Wanderers eastward, wanderers west
(Book)

Kaleidoscopic story about the post-Civil War expansion of the Montana Territory from a handful of mining camps into a State, and the disappearance of the last frontier.

"Kathleen Winsor's absorbing, kaleidoscopic new novel concentrates into a hectic twenty-year span the entire frontier and development process of the preceding three hundred years of American history--the story of the rugged men who first found gold, silver and copper in the West, and the financial giants and rash speculators who exploited their findings in Wall Street. The story begins in the fall of 1862 and ends on December 21, 1881--the fateful day when the railroad came to Butte and closed the first phase of Montana Territory's tumultuous existence. Between those dates Winsor's novel ranges back and forth between the primitive mining camps in the newly opening Northwest and the worlds of finance and high society in New York. The leaders in both sectors were possessed of the same overweening drive, skill, recklessness and selfishness that characterized the American 'aristocracy' of the period. Indeed, they often were members of the same families--or linked their fortunes by convenient marriages. ... Winsor maintains, 'if there is any one 'hero' or central character in this book, it is the twenty decisive years of American history I have tried to define and describe.'"--Dust jacket.

Also issued online.

BSLW RECAT 2023