The Indifferent Stars Above: The Harrowing Saga of a Donner Party Bride

by Daniel James Brown

In April of 1846, twenty-one-year-old Sarah Graves, intent on a better future, set out west from Illinois with her new husband, her parents, and eight siblings. Seven months later, after joining a party of emigrants led by George Donner, they reached the Sierra Nevada Mountains as the first heavy snows of the season closed the pass ahead of them. In early December, starving and desperate, Sarah and fourteen others set out for California on snowshoes and, over the next thirty-two days, endured almost unfathomable hardships and horrors.

In this gripping narrative, Daniel James Brown sheds new light on one of the most infamous events in American history. Following every painful footstep of Sarah's journey with the Donner Party, Brown produces a tale both spellbinding and richly informative.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Audiobook, Historical, Survival, Biography, American History

352 pages, Hardcover

First published April 28, 2009

About the author

Daniel James Brown lives in the country east of Redmond, Washington, where he writes nonfiction books about compelling historical events.

Brown's newest book--Facing the Mountain--follows the lives of four young Japanese American men as they and their families bravely confront harsh new realities brought about by the onset of World War II. Facing the Mountain comes on the heels of Brown's New York Times bestseller--The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. That book chronicles the extraordinary saga of nine working class boys who stormed the rowing world, transformed the sport, and galvanized the attention of millions of Americans in the midst of the Great Depression. MGM has acquired the rights to adapt the book for a feature film to be directed by George Clooney.

His second book--The Indifferent Stars Above: The Harrowing Saga of a Donner Party Bride--was chosen as an INDIE NEXT NOTABLE SELECTION by the American Bookseller's Association, it recounts the extraordinary journey of a young woman whose fate became entangled with that of the infamous Donner Party in 1846. His first book--Under a Flaming Sky: The Great Hinckley Firestorm of 1894--takes the reader back to the events of September 1, 1894, when his great-grandfather and more than 300 other people died in one of America's greatest forest-fire disasters. That book was selected as a Barnes and Noble Discover Great New Writers pick, was named one of the Best Books of 2006 by Booklist magazine, and was a finalist for the Washington State Book Award.

Reviews

[Madeline · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found out about this book through Last Podcast on the Left, which did a phenomenal three-part episode series on the Donner Party and used this book as the primary source for their information. I was so fascinated and intrigued by this story, which I'd only ever heard about in vague details, that I decided to read the book for myself.

Pretty much all I knew about the Donner Party until this book was that a group of pioneers once got trapped in the mountains in a snowstorm and ended up resorting to cannibalism to stay alive. Obviously, the real story is so much more complicated (and harrowing) than that, and if nothing else, this book will ensure that after you read it you will be absolutely impossible to have a conversation with anyone that doesn't eventually end in you saying, "So, do you want to hear a cool story?" My friends and coworkers know so much more about cannibalism than they ever wanted to know, thanks to this book and my hyper-fixation on the story while I was reading it.

There was so much that I didn't know. I didn't know, for example, that the "Donner Party" actually consisted of several extended families traveling to California together, along with a handful of single men hired as workers. I didn't know that the Graves family, who form the focal point of Brown's book, were hardscrabble poineers who had survived plenty of harsh conditions before the fateful trip, and were hardly the foolhardy amateurs that they're sometimes reduced to. I also didn't know that the Donner Party was traveling a route that had never actually been attempted before, and was created by some guy who looked at a map and thought, huh, they can save 200 miles by just cutting through this salt desert in Utah! (spoiler alert, it was not a good shortcut). Basically, these people were doomed from the moment they set out from Independence, Missouri (a whole three weeks after the deadline to avoid the winter, by the way) and it's a miracle that there were any survivors at all.

One of the best aspects of the book is how thoroughly Brown researched every aspect of the journey to California, and goes into exhaustive detail about everything from wagon construction to frontier gender politics, so that the reader has a complete picture of what life was like for the people who would eventually be trapped in the snow on the shores of Donner Lake. (Apparently there's a boulder next to Donner Lake with a plaque in it, informing people that a family from the Donner Party used it as a wall for their shelter when they were trapped in ten-foot snow drifts, and there is something so chilling about that fact, I can't get over it)

This is a brutal book, as it should be. Brown makes sure that his readers understand exactly how dangerous the route to California was, even under ideal conditions, and I'm still amazed that anyone ever made it past the Midwest. Once the Donner Party's supplies start to run low and exhaustion sets in, things start to get bad: first their cattle die, then they have to eat the cattle. They eat their dogs, they eat their own shoe leather, they boil bones down into a gluey soup - and that's long before anyone suggests eating the dead humans. The details and descriptions that Brown provides of these people's gradual, desperate descent into cannibalism are gruesome and vivid, and the visuals he conjures up will stay with you for a long time: as the first few survivors staggered out of the mountains, Brown describes them as being basically walking skeletons, with their clothes almost completely disintegrated, their lips cracked and bleeding, their bare feet leaving bloody footprints in the snow. This story is basically a horror movie, and these people didn't triumph over their circumstances so much as they crawled out of them, bloody and broken but somehow still alive. It's not uplifting, exactly, but it does leave you impressed by just how much the human body can potentially withstand, and how far people are willing to go in order to stay alive.

[Debra · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars

Hard choices, bad decisions, exhaustion, poor nutrition, hypothermia, snow blindness, deterioration of health, and a horrible snowstorm.... a perfect storm for disaster.

