Book Review of Dreams of El Dorado by H.W. Brands

New Mexico | Desert | To Make Much of Time

UPDATED: 2/5/2023

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Book stats:

544 pages, published in 2019

YOU MAY ENJOY THIS BOOK IF YOU LIKE:

American history * Travel to the American West

TRAVEL INSPIRATION:

Ultimately, Dreams of El Dorado is a story of America overall but through the specific lens of westward expansion. This work of non-fiction will afford travelers an in-depth view into the western half of the country. California, Oregon, Texas, and Utah play some of the most prominent roles in the book. Having traveled through large chunks of the west myself, I enjoyed reading about the history of some spots we had visited, such as the Lava Beds in Northern California.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: H.W. Brands

H.W. Brands is a well-established, well-respected American historian. He has published 30 books, several of which have been best-sellers, in addition to numerous articles. Two of his books (The First American: The Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin and Traitor to His Class: The Privileged Life and Radical Presidency of Franklin Delano Roosevelt) have been nominated for the Pulitzer Prize.

It is clear that H.W. Brands knows his subject inside-and-out and is able to shape a narrative that is compelling, intricately woven together, and is a new and refreshing telling of history. In this book, he brought the American West to life in a way that felt real and personal, which is not an easy task in a landscape that has practically defined archetypes.

REVIEW OF dreams of el dorado BY H.W. Brands

Dreams of El Dorado steps up to the plate to tackle an immense topic: The Westward Expansion of America. The American west is full of legends, of larger-than-life personalities, of excitement and drama, and underscoring it all is the hope that anyone headed westward can make it big, can find his or her own El Dorado.

History neither starts nor stops in convenient places, so the author of any work of history has to determine the jumping off point as well as where to conclude. H.W. Brands makes an excellent decision in choosing Teddy Roosevelt as his bookend. While this is not a book about Roosevelt himself, and he is absent from the majority of its pages, he was a man both typical and atypical of his time. He was a man attracted to the romance of the west and the chance to make it big, he was also a victim of this dream like so many others. And, like so many others, he was resilient and continued to carve new paths out of the malleable opportunities. Roosevelt's life also spanned the rapidly-changing atmosphere of the west; by his later years, much of the "old west" was fading into a sepia-toned memory.

Dreams of El Dorado is a fascinating read and moves at an engaging and rapid pace, which is something that historical non-fiction can struggle to accomplish. There are also certain fairly well-known facets of the early exploration and expansion - for example Lewis and Clark’s journey to the Pacific at the bequest of President Thomas Jefferson, who was eager to uncover what exactly he had gained through the cheaply-acquired Louisiana Purchase - but even in these well-known facts of history, Dreams of El Dorado brings fresh insights, information, and first-person narratives that deepen the reader’s knowledge. In the case of the Lewis and Clark expedition, we learn that Jefferson himself never traveled further west than western Virginia, and that Jefferson and the entire party expected that they would run into ships on the Pacific coast and would be able to return to the eastern seaboard via a vessel. I had always thought of Lewis and Clark’s expedition as largely a journey of isolation. But of course there was an active contingent out along the Pacific Coast with long-established Spanish trading routes. This is just a small iota to provide a flavor for the thorough research that went into this book.

The breadth of Dreams of El Dorado is extensive and covers a range of topics, including the efforts of early Christian missionaries, the battles for territory and supremacy between the US, Mexico, and Spanish, the emergence of the railroad, the California Gold Rush, the complexity of relations between the US and various Indian tribes, and the charting of rivers and the natural wonders of Yosemite, brought to the public’s attention through the efforts of John Muir. All of these pieces make up a coherent whole of the story of the west and are largely told through first-person accounts that bring the tale to a personal, real level. I also found the balance between the voice of the white characters and the Native Americans to be well done, allowing neither to be a simplified deduction of itself.

As is stated in the book, while the American West is often told as a story of rugged individualism, nearly every aspect of its founding and the survival of its inhabitants were through collective action. Anyone with an interest in American history would find this excellent read.

DISCUSS Dreams of el dorado

For those raised in the United States, which parts of this book were most surprising to you based on what you learned about the westward expansion growing up? For those raised outside of the United States, what are some ways this book challenged preconceived notions about the American West?

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