"The brave independence of the 'roaring days', the camaraderie of the gold fields, jolly diggers on a spree - these are the images that have come down to us of the gold era of the 1850s in Australia and California. But these images were largely shaped decades later, by writers such as Henry Lawson and Bret Harte - they speak of later nostalgia rather than the experience of the time." "In this study of the contemporary response to the discoveries of gold in Victoria and California, David Goodman argues that people at the time were apprehensive about gold rushing, and the kind of society it seemed to prefigure. In the chaos of the gold rushes, individual self-interest seemed to be all that could motivate people to any exertion. And it was only the economic rationalists of the day - those who believed in political economy and its promise, that out of the confusion of individual self-interest would come some sort of social order - who could wholeheartedly endorse the gold rushes as events." "This is a history of the ways people talked about gold. As the first full-length cultural history of the gold rushes on two continents, it examines the meanings of gold at the time, and the narratives which were told about social disruption. It locates the deeper underlying themes in the response to gold. It also looks at the ways in which the dominant later memories of gold were shaped. And it is about national differences, about the construction of distinctive national cultures out of materials common to the British world. This book should be read not only by Australian and American historians but by anyone with an interest in the cultural history of modernity."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Reprint of the original, first published in 1883.

Let’s go back centuries past and visit the American West during its settlement. How did mining and the transcontinental railroad help in the development of the West? What were boomtowns and why did they mushroom in certain areas of the US? Travel back in time and learn about history the fun way. Grab a copy today.

In Search of a Golden Sparrow is a heartwarming story about seven-year-old Jeremy. He lives in rural America during the later years of the Great Depression and must struggle on crutches, for he was born crippled. When he finds a baby sparrow that has fallen from its nest and died, he feels sorry for the tiny helpless bird, but no one else seems to care. Later, events in his life cause him to feel worthless and helpless, like the little bird. His grandmother tells him that God cares about him and the little bird, and even said; He sees the sparrow fall. But Jeremy asks, Ifn He saw it fall Grammaw, how come He let it die? And how come I was born crippled? She tells him about heaven, its golden streets, and that he is more precious than gold. She also tells him, in heaven everything will be beautiful and that he wont be crippled. Thinking God might change the little bird into a golden one, Cause they aint too purty down here, he asks God to send him a golden sparrow. That way, hell know God hears him, loves him, and that he wont be crippled in heaven. During his search for a golden sparrow, his faith touches many, from an old man Hermit Bill, to Scotty Simmons (a kid who makes fun of him). The story was written, because during a difficult time in my life, I had asked God to give me something to write about that will touch peoples hearts. A week later, I happen to see a white sparrow with gold wing patches. Then after I had already begun the book, I found with the white one, a real golden sparrow!

Sy Montgomery--acclaimed author of The Soul of an Octopus and bestselling memoir The Good Good Pig--has shared with readers her amazing encounters with intelligent octopi, great apes, man-eating tigers, and pink river dolphins, but here her muse is an animal whose name and appearance evoke another world altogether. Southeast Asia's golden moon bear, with its luminous coat, lionlike mane, and Mickey Mouse ears, was unknown to science--until Montgomery and her colleagues got on the trail at the dawn of the new millennium. Search for the Golden Moon Bear recounts Montgomery's quest--fraught with danger and mayhem--to reconstruct an evolutionary record and piece together a living portrait of her littleknown subject. This beautiful animal is not just a scientific eureka! It is also a powerful symbol of conservation. Search for the Golden Moon Bear is a field report from the frontiers of science and the ends of the earth, seamlessly weaving together folklore, natural history, and contemporary research into fantastic travelogue.

A "chronicle of Crump's three decades as a field biologist--and as a wife and mother--in South and Central America."--Jacket.