Their dramatic story exposes the underside of the American dream and the haunting consequences of trying to strike it rich.--Kevin Starr, University of Southern California, author of California: A History "Agricultural History"

A Stanford University Press classic.

After the Gold Rush begins in January 1926, when the ship carrying Robert Dahl steams into the harbor in Skagway, Alaska. The ten-year-old boy has been traveling for over a week with his mother and two brothers from the tiny town in northwest Iowa where he was born. As the ship’s crew prepares to dock, the brothers eagerly scan the wharf for a glimpse of their father, who arrived a few weeks earlier to become the town’s only physician. Driven by hopes of finding Yukon gold, thousands had once passed through Skagway. By the time of the Dahl family’s arrival in 1926, the population had shrunk to five hundred. Although some buildings remaining from the Gold Rush days made sections of Skagway look like a ghost town, the young boy from the plains of Iowa was entranced by the wild beauty of the surrounding mountains, which he would explore in the years to come. In this highly personal tale of Robert Dahl ́s years in Skagway, we meet the people of the town—at school, at work, at play, hunting and fishing. We meet town "characters," a few remaining from the Gold Rush days, others whose drifting had ended in Skagway. We meet Tlingit Indians, who were made "outcasts in their own land" by the visible and invisible barriers of small-town life. The author concludes with the hope that "this lovely piece of our world will be preserved as long as human beings, and our fellow creatures who inhabit those splendid mountains, valleys, forests, rivers, streams, and, yes, even the glaciers, continue to live on this earth."

"Art of the Gold Rush" features drawings and oil paintings of images of the scenery, people, and activity surrounding the 80,000 travelers to California in search of golden nuggets.

"The phrase ’seeing the elephant’ symbolized for ’49 gold rushers the exotic, the mythical, the once-in-a-lifetime adventure, unequaled anywhere else but in the journey to the promised land of fortune: California. Most western myths . . . generally depict an exclusively male gold rush. Levy’s book debunks that myth. Here a variety of women travel, work, and write their way across the pages of western migrant history."-Choice "One of the best and most comprehensive accounts of gold rush life to date"ˆ–San Francisco Chronicle

Lively and highly readable introspections on the software development industry appeals to both insiders and non-technical readers alike with candid reflections takes a look at the future of software engineering as a profession. McConnell, a best-selling and award-winning author, describes software development practices and trends, provides valuable insight, and gives the non-technical public an understanding of software engineering.

Newbery Medalist Avi brings us mud-caked, tent-filled San Francisco in 1848 with a willful heroine who goes on an unintended — and perilous — adventure to save her brother. Victoria Blaisdell longs for independence and adventure, and she yearns to accompany her father as he sails west in search of real gold! But it is 1848, and Tory isn’t even allowed to go to school, much less travel all the way from Rhode Island to California. Determined to take control of her own destiny, Tory stows away on the ship. Though San Francisco is frenzied and full of wild and dangerous men, Tory finds freedom and friendship there. Until one day, when Father is in the gold fields, her younger brother, Jacob, is kidnapped. And so Tory is spurred on a treacherous search for him in Rotten Row, a part of San Francisco Bay crowded with hundreds of abandoned ships. Beloved storyteller Avi is at the top of his form as he ushers us back to an extraordinary time of hope and risk, brought to life by a heroine readers will cheer for. Spot-on details and high suspense make this a vivid, absorbing historical adventure.