This book describes the tragedy and survival of members of the Donnor party. The book focuses on Sarah Graves, a new wife who travels with her family and others in search of a better life. They met up with the Donnor party, led by George Donnor and they attempt to cross the Sierra Nevada Mountains. This is not an easy trip. The trip was hard and took lives even before the worst of the snow storms hit. They traveled over rough terrain, children died in accidents, animals had injured feet due to the rocks, exhaustion and illness claimed lives. The going was tough, and the women had to work as hard as the men. Then the snow came. It was heavy, the oxen were malnourished and could not go on, the men and women could not go on. Hard choices were made to butcher some of the animals in hopes of not starving as most of their food was gone. But fat is essential to the diet and they did not have it. They were burning calories and were hardly taking any in. Their health was deteriorating, and people were dying. After a heavy snowstorm, Sarah and fourteen others set out on snowshoes for California and encountered death, starvation, freezing, and many horrors.

Out of the 83 people who were trapped in the mountains in the snowstorm, only 45 survived to reach California. The people tried their best, they fought hard and were faced with hard choices. They did not have the luxury of our modern conveniences. They were up again horrible odds and did the best they could.

Most of us have heard of the Donnor party over the years, how they met tragedy and when desperate turned to cannibalism. Below is a diary entry of one of the members, Patrick Breen, of the Donnor party (not from the book) that I found online:
Diary excerpt from Patrick Breen (http://blog.paperblanks.com/2013/05/f...)

"Frid 26th
froze hard last night to day clear & warm Wind S: E: blowing briskly. Martha’s jaw swelled with the toothache: hungry times in camp; plenty hides, but the folks will not eat them. We eat them with a tolerable good appetite. Thanks be to Almighty God. Amen. Mrs. Murphy said here yesterday that [she] thought she would Commence on Milt. & eat him. I don’t [think] that she has done so yet; it is distressing. The Donners, 4 days ago, told the California folks that they [would] commence to eat the dead people if they did not succeed, that day or next, in finding their cattle, [which were] then under ten or twelve feet of snow, & [the Donners] did not know the spot or near it; I suppose they have done so ere this time."

This book not only tells of Sarah Graves journey but also of the journey that the author took in writing this book. Sarah Graves survived the journey but her young husband did not. She did go on to get married two more times and have children.

This book was fascinating, and I learned a lot. This book was extremely well written and informative. The research that went into the writing of this book is impressive. I can't even imagine what these people had to go through. I hope no one ever experiences such a tragedy. To not only be starving yourself but to watch your children starve and wither. To see your family and friends die, to have to bury them on the side of the road in an unmarked grave and then move on, to watch as your loved ones’ physical and mental health decline. To have to make choices no one should ever have to make.

Highly recommend!

See more of my reviews at www.openbookposts.com

[Beata · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having heard of The Donner Party ages ago,I have always wanted to learn more about this tragedy ever since.
'The Indifferent Stars Above' is well-researched and gives both the reasons for the decisions made by so many to pursue their luck in California and historical details of life in America in the mid of the 19th century.
I found this book informative and engaging, and harrowing as it was at times, I am glad to have come across it.

[Candi · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars

"Like all people in all times, the emigrant men and women, as well as the Native American men and women, of the 1840s were complex bundles of fear and hope, greed and generosity, nobility and savagery. And in the end, each of them was, of course, an individual, as unique and vital and finely nuanced as you or me." – from the Author’s Note by Daniel James Brown

Before I talk about this remarkable true story, I have to subject you to a small rant. I finished this book a couple of weeks ago, and as is my usual habit, I highlighted the heck out of it. There were so many interesting facts and a myriad of people in this story, and I wanted to make sure I kept track of everything so I could write a decent review as well as simply refer back to it in future. I sat down last night to take a look at my notes and synch them from my kindle paperwhite to my computer. To my complete dismay, not only did the synch fail, but ALL of my notes except for one disappeared from the paperwhite!!! Argh!!! I immediately hollered for my husband, who has been known to fix just about anything computer or electronic-related. No such luck. But this kind and sympathetic guy spent a good half hour or more on the phone with Amazon (with party noises going on in the background) only to end up where we started – exactly nowhere and with my notes lost… gone forever apparently. Has this ever happened to any of my device-using friends? So frustrating! I just hope in future this doesn’t occur again.

Okay, back to the book… I think most have some knowledge of the Donner Party and their attempt to reach California with the promise of increased prosperity. This is their journey as told through the painstaking and thorough research of Daniel James Brown. Some of you may recognize his name as the author of the bestselling book The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics – a book which I have sadly neglected to read yet. To the best of his ability, Brown attempted to follow the route of the Donner Party, granted not all on foot or with teams of oxen and covered wagons as these pioneers would have done. The party was a rather large one and it was sometimes difficult to keep straight all of the players, but Brown focuses primarily on the Graves family from Illinois. Specifically, we see the doomed expedition on the heels of Sarah Graves who has been newly married just prior to setting out to the land of her dreams. Likely, I don’t have to tell you that all goes wrong when the party reaches the Sierra Nevada Mountains in the dead of winter – not to mention that 1846 has seen more severe weather than is even typical for this part of the country. We are quite spoiled in this day and age with our advanced maps, cell phones, and our GPS systems, all at the tips of our fingers. The Donner Party did not have these luxuries of course, and much of their trek was dependent on very crude maps and the hearsay of those who had travelled before them. There are some at the tail end of the journey that would benefit from the party arriving in California rather than detouring to Oregon. Add in a dose of greed, dishonesty and ineptitude and you have a recipe for a disaster of mammoth proportions. When confronted with starvation, hypothermia, fear, desperation and even snow blindness, what will one resort to in order to survive? This account, necessarily, was rather grisly at times, but I could not help but take pity on these poor souls. We see the whole spectrum of humanity, as is true when any catastrophe strikes – from extraordinary courage to overwhelming despair, as well as extreme feats of unselfishness to alarming acts of greed and savagery.

