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The Rush: America's Fevered Quest for Fortune, 1848-1853 Audiobook
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A riveting portrait of the Gold Rush, by the award-winning author of Down the Great Unknown and The Forger's Spell.
In the spring of 1848, rumors began to spread that gold had been discovered in a remote spot in the Sacramento Valley. A year later, newspaper headlines declared "Gold Fever!" as hundreds of thousands of men and women borrowed money, quit their jobs, and allowed themselves- for the first time ever-to imagine a future of ease and splendor. In The Rush, Edward Dolnick brilliantly recounts their treacherous westward journeys by wagon and on foot, and takes us to the frenzied gold fields and the rowdy cities that sprang from nothing to jam-packed chaos. With an enthralling cast of characters and scenes of unimaginable wealth and desperate ruin, The Rush is a fascinating-and rollicking-account of the greatest treasure hunt the world has ever seen.
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“There’s something tantalizing in Bernard Setaro Clark’s narration,which contrasts the poverty and stillness of everyday life around 1849 with therush to claim California’s potential riches. The author provides much to digest—frommining techniques to Karl Marx’s reaction to the gold discovery—andfirst-person anecdotes make the story come alive. The gentle last words on agrave marker, the determination of a starving traveler, and the dazzle of goldwill touch listeners. The approach is personal but not sensational—descriptionsof boom-town violence are low-key. With the author continually remindinglisteners of the more recent Internet boom, this is a timeless and timelystory.”
— AudioFile
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“Dolnick skillfully peppers his account with dozens of first-person quotations and experiences, though his focus is on the hopes, journeys and realities of five varied but engaging individuals…Dolnick has also succeeded admirably in putting a decidedly personal face on these general characteristics, and in the process he has produced a highly readable and graphic account of an episode that changed America.”
— New York Times Book Review -
“This engaging chronicle by award-winning author Edward Dolnic shows that very, very few of these prospectors struck it rich; in fact, thousands of them suffered irreparable personal loss in their hard westward treks. A valuable human history of an important movement in our nation’s history.”
— Barnes&Noble.com, editorial review -
“Dolnick tapped into the diaries and memoirs of men and women of the era to bring brilliantly alive the experiences of so many thousands (one percent of the US population) who left the East Coast, Europe, and even Asia in the search for freedom (often found, if only briefly) and wealth (mostly never found). He also emphasizes the great irony that many of those who grew rich during the gold rush did so not from the panned gold but from provisioning the miners and camp followers with their necessities. Dolnick’s compulsively readable story is one that’s rarely been told better.”
— Publishers Weekly -
“Dolnick brings to life the giddy excitement and mortal dangers of the California gold rush…Included are personal accounts as well as primary source citations of notable men and women of the era…Energetic writing and interesting research convey the state of America before, during, and after the social liberation caused by the sudden explosion of capitalistic wealth. The text clearly communicates the emotional highs and lows felt by the ‘forty-niners,’ as opposed to more academic political histories…Warmly recommended for both general and academic readers with interests in California and Western history.”
— Library Journal -
“[A] spirited account…Dolnick does a good job of locating the sentimental core of the rush and placing it in the context of its time—just a few years, he notes, after the word ‘millionaire’ had been coined to describe the ‘exotic creatures,’ no more than a dozen or so, who boasted the greatest wealth the country had ever seen…Dolnick draws on the best historiography and writes winningly of the events in question, augmenting but not supplanting the many books that have come before this one. Readers new to gold-rush history will find a bonanza here—and for old hands, Dolnick provides enough fresh interpretation to keep the pages turning.”
— Kirkus Reviews
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About Edward Dolnick
Edward Dolnick is the author of numerous books, including the Edgar Award-winning The Rescue Artist. A former chief science writer at the Boston Globe, he has written for the Atlantic Monthly, New York Times Magazine, and many other publications. There are over 130,000 copies of his books in print.
About Bernard Setaro Clark
Bernard Setaro Clark is an actor, writer, and narrator of audiobooks, whose titles include Rag & Bones, Childless, While We Run, Wise Men, and others. He lives in Atlanta.