Long Day's Journey

In this book, professor and author Carlos Schwantes gathers historical photographs, advertisements, posters, and contemporary accounts to recreate on of the most colorful periods in the American West. He traces the rapidly evolving saga of miners and settlers struggling to get from here to there in the days before railroads reached the West. Integrating more that 200 historical photographs and other illustrations with vivid contemporary accounts, Schwantes presents a fascinating history of Americans forging the first working connections between the West and the rest of America. He describes in detail the technology of these modes of travel and transportation and also explains the economics that linked the birth and death of western towns and cities as well as the business history of stagecoach and steamboat companies. This is popular history at its best, written by a scholar who know the subject from the driver's box to the quarterdeck. Weighs over 4 pounds! Profusely illustrated. Hardcover w/dustjacket: 408 pages: 10.75 x 10.25"