Full name: Ordeal by Hunger: The Story of the Donner Party

Author: George R. Stewart Year: 1936 Rank: Rating: Original Rating: Pop Rating: Genres/categories: History, Non Fiction, Adventure, Historical fiction, Biographies, Classic Purchase/reserch links: LibraryThing Goodreads Amazon ISBNs: 9780395611593 0395611598

The tragedy of the Donner party constitutes one of the most amazing stories of the American West. In 1846 eighty-seven people -- men, women, and children -- set out for California, persuaded to attempt a new overland route. After struggling across the desert, losing many oxen, and nearly dying of thirst, they reached the very summit of the Sierras, only to be trapped by blinding snow and bitter storms. Many perished; some survived by resorting to cannibalism; all were subjected to unbearable suffering. Incorporating the diaries of the survivors and other contemporary documents, George Stewart wrote the definitive history of that ill-fated band of pioneers; an astonishing account of what human beings may endure and achieve in the final press of circumstance. Similar books: History of the Donner Party by C. F. McGlashan The Greatest Stories Never Told by Rick Beyer Love Stories by Jonathan Ned Katz The Indifferent Stars Above by Daniel James Brown A Treasury of Deception by Michael Farquhar What the Butler Saw by E. S. Turner Napoleon's Privates by Tony Perrottet Oh, Yikes! by Joy Masoff Black Tudors by Miranda Kaufmann Captain Bligh's Portable Nightmare by John Toohey Unnatural Murder by Anne Somerset 1492 by Felipe Fernandez-Armesto The Evolution of Civilizations by Carroll Quigley A Brief History of the Western World by Thomas H. Greer Cotton by Stephen Yafa Pickett's Charge by George R. Stewart The Pirate Hunter by Richard Zacks The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe The Pioneers by David McCullough Over the Edge of the World by Laurence Bergreen