An Archaeology of Desperation: Exploring the Donner Party’s Alder Creek Camp, edited by Shannon A. Novak, Julie M Schablitsky, Kelly Dixon

The Donner Party is almost inextricably linked with cannibalism. In truth, we know remarkably little about what actually happened to the starving travelers stranded in the Sierra Nevada in the winter of 1846-47. The contributors reassess old data with new analystic techniues and, by examining both physical evidence and orl testimony from observers and survivors, add new dimensions to the historical narrative.