The Rivals: William Gwin, David Broderick, and the Birth of California - Hardcover

Quinn, Arthur

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0517595737 ISBN 13: 9780517595732

Publisher: Crown, 1994

Synopsis

A history of California from the 1849 Gold Rush to the Civil War focuses on the struggle between two bitter antagonists--William Gwin and New Yorker David Broderick--which culminated in a duel that left Broderick dead and Gwin disgraced. 15,000 first printing.

About this title

About the Author:

Arthur Quinn is Professor of Rhetoric at the University of California at Berkeley.

From Library Journal:

Unlike most political histories of the antebellum period, this work does not focus on events in the eastern United States. Instead, it examines the slave-free soil struggle in California through the eyes of two of the young state's prominent public figures and rivals, who each went west to seek his political and financial fortunes. William Gwin was an aristocratic Mississippi planter with a dubious past, and David Broderick was a veteran of the bareknuckle politics of New York City. Each sought and obtained a seat in the U.S. Senate, but their conflicting views spilled over into personal animosity that led to Broderick's death in an illegal duel and Gwin's subsequent dishonor. Quinn (Broken Shore, Redwood Pr., 1987) presents more than a well-crafted tale of two rivals; he works in the dual contexts of a state in the making and a nation breaking apart as the Civil War looms closer. A balanced work for history collections.
Daniel Liestman, Seattle Pacific Univ. Lib.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Crown
• Publication date: 1994
• ISBN 10: 0517595737
• ISBN 13: 9780517595732
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 320