Home Klondike: The Last Great Gold Rush, 1896-1899 by Pierre Berton (ISBN: 9780385658447)

Stock photo: cover may vary

Klondike: The Last Great Gold Rush, 1896-1899 Paperback - 2001

Name: Klondike : The Last Great Gold Rush, 1896-1899
Price: 6.87 USD
Availability: InStock
Author: Berton, Pierre
ISBN: 9780385658447

by Pierre Berton

Add to wish list

Browse more copies for sale ↓

Reader reviews for Klondike: The Last Great Gold Rush, 1896-1899

Write a review for this book

Important Terms and Guidelines

Please focus on the book’s content and context. Also, add any personal comments as to how you enjoyed the book. Substantiate your likes and dislikes. You may make comparisons to other books.
Reviews must be at least 140 characters in length.
Please do not reveal critical plot elements.
This is not a help line. Contact customer support if you need help.

Your review must not include:

Obscenities, discriminatory language, or other insulting language not suitable for public domain
Advertisements, “spam” content, or references to other products, offers or websites.
Email addresses, URLs, phone numbers, physical addresses or other contact information.
Overly critical comments about other reviews or reviewers
Time-sensitive material (i.e. promotional tours, seminars, lectures, etc.)
Availability, price, or alternative ordering/shipping information

From the publisher

With the building of the railroad and the settlement of the plains, the North West was opening up. The Klondike stampede was a wild interlude in the epic story of western development, and here are its dramatic tales of hardship, heroism, and villainy. We meet Soapy Smith, dictator of Skagway; Swiftwater Bill Gates, who bathed in champagne; Silent Sam Bonnifield, who lost and won back a hotel in a poker game; and Roddy Connors, who danced away a fortune at a dollar a dance. We meet dance-hall queens, paupers turned millionaires, missionaries and entrepreneurs, and legendary Mounties such as Sam Steele, the Lion of the Yukon.

Pierre Berton's riveting account reveals to us the spectacle of the Chilkoot Pass, and the terrors of lesser-known trails through the swamps of British Columbia, across the glaciers of souther Alaska, and up the icy streams of the Mackenzie Mountains. It contrasts the lawless frontier life on the American side of the border to the relative safety of Dawson City. Winner of the Governor General's award for non-fiction, Klondike is authentic history and grand entertainment, and a must-read for anyone interested in the Canadian frontier.

First line

The Russians were the first on the river, in 1834, but they cared not a hoot for gold; no more than the natives who had given the river its name of Yukon, meaning "The Greatest."

Details

Title Klondike: The Last Great Gold Rush, 1896-1899
Author Pierre Berton
Binding Paperback
Edition Revised
Pages 496
Volumes 1
Language ENG
Publisher Anchor Canada, New York, New York, U.S.A.
Publication date October 9, 2001
ISBN 9780385658447 / 0385658443
Weight 1.11 lbs (0.50 kg)
Dimensions 8.9 x 6 x 1 in (22.61 x 15.24 x 2.54 cm)
Category History - General History
Dewey Decimal Code 971.91

Media reviews

"A fascinating book of permanent value." —The Globe and Mail

"A comprehensive and absolutely first-rate history." —The New Yorker

"An epic account … fascinating and exciting." —The Observer, London

"Pierre Berton writes 24-carat gold." —The Edmonton Journal

About the author

Born in 1920 and raised in the Yukon, PIERRE BERTON worked in Klondike mining camps during his university years. He spent four years in the army, rising from private to captain/instructor at the Royal Military College in Kingston. He spent his early newspaper career in Vancouver, where at 21 he was the youngest city editor on any Canadian daily. He wrote columns for and was editor of Maclean's magazine, appeared on CBC's public affairs program "Close-Up" and was a permanent fixture on "Front Page Challenge" for 39 years. He was a columnist and editor for the Toronto Star and was a writer and host of a series of CBC programs. For his immense contribution to Canadian literature and history Berton has received a dozen honourary degrees, was a member of the Newsman's Hall of Fame, and was a Companion of the Order of Canada. Pierre Berton passed away in Toronto on November 30, 2004.

More Copies for Sale

Show all copies