Author Michael Wallis Explores the Broader Story Of the Donner Party June 6 at Schweitzer Brentwood Branch
June 2, 2017 —
A reader once said that "Reading a Michael Wallis book is like dancing to a romantic ballad. He offers his hand and gently guides you across the floor, swaying to the song of the American West."
The best-selling author, historian and biographer of the American West tackles a familiar story in a different way in “The Best Land Under Heaven: The Donner Party in the Age of Manifest Destiny” available this month.
Wallis will discuss the book at 2 p.m., Thursday, June 6, at the Schweitzer Brentwood Branch Library. Books will be available for purchase and signing.
A storyteller who likes nothing better than transporting audiences across time and space, Wallis provides some insight into his book with this Q&A he did with the Library.
Many people know the general story of the Donner Party. What new insights about the story did you gain — and pass along to readers — in writing your new book?
Long before I even began seriously researching this incredible story, I realized it was so much more than a tale of a band of unfortunate people trapped in the Sierras who had to rely on cannibalism of the dead in order to survive. The fact that survival cannibalism did occur guaranteed the Donner Party’s place in the annals of the American West. Yet many writers have focused on the obvious and overlooked the much bigger picture. This story symbolizes the nation’s westward expansion as well as the frontier foundation myth. It exposes the foibles, follies, and arrogance of Manifest Destiny as presented by the early foot soldiers of that grand expansionist movement.
Of all the fascinating stories and personalities of the American West and Westward Expansion, how did you come to choose the Donner Party story?
Telling the complete story of the Donner Party was a logical choice for me. My books are about people, places, and events that over time have become tangled in myth, legend, and sometimes outright lies. What I attempt to do is untangle them and tell the true story. That is what I did with “Pretty Boy” Floyd, Billy the Kid, David Crockett, and now with those people in the Donner Party.
How did the research for this book compare to the work you were required to do for your other historical books?
Research is so critical in the development of any book, particularly one about a story that has been told many times. Often with each telling the same material is recycled including the exaggerations and errors of the past. Besides scouring historical archives at universities, museums, and libraries across the nation, I devoted much of my time to building relationships with untapped resources such as descendants of the Donner Party. Probing their collections was invaluable and directly contributed to my work as a writer.
What role did libraries play in your life?
Early in my life, I was fortunate to figure out that I wanted to be a writer. Much of that decision was based on the relationships formed at the public library. My parents took me there before I could read. That was right after the war, when there was only one county library in the entire state of Missouri. That old musty library fueled my best dreams. From that time long ago to this very day I knew I had found a home, a refuge. The public library — our public library — the free, tax-supported palace of wisdom — often called “The People’s University” — provided me with treasure more precious than gold. I met some of my best friends, my favorite heroes and heroines, and a few rascals within the walls of that comfortable white frame building. The library never, ever let me down. No matter where I have lived or traveled, the libraries have been there for me.
What do you enjoy most about being a writer?
Since I was a boy I always wanted to be a writer. That has not changed. Like many others, however, I consider writing to be difficult. Yet I have to write. I have to do that. It is so important that I leave behind the best of my work. My writing must be good. It has to be. Nothing else matters but that. Perhaps Georgia O‘Keeffe put it best: “Where I was born and how I lived is unimportant. It is what I have done with where I have been that should be of interest.” Words to live and write by.