A key, defining era in American history, full of extraordinary stories and larger than life characters.

In all the sagas of human migration, none can top the drama of the journey by mid-Western farmers to Oregon and California in the years 1840-49. Seeking the promised land, these travellers trekked two thousand miles by covered wagon from Missouri to their destination on the Pacific. Although they used mountain men as guides, they went almost literally into the unknown, braving dangers from hunger, thirst, disease, drowning and Indians. Left far behind them were the extended family, schools, doctors, churches, stores and the rule of law. The early overlanders got through only after Herculean efforts, but later in the decade complacency set in, and the result was disaster, especially in the case of the Donner party, marooned in the snows and reduced to cannibalism. Using the original diaries and memoirs, Frank McLynn underscores the incredible heroism and dangerous folly on the overland trails. His year-by-year narrative includes many thematic investigations: the wagons and animals used by the pioneers, the role of women, relations with Indians, crime and punishment beyond the pale of civilisation, and much else. The narrative builds to a climax with the dreadful tale of the Donner party but achieves closure with the triumphant story of Brigham Young and the Mormons. Sandwiched between the era of the fur trappers and the post-1849 gold fever, this account of the pioneering years in the overland trails highlights and explains a unique experience both in American and world history.