Death Valley and The Amargosa: A Land of Illusion

Anyone who has been stirred by the sight of California's Death Valley, or merely by its name, will want to read this remarkable accunt. Here for the first time is the whole story of Death Valley, where that bitter stream the Amargosa dies at the foot of the Funeral Range. The story spans a century of records and recollections, up to the day in 1933 when much of the valley was finally set aside as a national monument, and it brings to life all the people attracted to the valley by their dreams and delusions. Here they are -- not just the forty-niners, the 20-mule teams, and Scotty, but the wole crowd of Indians and horse thieves, lost argonauts and lost mine hunters, prospectors and promoters, miners and millionaires, stockholders and stock sharps, homesteaders and hermits, writers and tourists. Here, too, is the story of the illusions that shaped Deathy Valley's history. It is an improbably land, a land of the deluded and the self-deluging, of dreamers and con men, heroes and fools.