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A review by jbeen21
The Oregon Trail: A New American Journey by Rinker Buck
4.0
Thank you to the Goodreads First Reads giveaways program and Simon & Schuster for the ARC edition of “The Oregon Trail: An American Journey” by Rinker Buck.
Rinker Buck is a born adventurer. At the age of 17, he and his younger brother reassembled a Piper Cub plane and became the youngest aviators to fly coast to coast. As a child, he traveled from New Jersey to Pennsylvania with his family in a covered wagon, a sign advising, “See America Slowly” hanging from the back. As a journalist, he explored the world, chronicling subjects ranging from cattle rustling in Wyoming to politics in the Middle East. So it didn’t seem unusual that in 2011, he set his eye on traveling the Oregon Trail, the 2,000-mile stretch of land that lured thousands of American families and farmers west during the years before the Civil War.
After a winter spent researching mules, covered wagons, trail provisions and topography maps, Buck recruits his brother, Nick, a master horseman, carpenter and mechanic, to accompany him. With Nick’s terrier, Olive Oyl, in tow, they eventually set out overland in a covered wagon pulled by three mules. The fastidious Buck quickly realizes that the Brooks Brothers robe and vegetable steamer he’d thought essential for the trip is deadweight. I enjoyed the interactions between the two brothers, whose comic “odd couple” relationship plays out across as they journey west.
One of my favorite aspects of the book was the way Buck integrated bits of history about the Trail into his own modern-day account. The section about Narcissa Whitman, the first white woman to successfully cross the Rocky Mountains - much of it on horseback - was particularly inspiring. Other chapters, such as the one detailing the various styles of wagons (Conestoga vs. the box wagon), were not quite as interesting to me, but were very detailed and reflect the vast amount of research Buck did before his trip. His epic account of his Oregon Trail journey is best enjoyed as their father’s original wagon sign advised: “Slowly.” There’s so much to take in.
Rinker Buck is a born adventurer. At the age of 17, he and his younger brother reassembled a Piper Cub plane and became the youngest aviators to fly coast to coast. As a child, he traveled from New Jersey to Pennsylvania with his family in a covered wagon, a sign advising, “See America Slowly” hanging from the back. As a journalist, he explored the world, chronicling subjects ranging from cattle rustling in Wyoming to politics in the Middle East. So it didn’t seem unusual that in 2011, he set his eye on traveling the Oregon Trail, the 2,000-mile stretch of land that lured thousands of American families and farmers west during the years before the Civil War.
After a winter spent researching mules, covered wagons, trail provisions and topography maps, Buck recruits his brother, Nick, a master horseman, carpenter and mechanic, to accompany him. With Nick’s terrier, Olive Oyl, in tow, they eventually set out overland in a covered wagon pulled by three mules. The fastidious Buck quickly realizes that the Brooks Brothers robe and vegetable steamer he’d thought essential for the trip is deadweight. I enjoyed the interactions between the two brothers, whose comic “odd couple” relationship plays out across as they journey west.
One of my favorite aspects of the book was the way Buck integrated bits of history about the Trail into his own modern-day account. The section about Narcissa Whitman, the first white woman to successfully cross the Rocky Mountains - much of it on horseback - was particularly inspiring. Other chapters, such as the one detailing the various styles of wagons (Conestoga vs. the box wagon), were not quite as interesting to me, but were very detailed and reflect the vast amount of research Buck did before his trip. His epic account of his Oregon Trail journey is best enjoyed as their father’s original wagon sign advised: “Slowly.” There’s so much to take in.