would claim to have understood the impact of California's 'rush for riches' without any real attention to the impact of the gold rush on Native Californians. Given that 130,000 of 150,000 Native peoples were killed by miners and ranchers during this time, paid $5 per scalp or decapitated head and reimbursed by the state for horses and ammunition, you would think a book like this would at least spend some time analyzing such inhumanely racist actions... Lots of glossy pictures can't cover up the real history.
Gold Rush highlights .......2005-07-07
This book was so highly recommended that I rushed to my library and checked out the hardcopy edition. Excellent use of color and fascinating collection of photographs. I am writing a historical novel centered in San Francisco and the Mother Lode. This book is simply excellent.
California, America Only More So.......2001-04-08
I found Rush For Riches to be much more than just a beautifully illustrated book about California (more than 100 excellent pictures and sketches). It is foremost a story well-told, and it provides a framework for understanding the past and predicting the future. As I read the book, I became aware of the forces that shaped California's economic and social evolution - from a sparsely settled, undeveloped, and neglected province of Spain/Mexico (1769-1848) to the state that by the 1890s had attained the image "America, only more so." Dr. Holliday points out that California's transformation reflects the very essence of the American experience: how freedom from the old rules and traditions that controlled life "back home" did, in California, give birth to inventiveness and risk-taking; how opportunity attracted a racially and ethnically diverse population; and how both industry and agriculture developed side-by-side to sustain the rapid growth.
Holliday's book emphasizes the importance of the application of "civic virtue" and "ethical understanding" in public affairs. Chapter by chapter, the book describes how the selfish interests of the Miners - collectively the dominant economic-political force in California during the 1850s - early 1880s, came into conflict with the individual rights of California's Farmers and Anti-Debris Association leaders. Through judicial efforts, the Miners' often anarchical power was finally reined in - after twenty-five long years.
Rush For Riches reviews the Spanish Period, Mexican Period, the Gold Rush, and concludes with Judge Sawyer's 1884 court decision which brought an end to hydraulic mining in California.
The book is a study of the past, yes, but it is more than that, it is a wake up call for all Americans to give serious thought to present and future social and economic problems which California and many other states now face.
Rush For Riches is the story of California's transformation into America's leading entrepreneurial state. It is history, only more so.
(I previously purchased from Amazon.com The World Rushed In, another book by J. S. Holliday, which I found to be very deserving of its 5-star Amazon.com readers' rating.)
Bob Kirchner
Average customer rating:
- Great Book
- Gold Fever! Tales from the California Gold Rush
- Adults as well as children love this book.
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Gold Fever!: Tales from the California Gold Rush
Rosalyn Schanzer
Manufacturer: National Geographic Children's Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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Gold Fever (Picture Puffin)
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The California Gold Rush (Cornerstones of Freedom)
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How We Crossed The West: The Adventures Of Lewis And Clark
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California Gold Rush
ASIN: 1426300409
Release Date: 2007-01-09 |
Book Description
Catch the fever! Gold fever swept the nation—and the world—in 1848 when carpenter James Marshall discovered a gold nugget in the American River near John Sutter's mill. As word spread of gold in California, the news set off a westward stampede. Fortune seekers and adventurers poured into California by land and sea, wild with excitement and expectation.
Rosalyn Schanzer's engaging and humorous book tells the story of these prospectors in their own words. Schanzer has gathered her favorite quotes from journals and letters written by the forty-niners to recount the discovery of gold at Sutter's Mill. Her irresistible narrative also uses newspaper accounts to trace the various routes the forty-niners took from the East Coast to the West, the adventures they experienced along the way, and the challenges they faced on arrival. The characters recount their stories in their own words, in well-researched and authenticated quote bubbles.
Step into an intensely exciting chapter of American history. Learn about the dreamers who dropped everything to head out west. See who found gold and how. Meet the lucky ones—and the many whose dreams turned to dust. Listen to the intriguing tales of the prospectors, and find out what the gold-diggers did with their newfound wealth.
To write and research Gold Fever!, Rosalyn Schanzer visited many California Gold Rush historical sites, and took more than 600 photographs of everything from gold nuggets to saloons in order to make her art as accurate and flavorful as possible. With skill and humor she brings historical characters vividly to life and puts the spirit of the age into her vibrant art. History shines brightly on every page of this evocative book.
