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Throughout the ages, history is mainly the account of men’s ambitions, successes and failures. What about the women’s stories?

Disaster and Triumph: Sacramento Women, Gold Rush through the Civil War is the first to highlight the women who helped shape history in California’s capital city during and after the great California Gold Rush. Expecting to get rich quick and return home, few of the tens of thousands of fevered gold-rushers brought wives and families. In Sacramento, less than 8% of the city’s residents were women.

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Yet these women made their mark, proving their mettle as decision makers and breadwinners in a uniquely masculine society. Displaying spunk and determination and skills honed by new experiences, their successes altered women’s perceived traditional roles in a turbulent city beset with major fires, devastating floods, two cholera epidemics, and a squatter’s riot.

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Not all of them were decent ladies, either.  Tarts and harlots, euphemistically called “soiled doves,” flocked in to make fortunes from lonely men who were far from home.

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Meticulously researched and visually written with spirit and wit, this book is for history buffs, students, women’s discussion groups, or anyone who savors an entertaining and educational read about the struggles and accomplishments of pioneer women. Get comfortable when you read it…so you can hear the echoes of women’s voices telling you how it really was, from their point of view.

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