Legendary figure, he is one of the charismatic characters of the account. So, in this sense, the author attempts to draw brief characterization of the main characters he is referring to.
One of the tragedies that have happened on the Oregon Trail is the notorious Donner Party incident, when 89 travelers passing through Sierra Nevada in late October were forced to resort to cannibalism until they were saved by rescuers from Sacramento. Tragically, only half of them had survived. The way David Dary describes this in his book seems to bring about, besides a certain eeriness, an appalling perspective that something like this can actually happen between people. Extrapolating this, the author manifests a dislike towards the fact that the Oregon Trail adventure could come along with something quite different and tragic than the profits that the gold and fur brought about.
However, the author manifests his strong admiration for those that have actually made it and have succeeded in building a fortune for themselves. I have mentioned previously several examples in this sense.
A d) the entire work is written in a very objective tone, so it is quite hard, in this sense, to give strong assertions from the author defending his opinions. In my own opinion, any speculation we can make is drawn from tacit evaluations the author may have.
3. (a) an excellent point of the book is its raw database of facts, figures and information. If you want to find out something about the Oregon Trail, historically or topically, this is the best place to search for it. Additionally, the book has maps that orientate the reader through Oregon and paint a better overall picture. Further more, the book seems to cover almost every aspect of the subject, going into some detail not only on the actions that have happened, but also on the main characters.
On the other hand, the good point seems to be a bad point as well, because the reader may feel the need, from time to time, to...
The danger in this case is that the book may turn too scientific and the reader will be lost along the way.
A b) I have learned quite a lot of things from the book. First of all, I have learned about the Oregon Trail itself, about its history and about some of the adventurers that have occurred here. Additionally, I have had an interesting incursion in the biography of some of the protagonists that have made history here.
On the other hand, reading this book made me draw interesting conclusions about the way the Westward expansion in the 19th century came to influence the United States economy further on. The American government was keen to speculate on the adventurous nature of some of its inhabitants to colonize new lands and to gain significant profits from this. This may be somewhat similar to what Spain has done in the 15th and 16th centuries.
In order to refer to this question, we need to briefly describe the importance of the Oregon Trail for the history of the United States before 1865. In my opinion, the Trail, along with all the actions and events that came along with it, meant a boost for the expansion in the West and for the country in general. So, in this sense, the Oregon Trail seems to be one the key variables that one would use to describe the history of the United States during that period, both in terms of social characteristics and in terms of economical actions and events.
Bibliography
1. Dary, David. The Oregon Trail: An American Saga. On the Internet
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0375413995/ref=olp_product_details/002-9?%5Fencoding=UTF8&v=glance
2. Croke, Bill. The Oregon Trail. The Washington Times. 2004. On the Internet at http://washtimes.com/books/20-3157r.htm
http://www.powells.com/cgi-bin/biblio?isbn=0375413995
Synopses and Reviews. On the Internet at http://www.powells.com/cgi-bin/biblio?isbn=0375413995
