Caitlin is joined by the iconic Maggie Brodnick, AKA her mother, as they discuss The Donner party. That’s right, the cannibals! Although that should be debated, because cannibalism was just an itsy bitsy part of the whole story. 

Caity’s Mom, the goddess and obvious historian, details the specifics of the Donner party history, including that SCAMS that led them to suffering, failure, and oof… eating each other. They explain why the “Hastings CutOff” was a total scam, built on male hubris OF COURSE. They dig into how the idea of Manifest Destiny itself was a scam, because there’s no such thing as free land. Finally they talk about what happened to the survivors of the Donner Party, and what Caity might have done if she was stuck on a Conestoga wagon in a blizzard. 

RESOURCES:

https://www.kqed.org/news/11844011/donner-party-pt-1

The Best Land Under Heaven: The Donner Party in the Age of Manifest Destiny

by: Michael Wallis

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