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May 13, Minutes. Brands tells his epic story from multiple perspectives: He imparts a visceral sense of the distances they traveled, the suffering they endured, and the fortunes they made and lost. Cities sprang up overnight, in response to the demand for supplies and services of all kinds. By , California had become a state — the fastest journey to statehood in U. It had also become a symbol of what America stood for and of where it was going. In The Age of Gold , H. Brands explores the far-reaching implications of this pivotal point in U. He tells the stories of the great fortunes made by such memorable figures as John and Jessie Fremont, Leland Stanford and George Hearst — and of great fortunes lost by hundreds now forgotten by history.
And he reveals the profound effect of the Gold Rush on the way Americans viewed their destinies, as the Puritan ethic of hard work and the gradual accumulation of worldly riches gave way to the notion of getting rich quickly. From the Hardcover edition. Chair in History at the University of Texas at Austin. Masterfully sketched historical figures, subtly developed themes, and epically well-braided stories. Brands [is] a wonderfully skilled narrative historian. History titles loom large, and perhaps none larger than The Age of Gold. Brands has struck gold.
Brands] will change the way you see history. The Age of Gold brilliantly pans the historical record for nuggets of hardship and, in the process, hits upon a mother lode of a story. An eminently readable, detail-filled book. Mar 23, Caroline rated it really liked it Shelves: It's no exaggeration to say that California was created by gold. No doubt there'd have been a state there anyway - the concept of Manifest Destiny ensured that Americans were always going to spread out across the continent - but the discovery of gold in accelerated the process and made for a way of life and an atmosphere quite unlike America up to that point.
In pre-Gold Rush America the cardinal virtues were patience and hard work, rural, agrarian and slow - Jefferson's gentleman farmers. The Gold Rush ushered in the era of the quick buck, the sudden fortune, the wealth that could be gambled for, won and lost in the space of a week. This is a wonderful book, well-written and pacy, and it covers far more than just the lives and wealth of the men and women - Americans and immigrants alike - who rushed to California to strike it lucky.
It explores how the Gold Rush impacted the rest of the country, the role of California in upsetting the precarious balance between slave and free states that resulted in the Civil War, the way the ripples of gold spread out to affect the rest of the world, most particularly in the concept of the gold standard and free trade. Whilst I might have liked a bit more about the day-to-day lives of the miners, more about life in the new city of San Francisco or in the mining camps themselves, for a broad-ranging, comprehensive overview of the Gold Rush and its place in California and America's history, the book can't be bettered.
Jan 15, Aric Cushing added it. Brands was a finalist for the Pulitzer for his book on Abraham Lincoln. This book follows in the same line with incredible anecdotes of adventurers making their way to California from France, Australia, Mexico, etc.
Brands weaves all these amazing stories while keeping your interest about how CA shaped the industry we know today, as well as pushed our country into the Civil War circuitously. This book is riveting, and packed with details. From Leland Stanford and the railroad monopoly, the well Brands was a finalist for the Pulitzer for his book on Abraham Lincoln. From Leland Stanford and the railroad monopoly, the well known Black Friday, and the humble beginnings of fledgling California in , when there was a mere people living in the state, Brands weaves all this and more into an epic so complex, you can't stop reading.
Jul 24, Deb Readerbuzz Nance rated it liked it Shelves: I like to read books about the places I visit. It came highly recommended and it did not disappoint. People began to flood into California, risking death, willing to sacrifice everything for a chance to get rich.
Brands hones in on his charactersSutter, young men headed to California from all parts, Stanford, Hearstuntil the book feels more like a novel than a history book. I feel like I just completed a short course in California history by reading this book. Aug 12, Gary Sedivy rated it it was amazing. This is a great book, full of 'nickel knowledge'. Great telling of how the discovery of gold in California changed not only the U. We see how San Francisco developed; how much serendipity is almost the equal of hard work and effort; how people who bluff their way through and succeed, or bluff their way and run smack into the brick wall.
We see the famous Fremont and the obscure. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Jun 12, Craig rated it it was amazing Shelves: Brands is such a terrific storyteller. What I really liked about this book is how it takes an event like the discovery of Gold in California at Sutter's Mill and shows how it influenced major aspects of American history like the Transcontinental Railroad, expansion of the U. But the heart of the book is its people and stories and in that regard, this book excels.
