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    Gold!: The Story of the 1848 Gold Rush and How It Shaped a Nation
    Gold!: The Story of the 1848 Gold Rush and How It Shaped a Nation
    Gold!: The Story of the 1848 Gold Rush and How It Shaped a Nation
    Ebook340 pages5 hours

    Gold!: The Story of the 1848 Gold Rush and How It Shaped a Nation

    By Fred Rosen

    3/5

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    About this ebook

    A riveting true account of gold rush fever in mid-nineteenth-century America, rich with the thrilling exploits of daring fortune seekers and dangerous outlaws

    America was never the same after January 24, 1848. It was on that day that a carpenter named James Marshall discovered a tiny nugget of gold while building a sawmill at Sutter’s Fort, just east of Sacramento, California. Marshall’s find ignited a fever the nation had never known before, drawing people from all over the country to the West Coast with high hopes of getting rich quick. Over the next six years, three hundred thousand prospectors raced to the California gold fields to make their fortunes, leaving their lands and families behind in order to chase a dream of easy wealth, but all too often encountering a reality of lawlessness, disease, cruelty, and death.
     
    A former columnist for the New York Times, author Fred Rosen takes readers back to the seminal moment when the American dream exploded. Chock full of fascinating details, unforgettable characters, and shocking real-life events, the captivating true story of the California gold rush brings an era of unparalleled change to breathtaking life. Rosen’s enthralling history of the gold rush of 1848 demonstrates how this golden ideal was supplanted by a culture of selfishness and greed that endures in America to this very day.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherOpen Road Media
    Release dateNov 17, 2015
    ISBN9781504024488
    Gold!: The Story of the 1848 Gold Rush and How It Shaped a Nation
    Author

    Fred Rosen

    <p>Fred Rosen's book <em>The Historical Atlas of American Crime</em>, published by Facts On File, won the 2005 <em>Library Journal</em> Best Reference Source Award. Mr. Rosen is the author of many true crime books, including <em>Lobster Boy</em>, <em>Did They Really Do It?</em>, <em>There But For the Grace of God</em>, and <em>When Satan Wore A Cross</em>.</p>

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    • 3/5
      Gold!: The Story of the 1848 Gold Rush and How It Shaped a Nation by Fred Rosen is a recommended nonfiction account of the historical California gold rush and how it changed American culture.

      When gold was discovered at Sutter's Mill in California on January 24, 1848, it infected the nation with gold fever. "Over the next six years, three hundred thousand prospectors raced to the California gold fields to make their fortunes, leaving their lands and families behind in order to chase a dream of easy wealth, but all too often encountering a reality of lawlessness, disease, cruelty, and death."

      Rosen, a former columnist for the New York Times, weaves historical facts and details into this account of the real people and places of the gold rush era and the get-rich-quick mentality it ignited in average citizens. He argues, while presenting the historical information on the discovery of gold and the subsequent gold rush, that once the common man could dream of instant wealth it fundamentally changed American culture to one of selfishness and greed.

      Having read several books on the California gold rush (as well as the Black Hills discovery and the Nevada Comstock Lode which are mentioned too) I did find Rosen's account easy to read and basically informative. Since I read it while on vacation, it suited me perfectly under the circumstances. I am admittedly unsure of his Jesse James argument. Those who follow my reviews will understand that the lack of source notes and very short bibliography bothered me; I like my nonfiction to have some great notes and a thorough bibliography.

      Disclosure: My Kindle edition was courtesy of Open Road Media for review purposes.

    Book preview

    Gold! - Fred Rosen

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