C. F. McGlashan was the newspaper editor and publisher of the local daily in Truckee, California, the closest town to the Donner Pass. Over the course of an eighteen-month period, McGlashan interviewed the survivors of the Donner Party, gathered artifacts, and amassed an enormous amount of secondary information. He published his findings as serialized articles in his paper, which were later published in book form. Detailed and engaging, History of...

Evil is invisible, and it is everywhere. That is the only way to explain the series of misfortunes that have plagued the wagon train known as the Donner Party. Depleted rations, bitter quarrels, and the mysterious death of a little boy have driven the isolated travelers to the brink of madness. Though they dream of what awaits them in the West, long-buried secrets begin to emerge, and dissent among them escalates to the point of murder and chaos....

In the eerily warm spring of 1846, George Donner placed this advertisement in a local newspaper as he and a restless caravan prepared for what they hoped would be the most rewarding journey of a lifetime. But in eagerly pursuing what would a century later become known as the "American dream," this optimistic-yet-motley crew of emigrants was met with a chilling nightmare; in the following months, their jingoistic excitement would be replaced by desperate...