I highly recommend this book to anyone that enjoys true adventure stories. It is extremely well-researched and all of the information is presented in a narrative that is never dry but always quite compelling. If I had any criticism, it would mainly be the large cast of characters, which eventually sort themselves out.

"And they had nailed the boards above her
face,
The peasants of that land,
Wondering to lay her in that solitude,
And raised above her mound
A cross they had made out of two bits of
wood,
And planted cypress round;
And left her to the indifferent stars above."

- W.B. Yeats, “A Dream of Death”

[Madeline · Rating 3 out of 5]

As to be expected, this book was an emotionally exhausting read. Though I knew going in what the basic story of the Donner Party was, reading about the details still kept me on the edge of my seat in anticipation of what horror these poor people were to face next.

Overall, it took me to the 25% mark to really get invested in reading this book - up to that point, it seemed to be dry, general facts about the Oregon Trail. But once I hit the 25% mark and the real story began, I couldn't put it down. Though I flew through this book at lightening speed, I do have a few pretty significant complaints about the writing.

First, from the sub-title "The Harrowing Saga of a Donner Party Bride," I was led to believe that I would be reading a, if partially fictionalized, first-person account from Sarah Graves. This is not the case at all. This book is about the entire party and an account of the whole ordeal. It seemed to me that it was initially written as a general book about the Donner Party, submitted to an editor who suggested it be framed by one specific character, and then revised to add a lengthy prologue & epilogue and a couple of scattered handfuls of specific references to Sarah in order to suffice as a "harrowing saga" of one person. I'll admit that Sarah plays a large role in the events of the story, but it was by no means her specific "harrowing saga"; the few passages calling out her, her husband, and/or her family specifically came off incredibly forced. I would have liked it better as a story of the entire party, rather than a story with this awkward bent.

Second, the author added a toooooooon of additional information throughout the book; about the time period, the locations, what else was going on in the world, etc. While this, for the most part, did add depth to the story, it very often became an encumbrance. There were many parts of the story that I skimmed simply because I could not keep up with the vast amounts of information included.

Lastly, I didn't much care for the writing style of the author. It seemed that Brown was, in a weird way, fictionalizing the story while also keeping it at arm's length in terms of emotion. Throughout the entire book, I couldn't tell if it was meant to be read as a story, or as non-fiction. The writing reported very tragic and emotional facts in a very point-blank way, almost like it was taken from academic writing. All in all, it was just a bit of an awkward experience - I found it too straightforward to be a story account, yet too elaborate to be a non-fiction account. (I understand that it may not read this way to everyone.)

I can't exactly say that I enjoyed this book...it's much too tragic and stressful for that. But I am glad that I read it and found it very informative. Brown is to be highly commended for the research he must have done to create such a rich account of this tale. I would recommend for anyone interested in learning more about the Donner Party. 3.5 stars

[Becky · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are some books that make you want to run outside, open your arms to the sky, and twirl in the cool breeze and sunlight… And there are some books that desperately make you want to stand with your fridge door open, in your heated/air-conditioned house that does not have bugs falling through the roof, with all your curtains shutting out nature, staring at all your processed food, and marveling that you don't have dysentery. I am not sure that I will able to play the Oregon Trail so callously ever again.

First, let me state, life was hard everywhere, but I cannot even begin to fathom whether it was indomitable faith, or a psychotic break, or a sociopathic streak that made men think they ought to pack up their women and their lives and try going West. Maybe it was a trifecta. In my opinion these people were utterly mad, but then, it’s not like they had statistics on how many died on the trail, or even reliable information about the hardships of the journey. All they really had was propaganda about the lush green fertile soil, and it’s not like they could just change their minds and turn around. I only have a seven minute drive to work, but if I’m two blocks down the road the only thing I will turn around for is my wallet or phone, it seems like too much work to turn back for anything else. I can get coffee on the way, and otherwise it’s just “too far” and will take “too much time.” So it’s not exactly like these people could get 1,000 miles down the road, decide that this was all bullshit and just head back. You were committed at the point you sold your land to have enough money for a wagon.

On to the book. Daniel James Brown is my all time favorite historian, and he should be more read than he is. No other historian makes you feel like you are in the same place as these characters from history. Maybe this is because he takes the extra steps of walking literally where they walked, driving cross country to see what it feels like to walk through prairie grasses that are up to your chest, and spends ungodly hours reading unrelated diaries of other travelers to describe all the sensory experiences. Or maybe its because he spends an equal amount of time explaining the biology and chemistry of hypo and hyperthermia and of starvation, so you can really understand in modern terms what exactly was happening to these people. Or maybe its because he never takes sides, even as this book was arguably about the Donner Party from Sarah Graves Fosdick’s perspective, he discusses the morally ambiguous actions made by her and her family, and the others around them, assessing whether some were even really necessary for survival. He always seems to have the exact right amount of information about everything, and if the book is lacking in story in some places due to real lack of provable information, he will always tell the reader.

Non-mythological versions of the Donner Party tale, and stories of the hardship and pains that other 49ers and travelers faced on the trail should be interspersed with the glorious manifest destiny accounts that we teach in schools. It’s important to show what people sacrificed in order to make America the coast to coast country that it is today, and to explain how descendants of people willing to dare so much as formed the psyche of regionalism that we have today. THIS is a part of our history, and gritty and cruel as it is it is so important as we sit on our couches unable to connect with the hardships faced in third world countries. History connects us to our past and to the world around us, and emotional connectivity, real understanding, is something we so desperately need.

[Dem · Rating 4 out of 5]

For those who have gone before, I bow down in appreciation of the hardships and suffering that they endured for our sakes and the sakes of future generations.

This was without doubt a shocking and harrowing read but it made me realise more than ever the sacrifices that our forefathers and mothers endured in order for their children and grandchildren and great grandchildren to have better quality of lives than they themselves had.

