The Age of Gold
The California Gold Rush and the New American Dream
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The Age of Gold
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Narrated by:
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Grover Gardner
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By:
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H.W. Brands
About this listen
By the author of the best-selling Pulitzer Prize finalist
The first American - they went west to change their lives and in the bargain they changed the world. This is the extraordinary story of the men and women of the Gold Rush.
When gold was first discovered on the American River above Sutter's Fort in January 1848, California was sparsely populated frontier territory not yet ceded to the United States from Mexixo. The discovery triggered a massive influx as hundreds of thousands of people scrambled to California in search of riches, braving dangerous journeys across the Pacific, around Cape Horn, and through the Isthmus of Panama, as well as across America's vast, unsettled wilderness.
Cities sprang up overnight, in response to the demand for supplies and services of all kinds. By 1850, California had become a state - the fastest journey to statehood in US history. It had also become a symbol of what America stood for and of where it was going.
In The Age of Gold, H. W. Brands explores the far-reaching implications of this pivotal point in U.S. history, weaving the politics of the times with the gripping stories of individuals that displays both the best and the worse of the American character. He discusses the national issues that exploded around the ratification of California's statehood, hastening the clouds that would lead to the Civil War.
He tells the stories of the great fortunes made by such memorable figures as John and Jessie Fremont, Leland Stanford and George Hearst - and of great fortunes lost by hundreds now forgotten by history. And he reveals the profound effect of the Gold Rush on the way Americans viewed their destinies, as the Puritan ethic of hard work and the gradual accumulation of worldly riches gave way to the notion of getting rich quickly.
©2002 H.W. Brands (P)2002 Books On Tape, Inc.Listeners also enjoyed...
Critic reviews
"Brands writes history as the art of storytelling that enthralls and informs the reader. Highly recommended." ( Library Journal)
"An important work of history." ( Booklist)
"Exuberant....Entertaining, lively....Brands [is] a wonderfully skilled narrative historian." ( Los Angeles Times)
"An engrossing, multifaceted history." ( The New York Times)
What listeners say about The Age of Gold
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Magdalena Dziekanska
- 14-10-21
HW Brands is a master!
Brilliant book, eloquently written, giving the broad portrait of a world in which the 19th century gold rush had happened. But please, do fix the chapter divisions! The chapters of audiobook are by no means correlated with the actual chapters! Its infuriatingly difficult to go back to certain part of the book only to realise that chapter 12 starts 2 mins 46 seconds into chapter 17….🤦🏻♂️
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Paul Bostock
- 10-02-19
Good content, but recording sounds dated
This book is well research and written. A good listen for those who love tails of the California gold Rush.
The recording of this book is a bit dated and could be better in my opinion.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Midnight Chance
- 03-08-20
very interesting
I found this book to be a fascinating account of the California gold rush and what ensued. The audio version is split into three parts so I thought it might be a bit long and boring but it really wasn't. I feel it taught me a lot.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- M.R. Bunce
- 01-12-15
Far too long
Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?
There is an abridged version of this title, and while I found the book interesting I wish I'd gone for the shorter version.
What will your next listen be?
Probably The end of an affair, by Graham Greene
Which character – as performed by Grover Gardner – was your favourite?
This is a factual history rather than a novel, but my favourite character was the San Franciso store keep who publicized the gold rush so as to make his fortune selling equipment to the prospectors.
Could you see The Age of Gold being made into a movie or a TV series? Who would the stars be?
Yes, though obviously there have been many documentaries made about the gold rush. This being the case it would be unlikely that named actors would be a requirement for the show
Any additional comments?
I really enjoyed this book but it was incredibly detailed to a point where the actual geological history of the gold's formation was discussed at some length. I have always been very interested in the subject of The Californian Gold rush but felt that this description took a lot of the exoticism out of the subject and was rather dry. Very interesting though for all that, and very engagingly read.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- John Innes
- 26-09-23
The firsthand story of the Californian gold rush
We listened to this on a Californian road trip adding an extra dimension to the landscapes that we drove through. Expertly written using the firsthand accounts of the ordinary, and extraordinary, people who ventured to California in the 1840s seeking their fortunes and a new life in the West.
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