We see that javascript is disabled or not supported by your browser - javascript is needed for important actions on the site. Read more

What's New - Home - Login

Member $avings: $81,772,023.24 | Books Available: 721,794 | Members Online: 189

Swap Used Books - Buy New Books at Great Prices!

How To Swap Books Sign Up Search submenu

PBS Market (New Books)

Gift Buying Guide

Book Browser Advanced Search Books Posted Today Member Book Reviews Award Winning Books NYT Best Sellers Amazon Best Sellers Most Traveled Copies Club Wish List

Discussion Forums Book Lists

Club Lists My Book Lists My Watched Lists Create a List

Blog Donations

School Donation Program In Memory of... Military Donation Program Friends of PBS

Box-O-Books Maps The Eclectic Pen Fun Stuff

20 Questions Sudoku Bookmark Creator

Top 100

Requests Posts Swappers Referrers Reviewers

Pulse of PBS Spread The Word

Invite Friends Bookmarks Facebook Page Facebook App More Ways...

Photo Gallery Recipes Club Tag Cloud Member Testimonials

Help Center submenu

How To Swap Books Browse Help Docs Ask the Librarian PBS Member Icons Live Help

Kiosk

PBS Market (New Books) Go Shopping Buy Credits Buy PBS Money Upgrade Membership Gift Certificates Transfer Credits

Need Help?

Search - The Oregon Trail: An American Journey

The Oregon Trail An American Journey
Author: Rinker Buck

In the bestselling tradition of Bill Bryson and Tony Horwitz, Rinker Buck?s The Oregon Trail is a major work of participatory history: an epic account of traveling the entire 2,000-mile length of the Oregon Trail the old-fashioned way, in a covered wagon with a team of mules?which hasn?t been done in a century?that also tells the rich history of... more » the trail, the people who made the migration, and its significance to the country.

Spanning 2,000 miles and traversing six states from Missouri to the Pacific Ocean, the Oregon Trail is the route that made America. In the fifteen years before the Civil War, when 400,000 pioneers used it to emigrate West?historians still regard this as the largest land migration of all time?the trail united the coasts, doubled the size of the country, and laid the groundwork for the railroads. The trail years also solidified the American character: our plucky determination in the face of adversity, our impetuous cycle of financial bubbles and busts, the fractious clash of ethnic populations competing for the same jobs and space. Today, amazingly, the trail is all but forgotten.

Rinker Buck is no stranger to grand adventures. The New Yorker described his first travel narrative, Flight of Passage, as ?a funny, cocky gem of a book,? and with The Oregon Trail he seeks to bring the most important road in American history back to life. At once a majestic American journey, a significant work of history, and a personal saga reminiscent of bestsellers by Bill Bryson and Cheryl Strayed, the book tells the story of Buck?s 2,000-mile expedition across the plains with tremendous humor and heart. He was accompanied by three cantankerous mules, his boisterous brother, Nick, and an ?incurably filthy? Jack Russell terrier named Olive Oyl. Along the way, Buck dodges thunderstorms in Nebraska, chases his runaway mules across miles of Wyoming plains, scouts more than five hundred miles of nearly vanished trail on foot, crosses the Rockies, makes desperate fifty-mile forced marches for water, and repairs so many broken wheels and axels that he nearly reinvents the art of wagon travel itself. Apart from charting his own geographical and emotional adventure, Buck introduces readers to the evangelists, shysters, natives, trailblazers, and everyday dreamers who were among the first of the pioneers to make the journey west. With a rare narrative power, a refreshing candor about his own weakness and mistakes, and an extremely attractive obsession for history and travel, The Oregon Trail draws readers into the journey of a lifetime.

ISBN-13: 9781451659160
ISBN-10: 1451659164
Publication Date: 8/18/2015
Pages: 432
Rating:

Currently 3.6/5 Stars.

3.6 stars, based on 8 ratings

Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Book Type: Hardcover
Members Wishing: 18
Reviews: Member | Amazon | Write a Review

Read All 1 Book Reviews of "The Oregon Trail An American Journey"

Please Log in to Rate these Book Reviews

Frank F. reviewed The Oregon Trail: An American Journey on 8/21/2022 + 377 more book reviews

Good story of two brothers that do the Oregon Trail in a wagon with mules in modern times. He includes much history of the original settlers doing the trail.

Share/Like this Review?

Read All Book Reviews of "The Oregon Trail An American Journey"

Genres:

History >> Americas >> United States
History >> World >> Expeditions & Discoveries
Reference >> Writing >> Travel
Travel >> Travel Writing
Travel >> United States

Back to the Top ↑

Search - The Oregon Trail: An American Journey

Please Log in to Rate these Book Reviews

Loading...