OT: Holiday Reader's Corner

[Victor E. Bell]

Just finished a book about the perils and history of the Donner Party. Book is titled Desperate Passage (2008) by Ethan Rarick. Without going into the specifics of this calamity, it's fair to say that they were victims of some bad leadership, bad advice, at least in some measure an overabundance of pride, and obviously extremely bad luck. Just under half perished from starvation and of course we all know the story of the cannibalism, documented with varying levels of veracity. When the last half-frozen, emaciated members of the party were rescued, the press of the mid-1840's wasted no time in publishing wildly inaccurate and ill-sourced editorials and features describing the pioneers as crazed savages, mad with blood lust and a taste for human flesh, to the exclusion of traditional sources of food. It was a titillating tale, and it sold a lot of papers. Some of the survivors shrank from any public notoriety due to this, although others did become prominent in business and politics.

It was over thirty years, 1879, until the editor of the local paper near the encampment of the Reed/Donner Party at Truckee Lake published a history of the journey, downplaying the instances of cannibalism and portraying the people as average people with stark and chilling decisions to make given the available information. There was a recent doc on the Weather Channel about the Donner Party as well. Predicting the weather was a near-impossibility in 1846-47. It was estimated that 30 feet of snow was on the ground near Donner Pass when the last survivor was evacuated. It's a harrowing tale to be sure, and an important piece of history. I just took a recent interest in the story. Knew very little about it before. But it took a generation for people to live down the demonizing press of the 1840's

 

[Ten Thousan Marbles]

Just finished a book about the perils and history of the Donner Party. Book is titled Desperate Passage (2008) by Ethan Rarick. Without going into the specifics of this calamity, it's fair to say that they were victims of some bad leadership, bad advice, at least in some measure an overabundance of pride, and obviously extremely bad luck. Just under half perished from starvation and of course we all know the story of the cannibalism, documented with varying levels of veracity. When the last half-frozen, emaciated members of the party were rescued, the press of the mid-1840's wasted no time in publishing wildly inaccurate and ill-sourced editorials and features describing the pioneers as crazed savages, mad with blood lust and a taste for human flesh, to the exclusion of traditional sources of food. It was a titillating tale, and it sold a lot of papers. Some of the survivors shrank from any public notoriety due to this, although others did become prominent in business and politics.

It was over thirty years, 1879, until the editor of the local paper near the encampment of the Reed/Donner Party at Truckee Lake published a history of the journey, downplaying the instances of cannibalism and portraying the people as average people with stark and chilling decisions to make given the available information. There was a recent doc on the Weather Channel about the Donner Party as well. Predicting the weather was a near-impossibility in 1846-47. It was estimated that 30 feet of snow was on the ground near Donner Pass when the last survivor was evacuated. It's a harrowing tale to be sure, and an important piece of history. I just took a recent interest in the story. Knew very little about it before. But it took a generation for people to live down the demonizing press of the 1840's

I saw that Weather Channel documentary at the Savannah Film Festival while I was visiting Savannah with the PSUAA Civil War tour this past October. This showing included a Q&A with a couple of the producers and the director. It was very interesting to learn how they put it together.

The filming had to be done in a different state, because there was not enough snow at the actual site, and it presented a big logistical problem for them.

My question for the production team was how they chose their experts for the documentary. It ended up being the longest answer in the Q&A, as they described how they came upon these folks in their research.

It is a good film. I recommend it for those even mildly interested in this episode of our history....including the westward migration in general.

I also saw 4 sessions of shorts at the film festival, missing a fifth group of shorts because I was staying on Tybee and there was a weather/tidal anomaly that shut of the island from the mainland for a few hours.

 

[Victor E. Bell]

My question for the production team was how they chose their experts for the documentary.

Rarick, the author was one of them as you are likely aware.

 

[fairgambit]

Just finished a book about the perils and history of the Donner Party. Book is titled Desperate Passage (2008) by Ethan Rarick. Without going into the specifics of this calamity, it's fair to say that they were victims of some bad leadership, bad advice, at least in some measure an overabundance of pride, and obviously extremely bad luck. Just under half perished from starvation and of course we all know the story of the cannibalism, documented with varying levels of veracity. When the last half-frozen, emaciated members of the party were rescued, the press of the mid-1840's wasted no time in publishing wildly inaccurate and ill-sourced editorials and features describing the pioneers as crazed savages, mad with blood lust and a taste for human flesh, to the exclusion of traditional sources of food. It was a titillating tale, and it sold a lot of papers. Some of the survivors shrank from any public notoriety due to this, although others did become prominent in business and politics.

It was over thirty years, 1879, until the editor of the local paper near the encampment of the Reed/Donner Party at Truckee Lake published a history of the journey, downplaying the instances of cannibalism and portraying the people as average people with stark and chilling decisions to make given the available information. There was a recent doc on the Weather Channel about the Donner Party as well. Predicting the weather was a near-impossibility in 1846-47. It was estimated that 30 feet of snow was on the ground near Donner Pass when the last survivor was evacuated. It's a harrowing tale to be sure, and an important piece of history. I just took a recent interest in the story. Knew very little about it before. But it took a generation for people to live down the demonizing press of the 1840's

I read a book about the Donner Party many years ago. I don't recall the name but I'm just finishing a book about the 1939 Russo/Finnish War and think I will pick up yours next.

 

[anon_xdc8rmuek44eq]

Just finished a book about the perils and history of the Donner Party. Book is titled Desperate Passage (2008) by Ethan Rarick. Without going into the specifics of this calamity, it's fair to say that they were victims of some bad leadership, bad advice, at least in some measure an overabundance of pride, and obviously extremely bad luck. Just under half perished from starvation and of course we all know the story of the cannibalism, documented with varying levels of veracity. When the last half-frozen, emaciated members of the party were rescued, the press of the mid-1840's wasted no time in publishing wildly inaccurate and ill-sourced editorials and features describing the pioneers as crazed savages, mad with blood lust and a taste for human flesh, to the exclusion of traditional sources of food. It was a titillating tale, and it sold a lot of papers. Some of the survivors shrank from any public notoriety due to this, although others did become prominent in business and politics.

It was over thirty years, 1879, until the editor of the local paper near the encampment of the Reed/Donner Party at Truckee Lake published a history of the journey, downplaying the instances of cannibalism and portraying the people as average people with stark and chilling decisions to make given the available information. There was a recent doc on the Weather Channel about the Donner Party as well. Predicting the weather was a near-impossibility in 1846-47. It was estimated that 30 feet of snow was on the ground near Donner Pass when the last survivor was evacuated. It's a harrowing tale to be sure, and an important piece of history. I just took a recent interest in the story. Knew very little about it before. But it took a generation for people to live down the demonizing press of the 1840's

Holiday reading!?