The Oregon Trail: A New American Journey

Rinker Buck

Jun 2015 · Sold by Simon and Schuster

About this ebook

#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 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).

Ratings and reviews

I admire the undertaking that he and his brother tackled. What a feat, what a learning experience. I found the initial preparation, final packing, and departure for the trip, mixed with history about points on the trail very interesting. I was excited to start listening to the book. That being said, like a lot of the other reviews about ⅔ thru the book it takes a sharp DOWN turn. It was very hard for me to finish this book. In fact the last third of the book disappointed me so much that i’m writing this review, the first review that I have ever written. Knowing that the author narrates his own work, complete with mis-pronounced words, mis-characterization and misrepresentation, proves that if he would have done thorough research, (maybe speaking to someone with a little authority on the subject) someone would have set him straight. I am specifically speaking of 2 instance which take up approximately 1 ½ chapters of this book which include history of the Mormon faith and locomotives, both of which I am very personally familiar. Being ignorant with factual history and descriptions on these 2 topics makes me wonder if the other historical blurbs in the book, of which I am not too acquainted with, are accurate either. In the end Rinker comes off with an arrogant, “I’m educated, i’m smarter, and you're and idiot if you don’t believe and think the way I do” attitude. To use Rinker’s own words, just like one of his history flashbacks about a story teller on the Split Rock Ranch named William Frederick Cody or “Buffalo Bill”, Rinker Buck “has learned to capitalize, and prosper by exploiting the gullibility of the american people. Most of whom are so poorly read, so bamboozled by religion and the sensationalist mogul worshiping press, and so desperate for heroes that they will believe almost anything that a grand bullshitter like [Rinker Buck] shovels out.” In the end you need to leave a book like this feeling happy. Instead, you feel insulted if you have ever driven a minivan, believe in God, are an American, or an RVer. Stick with the real pro’s Bill Bryson or Hampton Sides, and stay happy.

I really enjoyed this book. I have read it through twice now after borrowing it from my library so I decided to buy it. I like Rinker's detail of the landscape. His relationship with his brother and memories of his childhood provide I good pacing to a book that is already rich in American history.

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About the author

Rinker Buck began his career in journalism at the Berkshire Eagle and was a longtime staff writer for the Hartford Courant. He has written for Vanity Fair, New York, Life, and many other publications, and his work has won the PEN New England Award, the Eugene S. Pulliam National Journalism Writing Award, and the Society of Professional Journalists Sigma Delta Chi Award. He is the New York Times bestselling author of The Oregon Trail, Flight of Passage, and First Job. He lives in Tennessee.