The Donner Party
by George Keithley

Paperback, 254 pages

ISBN-13: 9780807616185
$16.95 (Can $18.95)

First published in 1970, The Donner Party is the story of a wagon train, led by George Donner, which set out from Springfield, Illinois in 1846, headed for California. After taking an unproven shortcut through the Sierra Nevada Mountains, the party became trapped by an early snowfall. During the coldest winter months, with no supplies and little hope of rescue, those still alive resorted to cannibalism for sustenance. Using historical documents and accounts written by actual members of the Donner party, George Keithley has fashioned a narrative poem the captures the hope and heartbreak of this western migration across an untamed America.