The Klondike Fever: The Life and Death of the Last Great Gold Rush FROM THE PUBLISHER
In 1897 a grimy steamer docked in Seattle and set into epic motion the incredible succession of events that Pierre Berton's exhilarating, now classic The Klondike Fever chronicles in all its splendid and astonishing folly. For in its hold the steamer bore two tons of pure Klondike gold. Immediately, the stampede north to Alaska began, Easily as many as 100,000 adventurers, dreamers, and would-be miners from all over the world -- most of them in total ignorance of the territory's long, harsh winters and indomitable terrain -- struck out for the remote, isolated Klondike Valley gold fields. Not even a third of them would reach their destination. Some would strike gold. Berton's story belongs less to the few who made fabulous fortunes of Alaskan gold than to the many swept by gold mania to unfortunate, often tragic ends. It is a story of cold skies and avalanches, of con men and gamblers and dance-hall girls, of sunken ships, of suicides, of dead horses and desperate men, of grizzly old miners and millionaires. It is a story of the land, of its exploitation and revenge. It is a story of the human capacity to dream. And to endure.
FROM THE CRITICS
Library Journal
Berton's 1958 title chronicles the madness of the 19th-century's Klondike gold rush. Roughly 100,000 hopefuls set off in search of riches, but fewer than a third reached their destination, with a tiny fraction of those actually finding the wealth they sought. Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.
Home