I had recently listened to a podcast where the Donner Party was briefly mentioned and having only been given a brief glimpse of the facts I was eager to read a book and having read The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics by Daniel James Brown I was anxious to get my hands on a copy of The Indifferent Stars Above: The Harrowing Saga of a Donner Party Bride

In April of 1846, twenty-one-year-old Sarah Graves, intent on a better future, set out west from Illinois with her new husband, her parents, and eight siblings. Seven months later, after joining a party of emigrants led by George Donner, they reached the Sierra Nevada Mountains as the first heavy snows of the season closed the pass ahead of them. In early December, starving and desperate, Sarah and fourteen others set out for California on snowshoes and, over the next thirty-two days, endured almost unfathomable hardships and horrors.

This wasn’t an easy read for me as the story is harrowing and relentless. There were times in the book where I felt it was just too heart-breaking to continue as every chapter was taking its toll on me. I think the author did a terrific job weaving this account and I liked how he tried to give the reader a sense of time and place and a terrific understanding of the people, customs, and terrain of the mid 1800s California.

An informative and educational read and while it’s certainly not going to be every one’s cup of tea as it is a harrowing and relentless account , but remember you only have to read it while the Donner party had to endure it for months on end I listened to this one on audible and the experience was good but not brilliant. would love to have a hard copy of the book for my real-life bookshelf.

[Lois · Rating 1 out of 5]

The author unfortunately seems to not consider Indigenous People human beings. The racism isn't at all subtle and it is grating.
Also the author is loose with the truth about how white men behaved badly during this time period.
John Sutter enslaved The Miwok Indigenous peoples. It was noted at the time by James Clyman who the author sites as a source, so he read Clyman's account. The author describes Sutter's slave oppressing as, 'Over the past several years, Sutter had systematically brought the local Miwok Indians under his control, blending diplomacy and generosity on the one hand with brutal discipline on the other.' Bear in mind this is being published in 2009.
This is what James Clyman who visited Sutter's New Helvetia later Fort Sutter in 1846. “The Capt. [Sutter] keeps 600 to 800 Indians in a complete state of Slavery and as I had the mortification of seeing them dine I may give a short description, 10 or 15 Troughs 3 or 4 feet long were brought out of the cook room and seated in the Broiling sun. All the Labouers grate and small ran to the troughs like so many pigs and fed themselves with their hands as long as the troughs contained even a moisture.” Quote taken from The Best Land Under Heaven by Michael Wallis.
This book will call an area untouched by man or human habitation but then go on to document an Indigenous town located there. So are indigenous people not human?
The author doesn't skimp on accounting the supposed crimes of the indigenous nations and confederacies that were protecting their land from outside racist invaders. The wagon trainers were racist invaders. He excuses the wagon trainers racism as a result of the Black Hawk Wars but fails to acknowledge that Black Hawk was right. That was his land that had been invaded by colonizers and he had every right to want it back. The white people refusing to give back what they stole were wrong, not the indigenous people trying to recover what was stolen. So if the wagon trainers got hurt during that exchange so what. They could not buy what they know to be stolen property and not expect that they might get hurt. It's not like Indigenous people showed up in Europe claiming land. Indigenous Peoples are within their rights to fight by any means necessary an invader who doesn't even consider them human beings and believes that their god gave them already occupied land.
Don't read this horrible book.

[reading is my hustle · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well researched, but disorganized, book about the Donner party nightmare. The cast of characters were nearly impossible to keep track of and the book seriously needed a map detailing the whereabouts of each campsite. Also, it was too much work to remember who was who and the relationship between the members of the parties. Unfortunately this took from the reading experience because I kept having to reread sections and refresh my memory as to who the author was referring to (and why it was important to the story). Arghhh! The "cast of characters" that the author provided was lacking in info and organization. LAST, it was a stretch to say the focus was on Sarah Graves ("Donner Party Bride" indicated in subtitle) because the book seemed to give equal info and treatment to other less important characters.

[Johann (jobis89) · Rating 5 out of 5]

An easy 5 stars. One of the best non-fiction books I’ve ever read. The ending even made me tear up a little!!

[hanna ʚ♡ɞ]

girlhood is reading a book about cannibalism for history class

[Hannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'd often heard about the Donner Party, but I didn't really know much about them. I now know more than I ever wanted to know.

Really appreciated that Brown decided to approach the research through Sarah Graves. Also thought Brown did a good job explaining the medical timelines that happens in our bodies for starvation and hypothermia.

Thought the insertion of the 2006 James Kim's story was nice but also a bit out of place because it's the only digression from the core story, aside from the side notes on the medical explanations.

The families that traversed west did it with limited information and big dreams. Part of me wonders if they all got what they deserved for the colonialism forced upon the Indigenous here. Part of me knows that's a cognitive distortion. I bring this up because I know of people who want to leave the US right now, but they are wanting to do it without researching their desired destination. People, do your research! We have no excuse these days with the aid of the internet and online forums and Google and all sorts of access to information. And for goodness sakes, with travel being so easy these days, go visit first before upending your lives!

Now I'm the one digressing. Good book and informative book. However, I'm not sure I really needed to know about this slice of history. The psychological toll of what these folks went through will not be shaken easily for me...

Rounding up from 3.5.

[Phyllis Runyan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have to give this book five stars. The amount of research and the way it was written was just wonderful. Most of us, especially those who live in the United States are aware of what happened to the Donner party who were lost in the mountains in winter with no food and very little to keep them warm. This book follows the life of Sarah Graves and her family as they travel to California. She marries just before they leave and they look forward to their new life together. So many things happen to them on their way that it is a wonder that anybody survived. The author not only covers the lives of the emigrants but detailed descriptions of hypothermia and starvation and doing what you have to do to survive and to keep your children alive. It also covers their lives afterwards and the guilt, shame and the PTSD which of course was not known then. I've read other books about this subject but this is the best by far.

