Johnson puts forward a perspective on the Gold Rush far different from many stories and legends of yore…A provocative, eye-opening book.—Sacremento Bee

Roaring Camp deepens our understanding of continental conquest. Beautifully researched, vividly written, and compassionately argued, it also reveals the Gold Rush as a fascinating theater of human behavior. —Times Literary Supplement

Meticulously researched, precise, and lively…Roaring Camp offers a compelling portrait of the ways in which the experience of life in the diggings profoundly affected and altered American ideas about manhood and society. —The American Scholar

A must-read…Briskly, vividly written, acute in observation and use of anecdote.—Choice

An exemplary work of imaginative, innovative, and sensitive historical scholarship…Beautifully, even lyrically written, it opens many new insights in western U.S. history.—David G. Gutierrez, University of California, San Diego