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| Eldorado: Adventures in the Path of Empire (California Legacy Book) | 
 enlarge | Author: Bayard Taylor
Creator: James D. Houston
Publisher: Heyday Books
Category: Book
List Price: $18.95
Buy New: $0.99
You Save: $17.96 (95%)
New (14) Used (24) Collectible (1) from $0.47
Avg. Customer Rating:  2 reviews
Sales Rank: 744724
Media: Paperback
Edition: 1st
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 411
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.6
Dimensions (in): 9 x 6 x 1.1
ISBN: 1890771368
Dewey Decimal Number: 979.404
EAN: 9781890771362
ASIN: 1890771368
Publication Date: 2000
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: New 1st.Edition. Excellent Condition! Fast & Reliable Shipment with FREE Delivery Confirmation # via Email! Professional Customer Service. Guaranteed Purchase. Expedited Shipping Available for $2-3 more! Paperback.
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Book Description
Bayard Taylor was among the thousands of young men who came to California in 1849 for the gold rush. Sent by his publisher, Horace Greeley, he came not to find a fortune, but to share his thoughts and experiences with the readers of the New York Tribune. Taylor wrote of what he saw—the growth and popularity of San Francisco and the Bay Area, the immediate creation of townships nestled in the foothills of the Sierra Nevadas to house the immigrants, the California constitutional convention, and the circumstances that wealth created, both good and bad—and Taylor's words helped to form many of the perceptions that have shaped modern-day California. With a new foreword by James D. Houston, an afterword by Roger Kahn, and annotations by Robert Senkewicz, Eldorado is an essential contribution to the literature of the West.
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| Customer Reviews:
Probably the most outstanding book on early California ever written..... May 7, 2006
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
I can't agree more with the other reviewer who has commented on this book. I also found it accidentally (while looking for books written by James D. Houston), and I also am buying extra copies to give as gifts.
The writing here is majestic, magical, and extremely powerful (yet simple and elegant at the same time). You will learn more about the California of the mid-1800s, by reading this book, than you will probably learn anywhere else. The author was a truly gifted writer, and his expressive and detailed language regarding California life at the time of the gold rush, will enthrall and deeply impact you.
One other point! The quality of this printing is exceptional, and adds greatly to the text itself. This book is an awesome deal, given Amazon's pricing and availability.
superb and engaging December 4, 2001
9 out of 9 found this review helpful
I stumbled across this book by accident one day and it has turned out to be my find of 2001 -- one of the most enjoyable books I have read in ages. Taylor, a youthful New York journalist and poet, was sent out to California to file back dispatches on this wild, gold-filled, lush place in the seminal gold rush year of 1849, when California was a sprawling region, and not yet a state. And what a fabulous job he does -- this reads more like an engaging adventure narrative than non-fiction, and I could not put it down -- a reader is completely transported into another place and time. One cannot fail to be fascinated by the bustling, energetic, multi-ethnic, can-do place that was the west coast. If you know California, especially the San Francisco, Monterey and Sacramento areas, Taylor's descriptions of their still-untamed landscapes will be both familiar and strange, but always utterly lovely. His reports of the gold rush regions are extraordinary, as is his walk -- yes, *walk* -- from San Francisco to Monterey... this at a time when a galloping horse could get from San Jose to San Francisco in perhaps seven *hours*. Taylor is funny, honest, generally very clear-eyed and unsentimental, and his writing is of very high calibre. Kudos to Heyday Press for bringing this wonderful book to a new audience. I am giving it to everybody as a gift this year.
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