[Cathrine ☯️ · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 🌠🌠🌠🌠🌠
An excellent account of harrowing history we've all heard about but not wholly.
Their trip across the territory just getting to the base of the Sierra Nevada mountains was it's own story. Can you imagine leaving a woman and her baby by the side of the trail because her husband had died and she could not afford to pay someone to take her in their wagon? Resources were already dear and most felt compelled to take care of their own.

The author himself traveled as best he was able, the route Sarah Graves and company traversed. His personal thoughts at the end of the book on their journey, and later what happened to the survivors made it especially poignant for me.
The audio was well done, though I was not a fan of the narrator's voice, but it didn't spoil the experience.
I won't forget this one. The fortitude of these people is almost unbelievable, the stuff of fiction, except it wasn't.

[Celia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Who in the United States has not heard of the horrific Donner Tragedy of 1846/1847? I knew a little of this event based on a TV show I viewed some years ago. My niece lives in Truckee CA, about 6 miles from the campsite at Donner Lake of some of the involved parties. When she recommended that I read this book, I jumped right on it. Glad I did,but at the same time horrified at what I read.

This is no dry, boring accounting. Brown's description of this event is expressive and artistic (two synonyms for poetic). All is not ugly in this book. Divided into four parts, the book firsts describes the early part of the journey from Illinois and then the middle trek over a dusty and dry environment. It is only in the third part that the reader must endure descriptions of the hunger, the cold, and eventually, the consumption of human flesh of those who had died, to aid in the survival of those left living. This section also describes one group who set off to find help, how those who survived were able to finally stagger into Johnson Ranch, and the Four Rescue Parties who then set back to Donner Lake. The fourth part describes the psychological traumas and subsequent life of those who survived.

Brown, who is related to one of the survivors, centers his story on the harrowing experience of newlywed Sarah Graves Fosdick. Over and over I was amazed at the wealth of detail that Brown brought to the book. The plight of Sarah is poignant as well.

History that reads like fiction is one of my favorite genres. In this offering, Brown excels.

5 Impressed Stars!!

[Chrissie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having read about the Donner Party before, the topic was not new to me. I chose to read this because I have liked the author's other books. I knew he would do a good job!

The Donner Party’s 1846 - 1847 expedition is said to be the worst disaster of all the overland migrations to California. To call it harrowing is by no means an exaggeration! A detailed rendition of all that happened is told, here, in this book. The facts are made clear. What you want to know is explained clearly. It reads as narrative nonfiction.

I like the information Brown chooses to include. Questions that arise as you read are explained. I will give two examples. In many books I have read of the illness aigue, and I never really understood what this illness was. In this book, we learn of the symptoms--chills, fever and sweating that frequently reoccur after long intervals. We learn that it is a form of malaria and is carried by mosquitoes. This is the first book that has explained this properly! I appreciate this. Secondly, I found it curious that the men of the Donner Party succumbed more quickly than the females. Brown gives possible explanations based on modern research. Social networking does in fact affect our immune system! My point is that he answers the questions that pop up as you read! I like this. There is also a reason for why the kids stay healthier longer. The young were fed human body parts!

Brown tells what happens to the expedition’s survivors in the years that follow.

The author asks readers to consider who and why individuals dared to make such a trip. I like that he asks us to analyze underlying motives. In my view, Americans are quite simply not afraid to try something new. It’s in their blood. Could this be an attribute that is inherited? I am tempted to think so! Americans left the Old World for something new and better. I like that the author adds this philosophical twist for us to think about.

The audiobook is well read by Michael Prichard. He reads clearly. He states the facts. He does not dramatize. The horrible events speak for themselves. Four stars for the narration.

If you have read about the Donner Party before, this is still a good book to read.

*******************************

*The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics 4 stars
*Under a Flaming Sky: The Great Hinckley Firestorm of 1894 4 stars
*Facing the Mountain: A True Story of Japanese American Heroes in World War II 4 stars
*The Indifferent Stars Above: The Harrowing Saga of a Donner Party Bride 4 stars

Related books of interest:
*Desperate Passage: The Donner Party's Perilous Journey West 4 stars by Ethan Rarick
*The Expedition of the Donner Party and Its Tragic Fate TBR by Eliza Poor Donner Houghton

[Shelby *trains flying monkeys* · Rating 4 out of 5]

The amount of research done for this book takes you right to the time period that the saga occured. For me this book wasn't just about the Donner tragedy but about life in general. Great book.

[Toni Miranda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Having read the Hiding Place I saw the stark difference two groups of people can have to the same tragic circumstances. Corrie and her sister faced starvation and turned to God. The Donners and others turned to killing and cannibalism. The author cites studies that supposedly prove that people will always become carnal and devilish in these situations, but I have heard and read enough to know that is not true. I do believe that without strong faith, people can and often do resort to evil in order to survive. In the Donner party it was no different. Those with strong faith (like the Breen family) held to their beliefs and principles even when faced with death. While Keseberg and others killed others to not only survive but to also steal their goods. It is a tragic story. I hope that if I am ever faced with something this tragic that I will behave as Corrie and Betsy and stay true to my beliefs.

[Chris Berko · Rating 5 out of 5]

It takes a lot to shock me and I am not squeamish at all but this book did it, it kicked my butt. It's almost impossible to imagine what these people went through or what they had to do to survive with the way we live today however this book paints a pretty clear pictue of what actually happened. It's all the more excruciating because of the time the author takes letting you get to know the characters and finding out who they were as people before presenting their experiences in the infamous pass. I've read a bunch of books about human survival in extreme conditions but as the title says this is the most harrowing.