A highly readable account of the California Gold Rush. The book discusses several of the key personalities of the era walking through San Francisco, I can now match a street name to a historical figure. It also goes into the struggles of several families--both the journey and their lives in the mines. Though a page book, it was a fast read.
Bullion-dollar blues
I enjoyed his writing style. Feb 22, Tom rated it it was amazing. Well written and documented. The author has tied in many quotes from personal journals of people who witnessed or participated in the events described. The scope of the book goes well beyond the title subject to present a complete picture of the impact of the discovery well beyond California and the U. Mar 20, Alex rated it liked it Recommends it for: Pretty good history of the California gold rush. Brands is known as the guy that did the excellent Benjamin Franklin biography.
The book uses correspondences from 49ers and other to piece together a delightful history that reads like a narrative. Jan 06, Jeffrey rated it it was amazing. This book really ties in the effect events in California had in the creation of our nation as we know it. Very unlikely the North wins the war without this Gold Rush.
Great read for non-fiction fans! Nov 24, Dan Ripke rated it it was amazing Shelves: Very good history of gold and its role in the early days of California. Follows how gold impacts dozens of individuals lives. Aug 06, Aaron Plunk rated it it was amazing. Dec 16, Steve Shilstone rated it really liked it. Plenty of particular personal tales stud this sweeping history of what happened after the cry from California of 'Gold on the American River! Dec 24, George Fodor rated it really liked it Recommends it for: Anyone interested in a key turning point of American history.
The Age of Gold by H. W. Brands | theranchhands.com: Books
Brands includes exquisitely detailed physical descriptions of key characters. I especially appreciate his ability to tell a story as well as document history. Dec 06, Lance rated it it was amazing. Many interesting smaller stories within this well-written book. Jan 13, Chris rated it it was amazing Shelves: These people have been in different circumstances and no two experiences are exactly alike. Even though the term was coined in the United States it is still an ideal that has been passed from Western Civilization over to the United States, where the terminology was finally perfected in by John L.
The California Gold Rush and the New American Dream
Brands examines this iconic period of American history and the implications that it wrought on American society and the west. He utilizes the stories of individuals who travelled west as well as the economics and industry of the time to show the far-reaching implications of the gold rush. But he does not stop there, he also covers aspects such as national issues; ratification of California to statehood, slavery dealing with the coming Civil War and gender issues, ethnic and immigration laws. Brands is an Oregon born boy who stayed out west and went to College in California.
He then went on to earn his graduate degrees in mathematics and history from Oregon and Texas. Known as an author of American history and politics with many books to his name, including: Several of his books have been bestsellers and two were finalists for the Pulitzer Prize. Brands spends almost forty percent of the book allowing the Argonauts time to get west. A few of those descriptions are intriguing, especially in regards to John C. Fremont, one of the most exciting figures of the American west during the gold rush. He gives lucid details about each individual and their struggles to cross the great expanse of the United States.
Not only does he give accounts of the travelers moving across the country by land but he gives great care to also cover the ship-goers who travelled through either the Isthmus of Panama or around Cape Horn. To this end he also covers the shipping business and the economic and technological effect the gold rush had on it.
The problem with this aspect is that since Brands spends so much time on the Argonauts it really could be considered a biography instead of an overview of the gold rush. He does this incredibly well and is able to tie the individuals to some aspect of the gold rush that he wants to examine. For example, when Brands describes the overland journey of Hugh Heiskell he is able to explain how not everyone reached their destination. This provides somewhat of an unreliable source but it is all that we as historians have to mark his death.
Brands does an excellent job of explaining the problem with numbers during this time because the records kept are few and far between.
Letters barely even reached their destinations without some sort of hassle. The extensive detail given to the techniques for mining extractions, such as: All of which, especially hydraulic mining, were technological advances of the time and are incredibly important to the rise of the Gilded Age in the United States.
But he misses some of the most important aspects of the time such as: All of these he mentions briefly but does not come to any conclusion about their effect on social changes of the time. It also affected how the Chinese immigrants were continually treated in the west. Their treatment would get steadily worse and would ultimately affect how the Chinese view Americans as well as the United States government on the whole.
