Gabrielle Burton: Impatient With Desire March 11, 2010

In the spring of 1846, Tamsen Donner, her husband, George, their five daughters, and 80 other pioneers headed to California on the California-Oregon Trail in eager anticipation of new lives out West. Everything that could go wrong did, and an American legend was born. The Donner Party. We think we know their story -- pioneers trapped in the mountains performing an unspeakable act to survive -- but we know only that one harrowing part of it. 'Impatient with Desire' brings us answers to the unanswerable question: What really happened in the four months the Donners were trapped in the mountains? And it brings to stunning life a woman -- and a love story -- behind the myth.