[A · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s not often that a history book will compel me to set all my novels aside, but “The Indifferent Stars Above” certainly did. Within the first few pages I was spellbound. I had to know how Sarah, a young woman newly married to her childhood sweetheart, would end up on top of the Sierra Nevada mountains in the dead of winter, starving and forced to do unspeakable things in order to survive.

“The Indifferent Stars Above: The Harrowing Saga of a Donner Party Bride” tells the story of the Donner Party from the perspective of newlyweds Sarah Graves and Jay Fosdick. In April of 1846 the couple joined Sarah’s family as they journeyed west from Illinois to the promised land of California. After falling behind schedule they joined a wagon train led by George Donner, hoping to make up for lost time by attempting a “shortcut” across the Wasatch Mountains and the Great Salt Lake Desert. But this route took three weeks longer than the customary way, and when they reached the Sierra Nevada at the end of October a snowstorm blocked their way through what is now called Donner Pass. What followed was a harrowing tale of heartbreak and horror. Many members of the party eventually resorted to cannibalism.

Author Daniel James Brown does a remarkable job of weaving historical evidence with modern science, creating a riveting tale that reads more like a novel than a work of history. He goes into impressive detail, explaining everything from the strain of malaria that Sarah’s family suffered from in Illinois, to the different kinds of flour available to emigrant families as they stocked up for their journey. Until I read this book I hadn’t understood the exact ways in which hypothermia acts upon the body, or realized that hyperthermia (overheating) was a common condition when struggling through 12 feet of snow. Brown’s descriptions of the trials people endured while trying to reach California are vivid:

In places they resorted to using a windlass to drag wagons… up steep slopes. At a place called Devils Gate, the rope hoisting one of the wagons broke near the windlass. Men rushed to support the wagon, grabbing at the spokes of the wheels and the planked sides, trying to hold it against the pull of gravity. But gravity won. The oxen bellowed and pawed frantically but futilely at the loose talus on the slope. They began to lose ground. The wagon accelerated, sliding down the slope, dragging the wide-eyed and still bellowing oxen with it. The men had to jump free of the rig to save their lives. Then it hurtled over a precipice at the bottom of the slope, pulling the oxen over the edge two by two.

Later, as the emigrants struggled to survive in the frozen Alder Creek Valley, Brown describes their situation thus:

They began to grow gaunt. Their eyes began to sink deeper into their faces. Their fingers grew boney…. And as all these transformations took place, they began to peer into one another’s increasingly angular faces with a growing sense of alarm and incredulity.

Poetic, haunting and deeply informative “The Indifferent Stars Above” brings history to life, taking you step-by-step through the physiological and psychological conditions that eventually caused once-civilized people to draw lots in order to see who would become dinner. This book is a must read.

[a mean gay · Rating 2 out of 5]

Oh man, I’m so fucking torn on this one.

On one hand you can’t deny this has a lot of research behind it. The author doesn’t shy from the grim realities (and I’m sorry but if you went into an account of the fucking Donner Party not expecting it to be grim you’re stupid and deserve to feel bad) and there’s some actually helpful explanations of things of what their bodies were actually going through to provide context. For example as someone who’s utterly unfamiliar with snow, being in the mountains, or really just leaving my house I had no idea that hyperthermia was such a big risk. Or what snowblindness actually does. Those were really helpful things to have an explanation for when taking into account just what the Donner Party went through.

Now what’s my beef with this? Oh god. So the tangents are so long and rambling. I understand providing historical context but so much of it was so painfully dry I found myself rereading it a few times because I’d just stop paying attention. Saying it’s about Sarah Graves is uh. Not really accurate either. If you’re not already working with a vague knowledge of the Donner Party the sheer number of names that get thrown at you will be overwhelming. And for something that’s definitely about Sarah there’s a lot of boring bits about literally everyone else all the time. I also didn’t think much of the weird mix of historical fiction and very dry facts. Like dude, I get it. You have a weird hard on for this girl. Either lean fully into historical fiction or stop with your awful ideas of how she might feel. And did I mention how Sarah Graves was apparently incapable of having any thoughts or emotions that weren’t directly tied to men? This author has the woooorst case of the straight guy disease. Sarah Graves travelled through actual hell and he takes tons of time jacking himself off to how it must feel to see your father and husband die but her sister was right fucking there the whole time and he doesn’t even consider that maybe they might possibly have some sort of bond? That she might have loved her mother or her siblings? It’s so weird and creepy. Like oh no, her father is dead! She must have clung to her husband! Oh no but he died! She was utterly alone! Meanwhile Mary was right there the whole time. I also hated having to see the author try to connect to her. “I have a daughter who was her age” like okay go off I guess? You’re gonna wax poetic about driving across the country and how it’s not that different except in places it is for like 30% of the book? It was just a bond that he really wouldn’t stop trying to reenforce when it wasn’t needed. But I guess someone thought a biography historical fiction memoir combo was a good idea?

Man, I’m so tired.

[Laura Anne · Rating 2 out of 5]

I recently read Brown's The Boys in the Boat and on the strength of that book, decided to give this one a try.

Maybe someone more fascinated by or familiar with the Donner party would be able to follow this, but it felt overloaded with information. I wish it had simply focused on Sarah Graves. Instead, there was such an array of people involved, it was near impossible to keep track of them all. I wouldn't say it was poorly written; just not the book for me.

[Bookworm · Rating 4 out of 5]

A solid 3.5 stars

A well researched narrative about The Donner Party and their tragic emigration moving from New England to California in 1846. The historical details were fascinating. I found it a bit confusing, though, as there were so many people involved and different names. It was hard to keep track of who was who. I also thought the story was drawn out in parts and could have been condensed. If one is looking to read and learn more about this heartbreaking and at times gruesome history, this is worth the read.

