The Indifferent Stars Above: The Harrowing Saga of the Donner Party

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Brown does an overall super job of making the Graves family the focus of his story as they related to the Donner Party incident. I especially liked his tangents that described everyday life in the 1840s, integration of modern sciences, and his conjectural fill-ins that make his book more interesting in the long run. Even though there just isn't that much factual information about Sarah Graves Fosdick who rolls in and out of his story, the reader will come to tragically appreciate what she went through and in the end, when Brown attempts to find the location of her grave site, a sadness and striking metaphor for the title of his book that affects the reader in a profound way--at least it did for this reader; the average Americanism of Sarah prevailed.The book may disappoint some readers as Brown certainly makes his politics known; unnecessary and a very weak link in an otherwise well-written book. With all of the quality research he did, he certainly lacked an understanding of U. S. politics during the 1830s and 40s. I would suggest that he should have read H. W. Brand's books  Andrew Jackson: His Life and Times  and  Lone Star Nation: The Epic Story of the Battle for Texas Independence  before he began to write so that he could have made realistic connections for the time period he was writing about--he clearly did not fully comprehend that aspect of his book.On the other hand, his strongest writing takes place with his factual and conjectural interpretation of the snowshoe party's attempt and eventual success in crossing the Sierras in the winter of 1847 to deliver in no uncertain terms their call for help. One can tell he watched the PBS American Experience documentary on the Donner Party several times as he makes multiple use of nearly the exact words from that source throughout the book, but I do not fault him for that. The documentary, with errors in its own right here and there, was excellent--I would use key words and phrases from it as well as a writer.As usual Lansford Hastings is the bad guy leading a "deception" that the Donners take his "shortcut" blah, blah, blah (never was it called a shortcut by Hastings, and the Donner Party knew wagons had not been over Hastings' new route and took it anyway!). But Brown is only slightly less harsh than any other author who has been bashing Hastings for the last fifty years. I must admit; however, that he wasn't as lambasting of Hastings as he could have been compared to such authors as Rarick in his  Desperate Passage: The Donner Party's Perilous Journey West --with that exception, I might add, a very good book unto itself.Most of his sources are clearly listed, but some are missing. For example, the reference that Louis Keseberg put the body of one-year-old George Foster on a hook on the cabin wall after he died in the night while sleeping with Keseberg seems just a bit over the top. I'm not sure historians agree that Keseberg actually did that (reminisces written after the fact are rife), but it makes for classic Donner Party reading!Other odds and ends include a seemingly unrelated reference to Mariano Vallejo in the beginning of the book who was the ever so generous Californio. Brown seems to think he netted 90K a year--doubtful at best; he was simply land rich, cash poor like everyone else before the Americans changed it all. Brown also makes reference to Vallejo's home he named "Casa Grande." That was actually a home Vallejo had assembled in 1853 long after the Donner Party incident was over and was one of forty prefabricated houses built in Switzerland and shipped around the horn to California. But I would not fault Brown for that misstatement; he took on a huge project and tried to work in the Californios somehow, but it just didn't work.I like the idea that Brown did, in fact, cover the trail that Sarah Graves Fosdick traveled on her journey west. Brown also took a couple of short hikes of less than an hour to see specific places near the original trail more clearly. I had to chuckle a little while reading his exploits--it appears he isn't much of an outdoors type of person as he seemed pretty wiped out after his respectively short jaunts, but by gosh he gets credit for trying! To get a fuller understanding of someone who spent hours and days seamlessly walking and exploring the same trail to California see  A Guide to the California Gold Rush .Last but not least the book did not include an index. I have no idea why. Six extra pages created easily with modern technology would have saved me from using a myriad of sticky notes and writing all over the book as I like to go back and check items from time to time. Four definite stars and one indifferent; I could elaborate more on the good, but that is why you will purchase and read Brown's work.

Love this book. It drew me in from the first chapter. There’s some fiction to it but a lot of great accurate history to find out about. I’ve lived in California my whole life, I’ve seen the Donner party historical site and I learned a lot about what is rarely talked or read about the Donner party.

I become so frustrated when people swoop in and give bad reviews of a work of scholarly nonfiction and bash it because it's not the work of fiction they thought it was (their mistake); it has "too many details;" or it has "too many characters."First of all, details are highly valued in a work of nonfiction. Secondly, these people are not "characters." They are actual figures who actually lived, and this is a very comprehensive account of the events they actually endured. The author's choice of choosing the viewpoint of Sarah Graves Fosdick is not some flair of a flip of a fiction pen; it is merely a way of choosing one of many individuals involved in this tragedy and creating a human personalization. Seeing some of the events through the lens of a young, newly married woman, the reader is able to benefit from the author's copious research into everything from birth control methods of the time to the societal standards of the day. As an appreciator of nonfiction, particularly concerning American history, I enjoy the inclusion of these kinds of layers and feel that they do much to contextualize not just one event or series of events, but the surrounding times that formed the events and the people who lived through them.The subject matter isn't for everyone. We are talking about the Donner Party here. This is a very famous story of American westward expansion, possibly for the wrong reasons. But if a reader has the barest grasp of why the Donner Party is famous, and gets in and becomes repulsed by the inclusion of certain historical facts, then I am not sure why they chose to read this book in the first place, and that's on the reader, not the writer. If you've never heard of the Donner Party, then I'd suggest doing a bit of homework first. Do some events get gross and repellent to our sensibilities? Yes. Is this American history that actually happened? Also yes.As an avid user of reviews (I never buy a book without reading reviews first), please, please, dear reader, at the very least understand the genre of the book you've chosen. I can't imagine giving a book a one-star review because I thought it was a novel and it wasn't, and I didn't like that. I don't believe that my personal subjectivity, particularly if I'm the one who's made the mistake, ought to drag a work down.If you are actually interested in this aspect of history, and you understand what you're getting into, and have a firm grasp on the fact that this is scholarly NONfiction, not historical fiction, I'd highly recommend this book, and indeed I've read it more than once.

This was my first book about the Donner Saga. I had read mentions of it in passing in other books and was curious. So I chose this one from several on the subject.The authors approach to the subject is highly personal, subjective and his own. At times you can glaze over with the adherence to timelines and geography. There are tangents into social history - which I would have thought unnecessary if you were reading this book, but the chapter on the weather patterns of El Nina at the time we’re fascinating.We all love a good cannibal story - and the “would you, wouldn’t you?” Dilemma. Of course you would... just not someone you KNOW...I especially liked that this author followed the survivors after the events, how it affected them, how their lives played out.A good read? Yes. But a starting point if you are researching - I still felt distanced from the people concerned, more excerpts from letters & diaries would have been nice.

Was a little doubtful when I saw that the writer followed one member of the party, but this was soon OK when the book got going. He sets the scene, and often expands into what life was like in the mid 19th century. I found it gripping and harrowing at the same time. Also unbelievable how the party could be convinced to take a new, untried route. Amazing that young children, older folk, pregnant and ill departed on this massive journey, and prevailed when most of us would have turned back or given up.A nice follow up at the end too when the author retraces their steps and gives the history of the descendents.To sum up, a book that was fascinating and hard to put down!

This is truly a brilliant book fascinating book. Incredibly well put together. I heard about this book from last podcast on the left.

This book exists because humanity exists, it is intrinsically present in our every breath. The gruelling and sometimes grotesque way we find to survive is brought into the life by this excellent book. History in the words of competent and careful writer, he gives life and feeling to a time that is past, yet ever present.

Love this book, very easy to read and such an eye opener about the times and hardships people went through.