Book Review: The Age of Gold by H.W. Brands

I recently completed reading H.W. Brands The Age of Gold: The California Gold Rush and the New American Dream. Brands' chronicle of the California Gold Rush is a great book that provides a look into the Gold Rush from the eye of a historian as well as from the perspective of the average 49'er. The struggles of many of the individual miners are vividly told from writings of those who struggled west in search of a better life.

Brands spends a great deal of the opening of The Age of Gold telling the vastly different stories of several miners. The stories of not only the American's who left from the east in covered wagons, but those who set to sea around South America, those who went by sea crossing on land at Panama, and the little known stories of those who came from the Far East such as China and from Australia. The popular knowledge of Americans crossing the prairie, deserts, and mountains in search of gold is well known, but I was unaware of the volumes of miners than were drawn to the area from all parts of the world.

The Age of Gold tells riveting narratives of individuals key to the story of California Gold and of more common people. While Sutter's Mill is known as the location of the find, I was surprised to learn that things didn't turn as expected for John Sutter. Having a degree in History, I was well aware of the explorer / soldier John C. Freemont but was unaware of the key role that he played in the Gold Rush. By far the most interesting stories were those of the common man taking his life in his (or her!) hands. Braving menacing seas and sea captains, suffering through brutal snows and deadly heat, racism, and general lawlessness the miners often survived to dig unsuccessfully and find themselves destitute in a strange land.