Reviews for The Oregon Trail

The average rating for The Oregon Trail based on 2 reviews is 4.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2019-04-18 00:00:00 Chris Blaha A very solid history of the American West primarily concerning the settlement of the West, the various Indian treaties, troubles and wars, the gold and silver rushes and the building of the railroads. Given that it was written over a century ago, the portrayal of all sides seemed very even handed. I suspect my more conservative friends would find the Indians too sympathetically portrayed while the modern movement of political correctness would be offended. The very fact that this book was written before the modern dogmas were born and thousands of films about the west were made likely makes this a valuable history. It seems like an honest telling unclouded by perceptions necessarily shaped by a hundred years of story telling and 'news'. The writers has clearly done his research and moves through the adventures of the 'west' roughly chronological order with some overlap as needed. He quotes many primary sources and put them in context. I suspect this would make a good secondary read for an older student who wants to know more or is being home schooled. The hundred plus years also show up somewhat in the writing style. It can be a dry read and there were times when I felt like I had been reading the book for most of my adult life. To be fair I've always found the building of the railroads interesting and the general movements of the Indians retreating before the settlers and the various treaties less interesting. My interest in the chapters of this book followed that path. So I suspect if you read this book with lots of interest in the topic you will find it very enjoyable, while if you have little real interest, avoid.

Review # 2 was written on 2014-07-08 00:00:00 Guy Carbray I really enjoyed this book, much much more than I thought I would. I learned many things and a few interesting trivia like that the settling of the west was delayed by about 50 years because someone went there and claimed that it was all a barren desert and that one of the people who was really pushing to get the inter-continental railroad built wanted to put a statue of Christopher Columbus at the beginning of the new connective line, the statue was to be pointing west and claiming that India was that way.... Non-fiction isn't usually this fun and easy to read.