The Best Land Under Heaven: The Donner Party in the Age of Manifest Destiny

Knowing what happened to the Donnerr Party in such detail was a painful read but with such detail was fascinating. Living a few miles from and looking up the canyon of Donner Lake and imagining the difficulties this group faced was humbling. The extent of those rescue groups was especially fascinating to me but again as many found out the parties of travelers had to time their crossing to California or even Utah and Oregon country before the severe winters stopped them and to say the least "dead in their tracks." Thank you MW for a fascinating read!

Very interesting, history that I have not explored much. Not just the Donner party but the trials of westward expansion and what it was really like. Well written and well researched, with some first hand accounts included.

Having read Daniel James Brown’s “The Indifferent Stars Above”, I read this version for a comparison. This book is somewhat more detailed about the preparations and personalities of the emigrants, but the details of what happened to the survivors is more complete in Brown’s book. The day to day events is more chronicled in this book, but the totality of the events is virtually the same. Having recently visited the Donner monument and museum, I can enthusiastically recommend both books for a tragic tale of human suffering and survival. A visit to the monument and museum in Truckee, Calif. brings home the reality of these events.

Wallis tells us all we should know and more of the infamous Donner party of pioneer days. Parts of it were hard to read because of the terrible suffering the group endured. About half of the California- bound emigrants died because of Donner's decision to take an unverified shortcut through Utah. This caused his wagon train to become stranded in the Sierra Nevada mountains during a particularly bad winter when 22 feet of snow fell. What ensued has gone down in history as one of the most horrible outcomes of the risks the early day pioneers took trying to settle a new country. I felt very sorry that such young children and babies had to suffer so much because of parents who did not really know what they were getting into.

Very descriptive and detailed account of the Donner party disaster. My friend and I each bought a copy and read it simultaneously. This book is a page turner. My only criticism, shared by my friend, is that the author didn't make clear how Reed could be comfortably making land deals in San Jose while his wife and five children were starving in the snow. Our guess is that Reed decided, after the first attempt with the thirty horses, that there was nothing to do but wait until winter was over and be ready at the first weather opportunity. The author also didn't comment on why Reed, after getting his wife and five children to safety in California, apparently abandoned the remainder of the rescue effort. There was no further effort on Reed's part and we felt like this reflected badly on him but with no explanation other than our guesses..exhaustion, needing to tend to his family, not willing to take the risk. Was he not more responsible than anyone but Hastings for the mess they got into?

Very informative,lots of facts

Coming from a person who hated history in school this book really got my attention. Loved learning about the Donner Party

I had high hopes for this book after hearing the author interviewed on the radio. I found it highly comprehensive in detailing the many characters and relationships among them in the ever-changing Donner-Reed Party, but this (at times wearying) detail came at the expense of other material I anticipated as being essential to a detailed examination of this topic. The author leaves under-examined such subtopics as Manifest Destiny, the history of westward expansion and the emigrant experience, effects on the body of hypothermia and starvation, details of the terrain and route, to name a handful. Maybe my expectations were too high, but I expected more from this. Compare with the truly excellent and riveting "In The Kingdom of Ice."

For anyone with an interest in American history, this book is fascinating! Incredibly well researched without reading as too academic. I could barely put it down.

So much work went into this book. It’s well written, readable, and full of details. Truly appreciated the citing of sources as well as the follow up chapter at the end to explain how the story of the Donner Party got so inflated. Bravo!

Hardly any heroes, but plenty of human sacrifice, murder hard decisions and cannibalism. An interesting adventure into human behaviour and how the civilised can turn into savages!

A compelling story told quite well. The chapters detailing suffering and cannibalism are challenging to stay with, however. And the 'bad guys' in the end are maddening.

Absolutely excellent. Gripping.