Imagine leaving your home and moving across the country to a new life on the unknown frontier. That’s exactly what members of the Donner Party were trying to do in the mid-1800s when they traveled out west, chasing their dreams of a better life. But instead, many were destined to meet a cruel fate. Lively language, historical illustrations, and primary source journal entries from members of the Donner Party help readers feel as if they were a part of the journey. Meets Common Core critical thinking standards, and provides strong ties to social studies standards on westward expansion.

"Examines the expedition of the Donner Party by discussing how they came to be stranded in the Sierra Nevada Mountains and the immediate and lasting effects their journey had on the nation as well as the people and places involved"--

"Describes how snowboarder Eric LeMarque survived a week stranded in the Sierra Nevada mountains"--Provided by publisher.

The lurid story of the Donner Party - that unfortunate group of 19th century American pioneers stranded in the mountains and forced to cannibalize one another - has fascinated and horrified readers and television viewers for more than a century.Now, with clear prose and attention to detail, author B. Scott Christmas brings a brief but captivating overview of this seminal American tragedy to a whole new generation, from the pioneers' Illinois departure in 1846, to their rescue in the California mountains in 1847. Concise and highly accessible, Christmas's narrative is chock full of primary sources, from quotes, letters, and diary entries by survivors, to accounts from rescuers and journalists of the time.With a seamless combination of historical integrity and narrative readability, this brief volume will fascinate enthusiasts of American history, while serving as a valuable resource for students, teachers, and researchers.

Describes when, where and how to fish California's premier mountain range. Detailed maps and directions charts the way to the hundreds of rivers, creeks and lakes that offer some of the best fishing in the state. Toss in some history, geological background and a bit of humor, and the result is a book that will be on the must-have list of every trout angler who fishes California.

"[This] book is indeed a 'naturalist's companion,' one which will enhance anyone's time in the Sierra Nevada. . . . Johnston focuses on what we are most likely to see by carefully choosing and then highlighting important and characteristic species; her descriptive passages are a pleasure."—Ann Zwinger, author of Yosemite: Valley of Thunder

"Describes how hiker Amy Racina survived a fall in the Sierra Nevada mountains"--Provided by publisher.

In late October 1846, the last wagon train of that year's westward migration stopped overnight before resuming its arduous climb over the Sierra Nevada Mountains, unaware that a fearsome storm was gathering force. After months of grueling travel, the 81 men, women and children would be trapped for a brutal winter with little food and only primitive shelter. The conclusion is known: by spring of the next year, the Donner Party was synonymous with the most harrowing extremes of human survival. But until now, the full story of what happened, what it tells us about human nature and about America's westward expansion, remained shrouded in myth. Drawing on fresh archaeological evidence, recent research on topics ranging from survival rates to snowfall totals, and heartbreaking letters and diaries made public by descendants a century-and-a-half after the tragedy, Ethan Rarick offers an intimate portrait of the Donner party and their unimaginable ordeal: a mother who must divide her family, a little girl who shines with courage, a devoted wife who refuses to abandon her husband, a man who risks his life merely to keep his word. But Rarick resists both the gruesomely sensationalist accounts of the Donner party as well as later attempts to turn the survivors into archetypal pioneer heroes. "The Donner Party," Rarick writes, "is a story of hard decisions that were neither heroic nor villainous. Often, the emigrants displayed a more realistic and typically human mixture of generosity and selfishness, an alloy born of necessity." A fast-paced, heart-wrenching, clear-eyed narrative history, A Desperate Hope casts new light on one of America's most horrific encounters between the dream of a better life and the harsh realities such dreams so often must confront.