Warning: This is an independent addition to The Indifferent Stars Above, meant to enhance your experience of the original book. If you have not yet bought the original copy, make sure to purchase it before buying this unofficial summary from aBookaDay. This review of The Indifferent Stars Above: The Harrowing Saga of the Donner Party by Daniel James Brown provides a chapter by chapter detailed summary followed by an analysis and critique of the strengths and weaknesses of the book. The main theme explored in the book is how hope and the sheer will to survive are what drove the survivors of the Donner Party in 1847 to carry on. In telling the unbelievable story of what happened to the Donner Party as they attempted to travel west and were trapped in the Wasatch Mountains, the author narrows his focus by concentrating on the Graves family. By retelling the true events through a focused narrative perspective, the author is allowing the reader an inside look into what those people thought and felt, and ultimately, what drove them to make the hard choices to survive. Using data gathered from source documents, published histories, journal entries, and psychological research the author makes the case that the inevitable horrors that the Donner Party were forced to commit—most notably the cannibalism of their fellow travelers—were necessary. In fact, the author pushes this idea of survival to not only humanize and explain what they did, but also encourage the reader to understand that their hope and will drove them to carry on. In this way, he sees the story of the Donners not just as a tragedy, but also as a tale of hope. The central thesis of the work is that the saga of the Donners is one of the extremes of the American Dream. These people sought better lives for themselves and their families, and this is what drove them west. As they faced incomprehensible odds, and lost many of lives in the process, the survivors did what they had to in order to carry forward towards their dream. Despite what they endured, many of them did reach their American Dream. Daniel James Brown is largely a narrative nonfiction author. He was born in Berkeley, California and attended the University of California receiving a BA in English. He earned his masters at the same university and taught writing at San Jose State University and Stanford for several years. He has written three critically acclaimed nonfiction novels, one of which, The Boys in the Boat, is set to be turned into a feature film. Available on PC, Mac, iphone, android, tablet or Kindle device. © 2016 All Rights Reserved