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Dreams of El Dorado: A History of the American West

Author:
H.W. Brands
Read by:
Matt Kugler
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Unabridged Audiobook

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Ratings
Book
10
Narrator
4
Release Date
October 22, 2019
Duration
17 hours 13 minutes
Summary
'Epic in its scale, fearless in its scope' (Hampton Sides), this masterfully told account of the American West from a two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist sets a new standard as it sweeps from the California Gold Rush and beyond.
In Dreams of El Dorado, H. W. Brands tells the thrilling, panoramic story of the settling of the American West. He takes us from John Jacob Astor's fur trading outpost in Oregon to the Texas Revolution, from the California gold rush to the Oklahoma land rush. He shows how the migrants' dreams drove them to feats of courage and perseverance that put their stay-at-home cousins to shame-and how those same dreams also drove them to outrageous acts of violence against indigenous peoples and one another. The West was where riches would reward the miner's persistence, the cattleman's courage, the railroad man's enterprise; but El Dorado was at least as elusive in the West as it ever was in the East.

Balanced, authoritative, and masterfully told, Dreams of El Dorado sets a new standard for histories of the American West.
Reviews
Profile Avatar Tedzo Mar 2025

If you want a book about blood and guts and torture, this is for you. Not only does the narrator mispronounce words, but there seems to be a constant theme about torture and violence and hatred. A sensational account of events which are not always described in a timeframe. I’m very disappointed and I have buyers remorse.

Profile Avatar Anonymous Jan 2023

So irritating to have the narrator mispronounce Oregon place names.

Profile Avatar Robert Clarke Jul 2020

If someone wanted a single volume about the movement west. this is the book.

Dreams of El Dorado: A History of the American West

Dreams of El Dorado: A History of the American West

Author: H.W. Brands
Read by: Matt Kugler
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