Call number
970 S (TOP SHELF)
Collection
Publication
Howe Brothers (1982), Edition: First Edition, 331 pages
Description
Pulitzer Prize-winning author Wallace Stegner tells about a thousand-mile migration marked by hardship and sudden death--but unique in American history for its purpose, discipline, and solidarity. Other Bison Books by Wallace Stegner include Mormon Country, Recapitulation, Second Growth, and Women on the Wall.
Subjects
User reviews
LibraryThing member nemoman
Stegner was not a Mormon; however, he spent many years in Salt Lake City and had respect for many of the values ( as distinguished from the religious beliefs) of the church. This book is the epic story of the Mormon Trail and a must read for any student of the American West. The religious
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prejudices faced by the Mormons find echoes in the modern resurgence of the intolerant Christian fundamentalists. On the other hand the religious insularity of smaller Utah communities (see, e.g., Mormon Country also by Stegner) which may well be a hangover from a history of persecution, leads many Gentiles to feel frozen out. If crossing the Great Plains in a covered wagon was difficult, imagine the challenge of pushing a handcart for the distance. Show Less
LibraryThing member gypsysmom
This is my first Wallace Stegner book but he's been on my radar for a long time. Earlier this year I read a fictional account of one of the handcart companies that travelled the Mormon Trail. True Sisters told the story of the Martin Handcart Company that took a group of British immigrants from
Opening the west to settlement wasn't only done by Mormons. Lots of other people went west to Oregon and California and places in between. But, as Stegner points out, the Mormons were the only group that improved the trail so that people coming behind them would have an easier time. They also subsidized travel costs for a great many people who would not have been able to make the journey. Most of the people in the handcart companies were poor Europeans who were victims of the Industrial Revolution. If they had stayed in England, Sweden, Switzerland their lives probably would have been short and disease-ridden. It is true that some of them, particularly those in the Martin handcart company, died prematurely but for those that survived and made it to Utah their lives and that of their descendants was immeasurably better.
I'm glad I read this book. Stegner does not pull any punches when he feels the church elders made mistakes but at the same time he shows how world-changing their efforts were.
Highly recommended.
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Iowa City to Salt Lake City in 1856. They set out much too late in the year to make the 1400 mile journey and suffered the consequences of bad weather and insufficient food. I had a pretty bad opinion of Brigham Young and the elders of the Mormon church after reading that book. This unbiased account of the opening up of the trail, including an account of the handcart companies, changed that a bit (for the better).Opening the west to settlement wasn't only done by Mormons. Lots of other people went west to Oregon and California and places in between. But, as Stegner points out, the Mormons were the only group that improved the trail so that people coming behind them would have an easier time. They also subsidized travel costs for a great many people who would not have been able to make the journey. Most of the people in the handcart companies were poor Europeans who were victims of the Industrial Revolution. If they had stayed in England, Sweden, Switzerland their lives probably would have been short and disease-ridden. It is true that some of them, particularly those in the Martin handcart company, died prematurely but for those that survived and made it to Utah their lives and that of their descendants was immeasurably better.
I'm glad I read this book. Stegner does not pull any punches when he feels the church elders made mistakes but at the same time he shows how world-changing their efforts were.
Highly recommended.
Show Less
LibraryThing member thornton37814
Drawing largely from diaries and journals written by those who took this trail, Wallace Stegner gives us a look at the factors that led the Mormons from Kirtland, Ohio to Nauvoo, Illinois and eventually on the Mormon Trail which led to the Great Salt Lake Basin area. With a wealth of primary source
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materials available, he is able to give us a detailed glimpse at what life was like for persons accompanying Brigham Young westward. Stegner himself was a Presbyterian but he offers us a glimpse at their life with a balanced approach. While he did not use footnotes for reference purposes, one can often tell which account is being utilized by the context, and he does offer notes on the sources used in each chapter at the end of the book. There is an index mostly comprised of names and locations which will be useful for persons interested in specific persons or in places along the Trail. Show Less
Awards
Commonwealth Club of California Book Awards (Silver Medal — Fiction — 1964)
Pages
331
ISBN
0935704132 / 9780935704136