[Bob · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 Stars

Back it the 1970’s I lived in northern Nevada. In fact, I graduated high school in a small town just south of Carson City. After graduation I joined the US Air Force to see the world, well the military being the military and Murphy’s Law being Murphy’s Law, I was stationed in northern California. Not being terribly far from home I would occasionally visit. My main form of transportation back then was hitchhiking.

I was traveling back to base one snowy December day, a really snowy day. My ride from Reno dropped me off just past the Donner Pass summit at the on ramp for the road that led to Grass Valley. Did I say it was snowing? As I was standing with my thumb out hoping for a ride, it just snowed harder. The longer I stood there the more I started to resemble a snowman, I was covered in snow and soaking wet. Since it was a real possibility that no one would pick up a soaking wet hitchhiker, I was wondering about having to walk to Grass Valley.

That is when my mind ran to the story of the Donner party and all the hardships they had faced. Their life and death hardships occurred not far from where I was standing. It was there while standing in the snow, thinking about the Donner Party, I resolved to learn more about what they endured and went through. Now, about 45 years later I have fulfilled that resolution.

I am so glad I finally read a book about the Donner Part. This book is well researched, superbly written and emotionally devastating. The Donner Party was made up mostly of family’s men, women, and children moving west to California looking for a better life and living. Misfortune left them stranded in the winter mountains, and they were forced to survive, by any means necessary. Half did not survive. This is their story.

I highly recommend this book, it is well worth the time and effort to read,

[Scott Hawkins · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 / 5 - Maybe not a timeless classic, but it certainly made an impact.

I was broadly familiar with what happened to the Donner Party from the way Stephen King alluded to them in the Shining, when the snow started piling up around the Overlook Hotel. But I'd never previously read up on it in any great detail. This book had a good reputation, and I've been on a disaster kick lately. So I figured 'why not?'

I probably shouldn't have been quite so casual. You don't often get the chance to use the words "ghastly" and "harrowing" completely without irony, but I think they fit here. I honestly felt bad about enjoying the book as much as I did. The fact that this story happened to real people is just jaw-dropping. If you've got an interest in the topic I'd certainly recommend the book, but do be aware that it's the polar opposite of jolly.

People who know about such things seem to agree that it's credible as a work of history. I found it to be well written and evocative. I expect that getting both of those things to be true was a writerly challenge, but Brown did a fine job. There have apparently been a number of other books on the topic, written with varying degrees of journalistic rigor pretty much since the first of the survivors staggered in out of the mountains. Brown did a thorough, meticulous job of sorting out the existing accounts and combining that was both readable and at least plausibly accurate.

He supplemented the history with real-world experience and research. Most chapters have a bit of background on something to put the events of the story in context--life in the 1800s, the economics of pioneering, PTSD, the physiology of freezing while you starve. Brown was pretty judicious about distinguishing in the narrative between what we know and what we suppose. He seemed to be working to bring a historian's sensibility to some very tabloid events, and also was respectful to the memory of the poor bastards who had to live through that nightmare. I'm not the right guy to judge historical accuracy, but I do think his heart was in the right place.

It was also more vivid than I would have expected. Everyone even peripherally associated with the events obviously died a long time ago, and the diary/newspaper accounts tended to be a little dry. But in addition to the side research, Brown supplemented the sources by walking a good deal of the Donner Party's route, using the experience as grist for some vivid details about the terrain.

This isn't a book I'd recommend to everyone, and even the target demographic will probably need to be in the right mood. But it's darn good.

[Joy D · Rating 4 out of 5]

True story of the Donner Party. The author makes it more personal by following the life of one of the party, Sarah Graves Fosdick, as she and her family leave Illinois and head to California via covered wagon. More than a story of cannibalism, it depicts life in the 1840’s, what was going on in politics and in the world, and the adverse factors that converged to lead the party to become stranded in the Sierra Nevada in the winter of 1846-1847. It examines the story through a lens of current technology, covering the science of psychology, physiology, survival, and meteorology. Brown’s research is thorough, and he knows what elements to include to move the story forward. He attempts to sort through a myriad of conflicting information to get to the heart of what happened. He also followed the path taken by Sarah and her family to see first-hand the type of land they covered and help the reader better appreciate the hardships endured. The Kindle edition could have benefitted from a map, cross-referencing of chapter notes, and a list of the almost 90 people and to whom they were related, so it would be easier to keep track of everyone. Given what they endured, it’s amazing that anyone survived.

The author tells an informative story in a way that both honors the memory of the people involved and puts it into historical perspective. I now live near the Sierra Nevada location where the Donner party was stranded and plan to visit the site to learn more. Recommended to those interested in history-related non-fiction, especially of survival stories, life in the U.S. in the mid-1800’s, western migration of the pioneers, and historic tragedies. Contains grisly descriptions of extreme deprivation, starvation, slaughter, and cannibalism.

[Leslie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was born in California and then moved to New Mexico when I was five. My family then came back to California when I was nineteen. Therefore, between the time spent living here and all the vacations spent here when I did live in New Mexico, I should have known more about the Donner Party than I did, prior to reading this book. We have gone camping on Donner Lake more times than I can count and taken plenty of day trips to the lake as well. Apparently, I've even been to the Donner museum but this must have been when I was really little for I remember nothing about it. My Dad said that they have remodeled it since then and, after reading this book, I'm itching to go see it.

