Historical insight is the alchemy that transforms the familiar story of the Gold Rush into something sparkling and new. The world of the Gold Rush that comes down to us through fiction and film--of unshaven men named Stumpy and Kentuck raising hell and panning for gold--is one of half-truths. In this brilliant work of social history, Susan Johnson enters the well-worked diggings of Gold Rush history and strikes a rich lode. She finds a dynamic social world in which the conventions of identity--ethnic, national, and sexual--were reshaped in surprising ways. She gives us the all-male households of the diggings, the mines where the men worked, and the fandango houses where they played. With a keen eye for character and story, Johnson restores the particular social world that issued in the Gold Rush myths we still cherish.

In 1963, Norman Clark officially opened Roaring Camp to the public. Since then, it has become a popular and well-known destination for tourists and rail buffs from around the world who wish to visit and ride on its 100-year-old steam trains. Isaac Graham, who constructed the first powered sawmill and the first whiskey distillery in the American West, settled the area in the 1840s. Graham was notorious for his boisterous antics, and his settlement became known as a "wild and roaring camp." Clark arrived in the area in the mid-1950s with $25 in his pocket and the dream of preserving a piece of early California. Clark's dream included a plan to construct an 1880s railroad town, complete with an authentic narrow-gauge logging railway. Over the last 50 years, Clark's dream has been continued and expanded, now incorporating two railroads, one of which dates to 1875.

Bret Harte was at the forefront of western American literature, paving the way for other writers, including Mark Twain. For the first time in one volume, The Luck of Roaring Camp and Other Writings brings together not only Harte's best-known pieces including "The Luck of Roaring Camp" and "The Outcasts of Poker Flat," but also the original transcription of the famous 1882 essay "The Argonauts of '49" as well as a selection of his poetry, lesser-known essays, and three of his Condensed Novels -parodies of James Fenimore Cooper, Charles Dickens, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

The story by American author Bret Harte is about the birth of a baby boy in a 19th-century gold prospecting camp. The boy's mother, Cherokee Sal, died at his birth, so the men of Roaring Camp decided to take care of him themselves. They soon noticed that since his birth, the child brought luck to the camp and concluded, the boy was their good luck charm. Thus, the miners christen the boy Thomas Luck. As the story evolves, many miners decide to refine their behavior and refrain from gambling and fighting, thus making life in the camp really better.

Reproduction of the original: The Luck of Roaring Camp and Other Tales by Brett Harte

A Study Guide for Bret Harte's "The Luck of Roaring Camp", excerpted from Gale's acclaimed Short Stories for Students. This concise study guide includes plot summary; character analysis; author biography; study questions; historical context; suggestions for further reading; and much more. For any literature project, trust Short Stories for Students for all of your research needs.