Well before nonfiction novels were recognized as a genre, Francis Parkman was writing them. The Oregon Trail—part journalistic account, part memoir, part living history experiment—is a firsthand narrative of the great move westward. Parkman traveled the trail himself in order to write about it, and his vivid prose is almost as good as being there yourself. This is Parkman's most famous book, and while it isn't his best, it's probably the finest eyewitness account of the trials of the Oregon Trail.
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