The Luck of Roaring Camp: And Other Tales

Bret Harte

Dec 2014 · Open Road Media

About this ebook

The defining stories from one of America’s great wits

In the mid-nineteenth century, the Wild West grabbed ahold of American consciousness and never let go. With the discovery of gold, all eyes and wagons turned westward.

This collection of stories brings readers back to the American frontier. In “The Luck of Roaring Camp,” when a Native American woman dies in childbirth, the miners take it upon themselves to raise the child. Naming the baby Luck, the miners learn more about responsibility and class through raising the boy than they have through anything else in their lives. Other stories in the collection include classic prospecting-set short stories such as “Tennessee’s Partner” and “The Outcasts of Poker Flat” and the short novels “Muck-a-Muck” and “Selina Sedilia.” In this timeless collection, Bret Harte has captured the California gold rush as no other writer could.

This ebook has been professionally proofread to ensure accuracy and readability on all devices.

About the author

Bret Harte (1836–1902) was an author and poet known for his romantic depictions of the American West and the California gold rush. Born in New York, Harte moved to California when he was seventeen and worked as a miner, messenger, and journalist. In 1868 he became editor of the Overland Monthly, a literary journal in which he published his most famous work, “The Luck of Roaring Camp.” In 1871 Harte returned east to further his writing career. He spent his later years as an American diplomat in Germany and Britain.