Francis Parkman

In 1846 a young, privileged Bostonian spent two months in the West. He traveled with Oregon-bound immigrants, lived rough, and spent a few weeks with the Oglala Lakota. The book Francis Parkman published two years later launched his literary career.

I admit it took me a while to read “The Oregon Trail”; I put it down a few times a left it sit for weeks at a time. But when I tuned my mind to Parkman’s slow — by modern standards — pace, I was able to enjoy it as pure time travel.