This book is a stirring history of the settling of the American West, from 1840-49, the years between the era of the fur trappers and the beginning of the gold rush. In all the sagas of human migration, few can top the drama of the journey by midwestern farmers to Oregon and California. Seeking the promised land, these travelers trekked two thousand miles by covered wagon from Missouri to destinations on the Pacific coast. Using original diaries and memoirs, Frank McLynn underscores the incredible heroism and dangerous folly on the overland trails. His well-informed and authoritative year-by-year narrative tells of the events leading up to the opening of the trails, the wagons and animals used by the pioneers, the role of women and relations with Native Americans. This account of the pioneering years in the overland trails abounds with tragedy and triumph in the face of overwhelming odds. It also brilliantly chronicles one of the principal chapters in the conquest of the North American continent, and the creation of the United States as we know it today. - Jacket flap.