What I did know, before reading this, was the bare minimum: The Donner family and several other families migrating to California for a better life, became trapped in the snowy Sierra Nevada mountains. Many died. Many resorted to cannibalism. Cannibalism. Cannibalism. Cannibalism. I feel like it can't be just me who primarily associated them with that word and few others. I also feel like it can't be just me who never gave too much thought to the other families traveling with the Donner brothers, wives and children. The book did go into somewhat great detail on the cannibalism but it wasn't gratuitous and the details were not exploitative. It also remedied the issue of not knowing much about the other members of the Party.

There are countless other books about the Donner Party and I'm sure some focus more on the brothers, George and Jacob Donner, than the other families. This book shines a spotlight on the Graves family and specifically their newly married daughter Sarah. The book takes you with Sarah and her family on the journey and so, it is through Sarah's eyes that you experience everything.

I think this was a wise move and the book benefitted from it. Through Sarah, I got to know her family and the other families with her. I went from the pioneer trail, fraught with hardships, to the eventual snowbound mountains. With Sarah, I took off on homemade snowshoes with her husband and several others to try and find help. It was devastating and my heart broke in several places along the way. For Sarah and for all of them who I had become so intimately acquainted with.

This was an excellent book and I know it will be on my mind for a long time.

[Marcee · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't expect to like this book, but it was what my book group was doing when I was first invited to join. I thought it would just be ghastly and gruesome with the tales of cannibalism, but instead it was more about telling a story of the journey from beginning to end. I also expected a novel, but found instead a history with some overlay of imagined dialogue and feelings developed by the author after extensive research and physically traveling over the land the party covered, mostly in the same season they did. Perhaps the non-fiction angle helps explain why the story isn't gratuitous in its examination of the disaster. Whatever the reason, I appreciated the opportunity to learn more about the period and the incident without sensationalism.

I have two points of advice for one going into this book. In the interest of setting appropriate expectations, understand that the subtitle is misleading. It says this is the story of a Donner Party bride, and, while she does play a role in the tale, she is more like a unifying thread than a central character. The other dissatisfaction I had with this book was that it did not contain a map of the entire route covered by the party members, though it does have a central section of pictures and charts. The text carefully describes where the party traveled and on what dates they reached various waypoints on their journey. I am not familiar with those areas of the country, though, and my world atlas lacked the detail to give me a visual aid for this purpose, while the road atlas broke it into too many pages to give a good sense of the immensity of their trek. After some searching online, and finishing the book, I found a great map for this purpose produced for the National Park Service. I highly recommend it. Select the Maps tab from any of the following pages. http://www.nps.gov/cali/learn/history... http://www.nps.gov/cali/learn/history... http://www.nps.gov/cali/learn/history...

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

A friend of mine once summed up Isao Takahata's great anime film Grave of the Fireflies, about two Japanese children trying to survive the final days of World War II, with the single sentence "and then it got worse." The phrase kept springing to mind as I read The Indifferent Stars Above, which, as its subtitle suggests, is a harrowing account of the escalating horrors endured by the members of the infamous Donner Party, whose wagon train encountered an unimaginable array of mishaps and tragedies during the winter of 1846-1847. Daniel James Brown does a fine job of turning the Donner Party fiasco into a narrative that humanises people whose experiences in the Sierra Nevada mountain range are so divorced from anything the reader has likely ever experienced. Once or twice the story seems a bit jumbled, but I'd put that down to the chaos of the events in question and not any shortcoming in the author's work. Well worth checking out, if you've got the stomach for it.

[Asheley T. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've always been interested in the story of the Donner Party and I thought I knew a little something about it. But I actually knew very little.

This story actually (mostly) follows Sarah Graves Fosdick, who left Illinois with her family and her brand new husband to head out West during the time of Manifest Destiny. Not long into the journey, they were convinced that it would be better for them to go to California (instead of Oregon), so they joined with a small-ish group of other families and turned off of the main trail for a shortcut route. It turns out that the info about the shortcut was bad information. This bad info along with several bad decisions and mistakes along the way, caused the Donner Party to lag behind on their schedule. By the time they arrived at what is now called the Donner Pass (near the Nevada/California state line), they were exhausted, hungry, and severely lacking in preparation and supplies. They had no idea that many of them would never make it any further.

What this author did was take primary sources (journals and maps etc) and create a well-rounded of what was happening to this group of people, especially the Graves family, at every point along the trail. He also broadened his scope and talked about what else was going on in the country and around the world, and he used a little bit of scientific explanation in a few parts. So I was able to get a pretty wide story about what the intentions of this group were vs. what they actually experienced, and why, and how they recovered in the years after (at least for the ones that survived the journey).

It was really jarring to read this attempt at traveling West by wagon when most of the stories I read are not this extreme. I think I've always tended to have a fairly romanticized idea of the pioneers that took their families and wagons and re-settled out west. (I'm obsessed, actually.) For a group of people that-by definition-failed at their goal of arriving safe and sound, they were a group of tough, badass women, men, and children.

I won't lie: some parts of the story were hard to read. There were gruesome, bloody parts. And I spent nearly the entire story knowing how things would end up and feeling completely helpless while I watched it all unfold. The first third of the book moves along at a slower pace, but when the group takes the turn to the shortcut trail, things are intense from there. I was astounded at the things these people were willing to do to survive, and I was astounded at how resourceful they were in various parts. I had no idea. No idea.



Audiobook Notes: I added the audio to this book because I tend to do better with nonfiction when I'm listening to it. HOWEVER, the audio is not good. It's very boring. The narrator just didn't make anything exciting. I personally kept listening while I did chores (cooking, laundry, etc) so I could finish the book; I got used to the narration. But I would not recommend this as a purchase. If you want to listen to it, try checking it out from the library.

Still, even with not-so-great narration, this was a fantastic book.

Title: The Indifferent Stars Above by Daniel James Brown
Narrated by: Michael Prichard
Length: 10 hours, 55 minutes, Unabridged
Publisher: HarperAudio