Gold!

The Story of the 1848 Gold Rush and How It Shaped a Nation

By: Fred Rosen

Narrated by: A. Smith Harrison

A riveting true account of gold rush fever in mid-19th-century America, rich with the thrilling exploits of daring fortune seekers and dangerous outlaws.

America was never the same after January 24, 1848. It was on that day that a carpenter named James Marshall discovered a tiny nugget of gold while building a sawmill at Sutter's Fort, just east of Sacramento, California. Marshall's find ignited a fever the nation had never known before, drawing people from all over the country to the West Coast with high hopes of getting rich quick.

Over the next six years, 300,000 prospectors raced to the California gold fields to make their fortunes, leaving their lands and families behind in order to chase a dream of easy wealth but all too often encountering a reality of lawlessness, disease, cruelty, and death.

A former columnist for the New York Times, author Fred Rosen takes listeners back to the seminal moment when the American dream exploded. Chock full of fascinating details, unforgettable characters, and shocking real-life events, the captivating true story of the California gold rush brings an era of unparalleled change to breathtaking life. Rosen's enthralling history of the gold rush of 1848 demonstrates how this golden ideal was supplanted by a culture of selfishness and greed that endures in America to this very day.

©2005 Fred Rosen; This edition published in 2015 by Open Road Integrated Media, Inc. (P)2016 Audible, Inc.

Good Overall History

Good historical overview of the overall gold rush, and understanding of the social changes. easy listening and keeps you engaged.