These were the only aspects of historical content that seemed to be lacking in this intensive study of the American west and the California gold rush. Brands does delve into the territorial acquisitions of the United States and the suffering of the Mexicans that followed the Manifest Destiny war against Mexico.
The Americans believed that they held rights to this new acquisition of land and as land speculators and lawyers headed out west to establish this right, the Mexicans were thrown and swindled from their land. The gold rush changed the ethnicity of the west and brought new immigrants from all across the world. The same can be said of his talk about how the gold rush also accelerated the Industrial Revolution in the United States, compelling a push for a transcontinental railway. In regards to reviews written about Age of Gold, there are very few but the ones this writer found involve praise and adoration.
An important work of history. Brands has missed a few things but overall does an excellent job of explaining the gold rush through the purview of popular history. Sep 21, George Dziuk rated it really liked it. This massive sea of people all hell bent on getting rich quick and how that jumpstarted the creation of California as a state. Brands does a good job of explaining what that was like in Age of Gold.
Brands describes both the sea going and overland routes taken by the gold rushers, including quite a few harrowing tales of scary voyages and ruthless crossings of the intense deserts of Nevada, Utah, and what became the eastern edge of California. Along the way you are introduced to the lives of several people that Brands chronicles in order to show how their lives were transformed and changed by the gold rush.
This includes those who travelled from both the east coast and from across the seas all in the hope of striking it rich. It also includes the lives of people who were already living in California, like Mariano Vallejo and William Sutter, and how they responded to the extremely rapid changes resulting from this massive infusion of mostly single male, very motivated people. Brands effectively describes the regional and national implications of this migration…how it jumpstarted the creation of San Francisco, Sacramento, and the state of California at an unprecedented rate for a territory and how that most likely put the United States on a much quicker path to civil war.
At the same time, it also spurred great national endeavors such as the transcontinental railroad. Brands effectively argues that the gold rush directly resulted in these events that transformed and shaped the United States in the 2nd half of the s. Aug 08, Andrew Canfield rated it really liked it.
The Age of Gold
The Age of Gold is the second H. Brands book I have read, and this one was no less masterfully written than the first. The University of Texas-Austin based history professor is able to write in a way that hooks readers, mixing in anecdotes and historical facts in a way that doesn't become repetitive or a chore to read. This book focuses primarily on the late s-early s Gold Rush in and to what was then the territory of California.
It begins by telling about journeys both across the U. S The Age of Gold is the second H. Senator Thomas Hart Benton people attempting to strike it rich in the gold fields. Many of us often forget that in order to get from the east coast of the U. Sailing around Cape Horn was another dangerous way to make this journey. The overland route was doable, yet full of risk and much longer time wise to complete. The portions of these books discussing travels to the west coast in search of riches were harrowing, real-life accounts of people seeking a better life.
Sections dealing with how the Chinese and Native-Americans were often treated as disposable commodities by greedy settlers were unsettling, yet true, parts of the narrative.
The railroad magnates men like Leland Stanford , and important figures like William T. Sherman who are oftentimes not even associated with the Gold Rush, yet played a major role in it, are discussed in the second half of the book. The ways in which Americans thought about wealth creation were changed by overnight, gold-created riches were artfully examined by Brands. The Age of Gold also shed light on how the clamoring for California statehood helped set off the debates which led to the Civil War owing to its ability to tip the balance toward free states.
It also contains accounts of early San Francisco that were truly a joy to read about; the amount of fires that destroyed portions of the city during its first few decades of existence were something I knew little about. Alarmingly Captivating This is a focused and sweeping history of California that essentially begins with the Gold Rush of The author uses an abundance of primary sources to present this thesis - that the Gold Rush profoundly changed American and World History. This is a compelling history. The intersection of the lives of so many people, institutions and events is nothing short of astonishing.
Sutter, Marshall, Fremont, Stanford, Sherman, Hearst and Hoover - all known in American history - are the foundational characters for this book. What is more interesting is how they influenced and shaped events and how those events would also shape them. This era of reckless and headlong rush would be boom and bane for individuals and the country as a whole. This book fills in many gaps that history has short All in all, this is a great book and great story.
It is a little slow in the middle as the author uses first hand diary accounts to vividly paint a word picture of the mind set and essence of the time. But this is necessary and I encourage the reader to stay with it. Oct 16, Eric Parker rated it really liked it.