The Journal of San Diego History
SAN DIEGO HISTORICAL SOCIETY QUARTERLY
Spring/Summer 2000, Volume 46, Numbers 2 & 3
Gregg Hennessey, Editor

Book Notes

Raymond G. Starr, Book Review Editor

“Unfortunate Emigrants:” Narratives of the Donner Party.

Edited By Kristin Johnson. Logan: Utah State University Press, 1996. Viii + 318 pp. Maps, photographs, notes, bibliography, roster, index. $19.95 Paper.

Buy this book from Amazon.com

Will the world ever tire of the Donner Party story? The editor of this collection begins with a historiographical sketch noting the lack of scholarly work on the famous story. She notes the pertinent primary sources are easily accessible, but that early secondary accounts published in books, newspaper, magazines are difficult to find and use. This book is designed to fill in that gap. Johnson has included fourteen selections, each well introduced and placed in their context. This is both a valuable tool for scholars and a readable collection of stories for the general reader.

amzn-buy90x68  You get Amazon’s low price and the San Diego Historical Society gets credit when you buy through this link.