Know Thyself 5: Will Bagley on the Donner Party

A special interview with multiple award winning author, historian of the American West, and frontier storyteller Will Bagley.  Will sets the scene for the Donner disaster by breaking down the national and international events surrounding westward migration to California and the Oregon territories. He describes the schemers and get-rich-quick promoters that populated the overland trails. He mentions: -the worst disasters in overland migration history (hint: the Donner Party was not one of them) -why we find the Donner Party so “sexy,” -what factors predict who will eat whom, -the contributions and motivations of American Indians, -why powerful people do despicable things -what would have happened if the Donner party stayed on the Nevada side of the Sierras for the winter, and too many other insights to list.   Opinionated, iconoclastic, well-informed, Will Bagley is a reliable guide to the Donner party tragedy (even more trustworthy than Lansford Hastings) and a historian in the grand tradition of the old west.  Enjoy!

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