We all think we know the story of the Donner Party. But few of us really do. Over the years it has been sensationalized. Daniel James Brown desensationalizes it in THE INDIFFERENT STARS ABOVE.

Brown also adds modern-day knowledge, especially scientific knowledge, to help the reader understand what the Donner Party went through. With understanding comes empathy.

The book begins with one family in Illinois. It is interesting but not a page turner in the first few short chapters. Although we read about hard times right away, it isn’t until Part Two, about page 75, that we learn of the deception that led the Donner Party astray and to worse and worse trouble.

Then we get to the story that has been sensationalized. Yet, life for the Donner Party needs no sensationalism; it was already more awful than most anyone could manage.

Around page 75 I was hooked. Now I needed to read more and more of what I thought I knew but didn’t. It turned out to be worse. But instead of making me sick, it made me hopeful.

Probably, Brown should not have tried to concentrate on a single member of the Donner Party. Too little is known of this person. But this is a minor point about such an amazing, well-researched book.