The Klondike Fever

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"THIS IS A SUPERB POPULAR HISTORY- INFORMATIVE AND FASCINATING." -San Francisco Chronicle In 1897 a grimy steamer docked in Seattle and set into epic motion the incredible succession of events that Pierre Berton's exhilarating, now classic The Klondike Fever chronicles in all its splendid and astonishing folly. For in its hold the steamer bore two tons of pure Klondike gold. Immediately, the stampede north to Alaska began. Easily as many as 100,000 adventurers, dreamers, and would-be miners from all over the world- most of them in totál ignorance of the territory's long, harsh winters and indomitable terrain-struck out for the remote, isolated Klondike Valley gold fields. Not even a third of them would reach their destination. Somé would strike gold. Berton's story belongs less to the few who made fabulous fortunes of Alaskan gold than to the many swept by gold mania to unfortunate, often tragic ends. It is a story of cold skies and avalanches, of con men and gamblers and dance-hall... Tovább

Fülszöveg

"THIS IS A SUPERB POPULAR HISTORY- INFORMATIVE AND FASCINATING." -San Francisco Chronicle In 1897 a grimy steamer docked in Seattle and set into epic motion the incredible succession of events that Pierre Berton's exhilarating, now classic The Klondike Fever chronicles in all its splendid and astonishing folly. For in its hold the steamer bore two tons of pure Klondike gold. Immediately, the stampede north to Alaska began. Easily as many as 100,000 adventurers, dreamers, and would-be miners from all over the world- most of them in totál ignorance of the territory's long, harsh winters and indomitable terrain-struck out for the remote, isolated Klondike Valley gold fields. Not even a third of them would reach their destination. Somé would strike gold. Berton's story belongs less to the few who made fabulous fortunes of Alaskan gold than to the many swept by gold mania to unfortunate, often 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. It is a story of the land, of its exploitation and revenge. It is a story of the humán capacity to dream. And to endure. "Absoiutely first-rate." -The New Yorker "The definitive account of an affair as wildly improbable as any in North American history."-The Saturday Review Pierre Berton-formerly an editor of Maclean's magaziné, a columnist for the Toronto Star, and host on television of The Pierre Berton Show- is a playwright and the award-winning Canadian author of more than three dozen titles, including Fareweli to the Twentieth Century and My Times: Living with History 1917-1995. He lives in Ontario. Vissza