false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1238639157m/6033525.jpg 6033525 4 <p> In April of 1846, Sarah Graves was twenty-one and in love with a young man who played the violin. But she was torn. Her mother, father, and eight siblings were about to disappear over the western horizon forever, bound for California. Sarah could not bear to see them go out of her life, and so days before the planned departure she married the young man with the violin, and the two of them threw their lot in with the rest of Sarah's family. On April 12, they rolled out of the yard of their homestead in three ox-drawn wagons. </p> <p> Seven months later, after joining a party of emigrants led by George Donner, Sarah and her family arrived at Truckee Lake in the Sierra Nevada Mountains just as the first heavy snows of the season closed the pass ahead of them. After a series of desperate attempts to cross the mountains, the party improvised cabins and slaughtered what remained of their emaciated livestock. By early December they were beginning to starve. </p> <p> Sarah's father, a Vermonter, was the only member of the party familiar with snowshoes. Under his instruction, fifteen sets of snowshoes were hastily constructed from oxbows and rawhide, and on December 15, Sarah and fourteen other relatively young, healthy people set out for California on foot, hoping to get relief for the others. Over the next thirty-two days they endured almost unfathomable hardships and horrors. </p> <p> In this gripping narrative, Daniel James Brown takes the reader along on every painful footstep of Sarah's journey. Along the way, he weaves into the story revealing insights garnered from a variety of modern scientific perspectives–psychology, physiology, forensics, and archaeology–producing a tale that is not only spell-binding but richly informative. </p> 6209017 28 4 2009 The Indifferent Stars Above: The Harrowing Saga of a Donner Party Bride total:105|5:34|4:57|3:11|2:2|1:1| 105 436 302 54 4 2 false false Sat Aug 01 08:30:35 -0700 2009 Thu Jun 04 10:48:04 -0700 2009 Sat Aug 01 08:30:35 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 1 false false Sun Feb 01 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Sun Mar 15 06:57:48 -0700 2009 Sun Mar 15 07:02:34 -0700 2009
Using old records and letters found in archives, census records, and published accounts, Brown te...more...]]> 5 1 false false Mon Aug 03 19:14:12 -0700 2009 Mon Aug 03 19:14:42 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Tue May 26 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed May 27 16:46:04 -0700 2009 Wed May 27 17:34:16 -0700 2009
With all the books on my plate (and a monthly book club commitment...more...]]> 4 1 false false Fri May 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon May 18 13:59:29 -0700 2009 Mon May 18 14:18:56 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 1 false false Sun May 24 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun May 24 22:15:05 -0700 2009 Tue May 26 08:05:56 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 1 false false Mon Jul 20 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Jul 20 14:32:51 -0700 2009 Thu Jul 23 06:11:25 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 1 false false Wed Jul 15 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat Jul 04 09:44:03 -0700 2009 Wed Jul 15 16:38:58 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Thu Jul 02 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Jun 16 12:05:30 -0700 2009 Thu Jul 02 06:46:37 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Tue Jun 16 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Jun 02 12:57:51 -0700 2009 Sat Jun 20 09:44:53 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Mon Jun 22 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Jun 16 12:49:43 -0700 2009 Mon Jun 22 16:03:56 -0700 2009 The perspective is from the experiences of a young woman, just married, traveling with her immediate family, new husband, and new trail acquaintances...more...]]> 4 2 false false Sat Aug 22 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Aug 23 12:40:35 -0700 2009 Mon Aug 24 07:38:06 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Wed Jul 22 13:08:50 -0700 2009 Wed Jul 22 13:18:54 -0700 2009
I couldn't put it down.

...more...]]> 3 1 true false Mon Jun 29 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Jun 23 18:46:33 -0700 2009 Tue Jun 30 18:41:21 -0700 2009 This was a comprehensive book about the Donner Party, the pioneers which in 1846 set out from Illinois to California and the hardships/horrors that they faced. I only knew a few basics about this story before reading this book. At time...more...]]> 4 0 false false Sun Aug 02 08:23:16 -0700 2009 Sun Aug 02 08:31:03 -0700 2009 It is a gripping, true story of the Donner Party trek to California. It is mind, gut and heart wrenching.
The author did a lot of research, which helps the reader understand what happened to these people and how it happened.
This...more...]]> 3 0 false false Thu Jun 18 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Jun 30 13:20:13 -0700 2009 Tue Jun 30 13:32:30 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sun Aug 09 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Jul 30 16:21:00 -0700 2009 Sun Aug 09 15:38:04 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Thu Jul 09 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Jul 24 20:05:49 -0700 2009 Fri Jul 24 20:19:56 -0700 2009 more...]]> 2 0 false false Wed Sep 02 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Jul 15 02:37:07 -0700 2009 Sat Sep 05 15:24:39 -0700 2009
This book purports to focus on a single character to trace t...more...]]> 4 0 false false Wed Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Jun 29 12:05:26 -0700 2009 Thu Jul 02 14:55:13 -0700 2009 more...]]> http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=6033525