Desperate Passage: The Donner Party's Perilous Journey West Book

"If you take shortcuts, you'll end up like the Donners!"

Many years ago, when a teacher scolded our class for being a bit lazy, all I could think about was learning more about these so-called Donners. Did they live nearby? Why were they supposed to be a lesson for us? This book does a pretty decent job of explaining the entire disaster to the reader, although some of it ended up being a bit grisly for me.

This is a very comprehensive review of the Donner Party, stretching back to when they first started West. It's simply amazing how treacherous it was for the American West pioneers, especially for those who made the journey before the vast nationwide train system was developed. Looking for a better life and leaving places that only a few decades before were considered 'the West' but were now 'the Midwest', people just got up and got to it. Their wagons, if they had any, would be full of their life's accumulations, much as we have now when we make a move. Imagine having to lose everything, and also your family's lives, because someone suggested a shortcut that had never been fully checked out beforehand.

The writing here is clear and chronological, so I very quickly understood who the parties were and why they undertook such a dangerous trip. The rescue attempts were devastating and that is when I really started becoming involved in the book. I must say that after finishing this volume, I have a much better respect for the relative ease with which we live our 21st-century lives. At least I don't think I'll be munching on my neighbours' bones too soon.

It's also why I always take the long route. Shortcuts are killers.

Book Season = Winter (snowfalls of dread)