A classic celebration of the pioneer spirit and the American westward expansion.
The Oregon Trail exuberantly documents Francis Parkman's 1846 expedition into the American wilderness. Observed with a reporter's eye and recorded in detail, the whole panorama of life on the Great Plains comes forth against the cruel indifference and majesty of the vast land itself—the emigrants with their "broad-brimmed hats, thin visages, and staring eyes" whose days were filled with hardship, and the Indians and buffalo whose demise Parkman foresaw. In his introduction, David Levin compares Parkman's literary methods and attitudes about nature and American civilization to those of Herman Melville, Henry David Thoreau, and Ernest Hemingway.
Did you find this review helpful?