The Oregon Trail: A New American Journey

By Rinker Buck

Book Overview

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - Winner of the PEN New England Award

"Enchanting...A book filled with so much love...Long before Oregon, Rinker Buck has convinced us that the best way to see America is from the seat of a covered wagon." --The Wall Street Journal

"Amazing...A real nonfiction thriller." --The New York Review of Books

"Absorbing...Winning...The many layers in The Oregon Trail are linked by Mr. Buck's voice, which is alert and unpretentious in a manner that put me in mind of Bill Bryson's comic tone in A Walk in the Woods." --The New York Times

#1 New York Times bestseller, this epic and deeply moving adventure blends American history, western travel, and memoir in a remarkable 2,000-mile journey across the American West by covered wagon.

A major bestseller that has been hailed as a "quintessential American story" (Christian Science Monitor), Rinker Buck's The Oregon Trail is an epic account of traveling the 2,000-mile length of the Oregon Trail the old-fashioned way--in a covered wagon with a team of mules--that has captivated readers, critics, and booksellers from coast to coast. Simultaneously a majestic journey across the West, a significant work of history, and a moving personal saga, Buck's chronicle is a "laugh-out-loud masterpiece" (Willamette Week) that "so ensnares the emotions it becomes a tear-jerker at its close" (Star Tribune, Minneapolis) and "will leave you daydreaming and hungry to see this land" (The Boston Globe).

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1451659172
• ISBN13: 9781451659177
• Release Date: June 2016
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Length: 496 Pages
• Weight: 0.98 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 5.5" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

Meh

A cool concept, traveling the Oregon Trail in modern times with a wagon team. Unfortunately the author's political rants were too distracting and his dysfunctional relationship with his brother was not what I signed up for and would not suggest the book.

Two stories in one

Rinker Buck and his brother travel the Oregon Trail in a wagon with a 3-mule team. There are 2 story lines: interesting and often little-known facts about the Oregon trail itself, and the story of 2 brothers who come closer together on their trip. The wagon is authentic, and restored by a person who creates items for Civil War re-enactments. The mules are from an Amish farmer. The trail was researched in-depth by Rinker before they left. Rinker's brother was a good mechanic and a top hand with horses and mules. They ran into a number of difficulties that the original pioneers did, and others that come from trying to follow the trail in modern time over fenced areas, areas paralleling freeways, and past stops that no longer exist. Rinker invokes both the drama and the humor involved with the whole adventure.