An overland journey, from New York to San Francisco, in the summer of 1859 Review

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(More customer reviews)There were three great books written about journeys to the American West in 1859: The best was Mark Twain's semi-fictional ROUGHING IT. The next best was Sir Richard F. Burton's THE CITY OF THE SAINTS, about a journey to see what Mormonism was all about and to meet with Brigham Young.
That Horace Greeley's book should be third in this line-up is no disgrace. There is so much self-conscious mythmaking about the Old West that eyewitness accounts of intelligent observers are as rare as hen's teeth. Before the completion of the Trans-Continental Railroad, any journey across the Great Plains was attended by danger, discomfort, and memorable encounters. It is unfortunate that there so so few good accounts.
Greeley was first and foremost a newspaper man. He had a sharp eye for what he thought would interest his readers (unlike Twain & Burton who wrote sub specie aeternitatis) and did not disappoint. His descriptions of the Indians, the rigors of the road, and the struggling communities a-borning west of the Platte make for fascinating reading.
This is one of those great books to take along on a car journey through the Rockies and Great Plains.

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