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

In April of 1846, twenty-one-year-old Sarah Graves, intent on a better future, set out west from Illinois with her new husband, her parents, and eight siblings. Seven months later, after joining a party of pioneers led by George Donner, they reached the Sierra Nevada Mountains as the first heavy snows of the season closed the pass ahead of them. In early December, starving and desperate, Sarah and fourteen others set out for California on snowshoes, and, over the next thirty-two days, endured almost unfathomable hardships and horrors. In this gripping narrative, New York Times bestselling author Daniel James Brown sheds new light on one of the most legendary events in American history. Following every painful footstep of Sarah’s journey with the Donner Party, Brown produces a tale both spellbinding and richly informative.

in April Of 1846, Sarah Graves Was Twenty-one And In Love With A Young Man Who Played The Violin. But She Was Torn. Her Mother, Father, And Eight Siblings Were About To Disappear Over The Western Horizon Forever, Bound For California. Sarah Could Not Bear To See Them Go Out Of Her Life, And So Days Before The Planned Departure She Married The Young Man With The Violin, And The Two Of Them Threw Their Lot In With The Rest Of Sarah's Family. On April 12, They Rolled Out Of The Yard Of Their Homestead In Three Ox-drawn Wagons.

seven Months Later, After Joining A Party Of Emigrants Led By George Donner, Sarah And Her Family Arrived At Truckee Lake In The Sierra Nevada Mountains Just As The First Heavy Snows Of The Season Closed The Pass Ahead Of Them. After A Series Of Desperate Attempts To Cross The Mountains, The Party Improvised Cabins And Slaughtered What Remained Of Their Emaciated Livestock. By Early December They Were Beginning To Starve.

sarah's Father, A Vermonter, Was The Only Member Of The Party Familiar With Snowshoes. Under His Instruction, Fifteen Sets Of Snowshoes Were Hastily Constructed From Oxbows And Rawhide, And On December 15, Sarah And Fourteen Other Relatively Young, Healthy People Set Out For California On Foot, Hoping To Get Relief For The Others. Over The Next Thirty-two Days They Endured Almost Unfathomable Hardships And Horrors.

in This Gripping Narrative, Daniel James Brown Takes The Reader Along On Every Painful Footstep Of Sarah's Journey. Along The Way, He Weaves Into The Story Revealing Insights Garnered From A Variety Of Modern Scientific Perspectives-psychology, Physiology, Forensics, And Archaeology-producing A Tale That Is Not Only Spell-binding But Richly Informative.

the New York Times - Mary Roach

the Indifferent Stars Above Is An Ideal Pairing Of Talent And Material. In under A Flaming Sky: The Great Hinckley Firestorm Of 1894, Brown Showed Himself To Be A Deft And Ambitious Storyteller, Sifting Through The Copious And Often Conflicting Details Of Dozens Of Survivor And Eyewitness Accounts To Forge A Trim, Surging Minute-by-minute Narrative. He Takes More Side Trips Here With Snow Than He Did With Fire. In Almost Every Chapter, He Steps Away From The Events At Hand To Provide Historical Or Medical Context. With A Few Exceptions, It's Engrossing Stuff…brown Isn't A Showy Writer, And That's Probably For The Best. With Tragedy Of This Scale, An Unadorned Telling Of The Events Speaks Loudest.

In April of 1846, twenty-one-year-old Sarah Graves, intent on a better future, set out west from Illinois with her new husband, her parents, and eight siblings. Seven months later, after joining a party of emigrants led by George Donner, they reached the Sierra Nevada Mountains as the first heavy snows of the season closed the pass ahead of them. In early December, starving and desperate, Sarah and fourteen others set out for California on snowshoes and, over the next thirty-two days, endured almost unfathomable hardships and horrors. In this gripping narrative, Daniel James Brown sheds new light on one of the most infamous events in American history. Following every painful footstep of Sarah's journey with the Donner Party, Brown produces a tale both spellbinding and richly informative. A chronicle of the mid-nineteenth-century wagon train tragedy draws on the perspectives of one of its survivors, Sarah Graves, recounting how her new husband and she joined the Donner party on their California-bound journey and encountered violent perils, in an account that also offers insight into the scientific reasons that some died while others survived.