After the Gold Rush

In 1849, several hundred thousand Europeans and Americans trekked across the country for the gold fields of California - the Gold Rush being a defining moment in this country's short (European) history. John Clark followed the same historic roads and trails, retracing that journey through history. His travels took him through violent ghettos and even more violent hurricanes, desert sandstorms and blazing heat - cycling in areas where no sane person would choose to cycle. Along the way, Clark meets crazed war veterans, failing farmers, unemployed Mexican migrants, the washed up and those left over from the American Dream, which the Gold Rush had done so much to form. His journey also takes him through the wildest, the most beautiful and remotest parts of America. Part travelogue, part political history, all incredibly well-written.