Customer Reviews:
Great Book.......2000-04-03
Gold Fever by Roz Schanzer is a terrific book, not only with the information that it covers, but with its glorious illustrations. The children I teach are totally entralled when we read this book together. Hope to see more great work from this author/illustrator in the future.
Gold Fever! Tales from the California Gold Rush.......2000-01-13
The story of the California gold rush is told through (short) actual quotes from those involved, arranged in a sequential manner. This non-fiction book is entertaining and informative and reads like a comic book. It is a historical edition and has excellent color illustrations. Recommended reading for 1st through the 6th grade, as well as the teachers of these grades,
Adults as well as children love this book........1999-04-30
The quotes make the telling very readable and enjoyable. I like the style of paper and the way Ms Schanzer did the pictures, told the story and made the reader feel like he/she had more information and a feel for the times. Good work!
Book Description
No event of American life prior to the Civil War ap-proached the impact of the rush for California gold. The first traces of raw gold were found at a sawmill on the American River in January, 1848. Within a year, tens of thousands of 'Forty-niners' were making their way to the vast new territory conquered in the war with Mexico. Never before in history, and never since, had so great a gold-bearing tract been found-a belt seventy miles wide running the length of California, from the Klamath Moun-tains in the north to the Mojave Desert in the south. All routes to San Francisco, gateway to the mines, were lengthy-six months on average-arduous, and dangerous: overland from the Missouri River across the Rocky Moun-tains and the Sierra Nevada, via the pre-canal Isthmus of Panama, or on a sailing ship around Cape Horn. Eldorado presents the full, colorful, character-filled story of those who risked their lives chasing the end of the rainbow-not just Americans, but a polyglot horde of men, women, and children of all races from the farthest corners of the globe.
Customer Reviews:
Walker shines in this superb narrative ..........2003-07-14
Many books have been written about the California Gold Rush, and most recently a popular contender by H. W. Brands, but only the acclaimed author and historian Dale L. Walker, and expert in California history, could bring us such a brilliant and comprehensive account of this time and place of the American West, and he does so in his latest release, ELDORADO.
In the pre-Gold Rush era, California was a mecca of commerce for traders from all over the world. Those who stepped foot on its shores, or made the overland journeys across the Oregon or Santa Fe trails, all sought a prosperous beginning. John Augustus Sutter was no exception, as he left his wife and children and their home in Switzerland, evading substantial debt and economic loss, to start over. Dale L. Walker enlightens the reader on the important role the "Empresario" Sutter played in the commercial and social development of northern California, and ultimately, if not ironically, how such a man in his business ventures suffered, rather than gained, from the discovery of gold at the site of his new saw mill.
Though the story of James Marshall's discovery of gold at Sutter's mill, under Sutter's employ, is likely the key highlight in the history of the Gold Rush, it is a perfect example of how the glamour of such an event can mask the reality of the craze, if not madness, that developed afterward. Walker offers great depth on how the news of the gold discovery reached the media and governments all over the world. How the news was received, who believed it and who didn't, and how those who did attempted to claim their share of the new fortune. Walker offers detailed accounts of the sea journeys around Cape Horn, or the partial sea journeys to the malaria laden jungles of Panama, then to San Francisco Bay - the prices they paid, the accommodations they received, and the fears and anxieties they faced. Rather by land or by sea, the trek alone was dreadful and life-staking. The disease cholera an invisible gauntlet, more so then the social and environmental challenges, to the success in reaching the land of gold.
Dale L. Walker has never failed to provide readers with a compelling, engaging narrative on any of his subjects, but ELDORADO could very well be his best work yet, and is sure to receive worldwide praise and recognition. The book belongs in every public and school library, and in the personal library of world leaders. It's a book for all times and all ages, a tremendous accomplishment, and Dale L. Walker more precious than gold to the writings of American history.
Unique, Penetrating, Fascinating.......2003-01-07
Dale L. Walker's approach to writing American history makes him the most absorbing historian of our times. He tells history by focusing on those who were involved; by drawing vivid and penetrating portraits of the characters who made the history. He is also an amazing researcher, unearthing material that escapes others. This makes him far more readable than Ambrose, and his material is richer as well. Eldorado tells the story of the California gold rush in such rich detail that the whole era springs to life. We come to understandings about what happened, and the men and women who settled California, and the implications of the gold rush that linger even in present times. This is a remarkable work, by a masterful historian, and one that, I suspect, will win literary awards.
Books:
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
Books Index
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