#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • #1 Indie Next Pick • 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.” —Ian Frazier, The New York Review of Books “Absorbing…Winning…The many layers in The … 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.” —Dwight Garner, The New York Times
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).
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Like all good children of the 80s, I grew up playing the Oregon Trail, trying to make it west with enough bullets to shoot dinner, before my oxen broke down, and without losing my load in any of the river crossings. Naturally, then, I was intrigued by the title of this book alone.
Rinker Buck’s life if falling apart and so he decides that a summer on the Oregon Trail will cure him. That is, he wants to become the first person to cross the entire train in a covered wagon in over 100 years. Just like the pioneers, Buck uses the internet to find a team and wagon, and make the necessary preparations to spend four months roughing it in some of the most rural – and often remote – corners of America. Fortunately, his brother is both Mr. Fix-it and a Horse Whisperer, widely respected as one of the best team drivers in the country. (Those would be mule teams, not NASCAR teams.) So it is that the two of them set off from Missouri, bound for Oregon.
Interspersed with stories from his own journey – my favorite of these is about RVs, or more specifically their drivers, who Buck states rather unequivocally covet the opportunity to create traffic hazards and did so with alarming regularity when the wagon wasn’t bumping through the wilderness – Buck constructs a solid history of the original Oregon Trail. He has clearly done his research and quotes generously from pioneer journals, guidebooks, and other original sources, as well as histories written by others. He also creates a history, of sorts, of those who reside near or work to restore the trail today. This is all very well done.
Buck also paints a wonderful portrait of the American heartland. His trip across the Oregon Trails puts him as up close and personal as possible with Flyover Country, and Buck makes a compelling case for why the this part of America still matters – and not only for the Union Pacific freights that haul our goods from coast-to-coast.
My only complaint, really, should not come as a surprise: at time Buck is a little too wrapped up in himself. It’s hard to imagine that the pages he spends trying to deconstruct and reconstruct his relationship with his father are of interest to the same crowd that wants to read about the Oregon Trail. (Yes, I know, there are traditional histories available for those who want the just-the-facts-ma’am version.) He also seems just a teensy bit too smug, just a teensy bit too often. And, while his brother certainly has his own quirks and idiosyncrasies, like A.J. Jacobs’s wife (The Year of Living Biblically – another crazy quest), Nick Buck just might deserve some kind of medal.
(This review was originally published at http://www.thisyearinbooks.com/2015/11/the-oregon-trail-new-american-journey.html)
A truly orignal story. A compelling overview of the life and history of the Oregon Trail interwoven with a story of 2 brothers and their interesting and complex personal histories, and the foundations that bind them in their shared journey on the trail. Quite entertaining, although I felt it dragged slighly at times. A worthy journey to partake in.
Interesting but too long of same things.
i wanted more about traveling the trail, too much detail on the wagon and other things lost interest.
Excellent, excellent read. Absolutely enjoyable. Picked it up on a lark, and and since reading it I have recommended it to dozens and dozens of others for their reading pleasure. Will not disappoint.
Love this author’s writing style. Would be interested in reading more books by him.
Combines the 19th century trail history with today‘s challenges. Having travelled the Oregon trail partly myself it brought back many great moments.
I have pioneer ancestors and was born and raised in Oregon. This taught me a lot about what they went through.
If you want to read a great adventure and find a renewed appreciation of who Americans are, this is a read. It’s a about a lot more things than our history and one of the best books I have read in years
Amazing how enduring people were and what they went through give better lives for their families and some of the descendants still prospering as a result. What a difference from today
Insights into pioneers
Excellent book! Loaded with interesting information.
Personal political opinions should not be in this type of historical book. For me it was a bit distasteful….
Rinker Buck, and another of his brothers, this time, drive a period accurate mule drawn wagon along what is left of the Oregon trail. A great adventure.
True story of a modern trip across the Oregon Trail .
I learned a lot by reading this.. it a great adventure..