Dreams of El Dorado

A History of the American West

By: H. W. Brands

Narrated by: Matt Kugler

From a New York Times best-selling author, a sweeping history of the American West

In Dreams of El Dorado, H. W. Brands tells the thrilling, panoramic story of the settling of the American West. He takes us from John Jacob Astor's fur trading outpost in Oregon to the Texas Revolution, from the California gold rush to the Oklahoma land rush. He shows how the migrants' dreams drove them to feats of courage and perseverance that put their stay-at-home cousins to shame - and how those same dreams also drove them to outrageous acts of violence against indigenous peoples and one another. The West was where riches would reward the miner's persistence, the cattleman's courage, the railroad man's enterprise; but El Dorado was at least as elusive in the West as it ever was in the East.

Balanced, authoritative, and masterfully told, Dreams of El Dorado sets a new standard for histories of the American West.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2019 H. W. Brands (P)2019 Hachette Audio

Critic reviews

"A subject this monumental demands prose to match it, and I am pleased that to report that, in this sprawling epic, H. W. Brands is at his sparkling best. He is of the American West and grew up in its myths, which may explain why he writes about it with such passion and clarity." (S. C. Gwynne, New York Times best-selling author of Empire of the Summer Moon and Rebel Yell)

"The 'winning' of the American West is that biggest and most daunting of subjects, so big that most historians have found it necessary to bite off small corners of this grand and sordid tale of empire-building. But here H. W. Brands endeavors to tell it all, from Texas to California, from beaver pelts to buffalo robes, from the hoofbeats of horses to the steam blasts of the first transcontinental trains. Epic in its scale, fearless in its scope, this is a bravura performance from one of our master historians." (Hampton Sides, best-selling author of Blood and Thunder)

"The expansion of the United States across what would become the American West is the sort of sprawling, tumultuous epic that is best told by a calm and concentrated mind. Fortunately the author of this book is H. W. Brands, who has the vision and supreme narrative skill to braid the chaotic tendrils that make up the past into a story that is almost as exciting for its coherence as it is for the heroic and heartbreaking events it so vividly renders. Dreams of El Dorado is the latest reason to think of Brands as America's go-to historian." (Stephen Harrigan, author of Big Wonderful Thing and The Gates of the Alamo)

Great survey of a huge area over a long time

Great survey of a huge area over a long time. Generally well read, with the exception of some of the names of rivers.

Absolutely Incredible! What an Adventure!

H.W. Brands is in my opinion the greatest author of American history of the 21st Century. his book here dreams of El Dorado was an incredible adventure to listen to! I enjoy putting on my headphones and taking a trip back in time and listening to the indomitable spirits of those who went West and of course those who were already there.. Brands commitment to supplying us with the true facts of our nation's history of the West is the most incredible effort by any author ever done! please read this book! you will not regret it! this book is truly an adventure and history lesson.

Proper Nouns

A good job demonstrating larger themes through the eyes of individuals. The narrator needs to take care with the pronunciation of place names such as Willamette, The Dalles and Merced.

Weaving it all together

Brand offers a meaningful tapestry of the American West’s two centuries of expansionist invasions. Fast-paced and only surficial due to the expanse of what’s covered, the result is nonetheless a valuable weaving together of how this land and the peoples on it rapidly evolved. Note: sadly this narrator like so many does not resolve to get key pronunciations right. Case in point, the Willamette River. Otherwise a voice that’s easy to listen to.

Go West Young Man

Appreciate the fortitude of all the men and women who ventured west in this great country.

Great collection of stories

This was an interesting and calm listen, I would say this is a great place to start learning, but doesn’t give a full account of each story.

Excellent overview of the settling of the west.

Brands manages to succinctly cover several different topics with regard to settling the west. I found the material about the treatment of Native Americans to be helpful, and disturbing. The section about the gold rush, and the Cowboys is fascinating.

A better narrator could have made it 5 stars

The story is marvelous, well written and the analysis of the various stages of development of the West was insightful. Disturbing were the various mispronunciations on the part of the narrator of Indian tribes and most of all the Willamette River and Valley. Emphasis is on the “a” and you should not just guess at that. I also felt he rushed his delivery. Some areas needed more gravity, deliberation. But well worth the listen.

Both entertaining and enlightening

This book gives a very good overall account of the stages in which the United States acquired, explored, exploited, and developed the Trans-Mississippi West and, what is more entertaining and sometimes saddening, more detailed accounts of significant incidents and individuals, admirable and otherwise, involved in each stage.

Expansive overview

I enjoyed this listen, but have to say it came across like the key lectures the author might have given in a survey course on the history of our expansion to the West. That's not a bad thing, though I feel it cut down on the intricacies and depths of the stories told. I still learned a few things, and will listen to more by the author. Narrator was solid.