The Klondike Fever: The Life and Death of the Last Great Gold Rush - Softcover

Berton, Pierre

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0786713178 ISBN 13: 9780786713172

Publisher: Basic Books, 2003

Synopsis

In 1897 a grimy steamer docked in Seattle and set into epic motion the incredible succession of events that Pierre Berton's exhilarating The Klondike Fever chronicles in all its splendid and astonishing folly. For the steamer Portland bore two tons of pure Klondike gold. And immediately, the stampede north to Alaska began. Easily as many as 100,000 adventurers, dreamers, and would-be miners from all over the world struck out for the remote, isolated gold fields in the Klondike Valley, most of them in total ignorance of the long, harsh Alaskan winters and the territory's indomitable terrain. Less than a third of that number would complete the enormously arduous mountain journey to their destination. Some would strike gold. Berton's story belongs less to the few who would make their fortunes than to the many swept up in the gold mania, to often unfortunate effects and 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, of the land — its exploitation and revenge. It is a story of the human capacity to dream, and to endure.

About this title

About the Author:

Pierre Burton is the internationally renowned bestselling author of fifty books and the recipient of over thirty literary awards including the Governor-General s Award for Creative Non-Fiction (three times). He was raised in the Yukon, served almost four years in the army, was an editor at the Toronto Star, and a writer and host of a series of CBC programs. He is a member of the Newsman s Hall of Fame. Pierre Berton passed away in 2004.

Review:

"The definitive account of an affair as wildly improbable as any in North American history."

About this edition

• Publisher: Basic Books
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0786713178
• ISBN 13: 9780786713172
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 494