Roberts, Brian. The American Alchemy: The California Gold Rush and Middle Class Culture. North Carolina Press: North Carolina, 2000

Book Review by Joseph Osorio

The American Alchemy involves a set of a variety of events that occurred in the 19th Century, also known as the era of the Old West. Brian Roberts, the author of the American Alchemy, wrote this book to show the real motives of the forty-niners for migrating to the West in North America. The University of the North Carolina Press published the American Alchemy, on May 2000. The American Alchemy puts both viewpoints of the women and men, with their involvement in the era of the Gold Rush. He focuses on two wrongly speculated myths of the lone male forty-niner, and the restrained hopeless middle class. As Roberts writes the book, he never forgets to include the roles of women, and stories in which they were involved with their husband, fathers, sons or loved ones. The American Alchemy is written to those who seek to learn a little more of the reality of the American Gold Rush, and discover the truth about the about how women could also be classified as forty-niners.

Brian Roberts, at the introduction of his book and throughout the first few chapters, tries to establish the truth about the male forty-niner that migrated to the West. He explains the myths, and opinions of many historians who have wrongly interpreted the male forty-niner. Many of the typical views of male the forty-niner, is alone, independent, no moral conscious, and with no connections to society. When in fact Roberts clears up these false myths, and wrong assimilations of the male forty-niners. He uses the category of class to differentiate between the different society statuses during the era. He goes into depth with the middle class, where the male-forty-niners came from. Roberts shows that these men, who left their family, friends, and comfort of their homes, were in fact well-established men. These men had a business, were economically stable, and had bonds between their communities, and institutions in the East. Roberts also gives many accounts of men, and women with their struggle to succeed, and to maintain a stable life. He gives short accounts of women and how they viewed their loved-ones leaving to the West in order to fulfill their own selfish and wealthy needs. Roberts is able to balance both the views of women, and men in the sense of the perspectives toward each other. The men leave to look for adventure, and fun, while the women stay to take care of the business and support their husbands in their long-term vacation. Roberts shows that even throughout all of this there were some women who supported their husbands, there were those who did not agree with the decision to leave to the West. In all, Roberts gives the audience a perspective between the sexes.

Throughout the American Alchemy Roberts uses a more social history emphasis, and less on a political emphasis. Roberts includes the government of the U.S. and how they viewed the gold rush, but he focuses less on this side and more on the side of the social or community opinions and actions. For example, he explains the opinions and lives of those who were involved in the gold rush, and how many of them were bonded with their community. He shows less the political side of the Old West era and more of the accounts of men and women who were connected with the Gold Rush. Roberts also uses dates throughout the book, to show the timeline and events that are occurring during this time. He uses dates so that one, as a reader, is able to establish the certain events and occurrences that are happening at this time. For example, during this era Roberts does no forget to leave out the beginning of the American Renaissance in history. The reason for the eruption of the American Renaissance was because many readers back at home, in the east, wanted to hear more stories of those in the west, and this became a good way to express their experiences while living the life of adventure, romance, and sentiment. The book gives poems written to their loved ones, stories of their adventurous experiences, and letters of how they felt being away from home. Even through all the writings of these well-educated men, the author does not forget the women’s view on their new situation and how now they saw themselves as the head of the household, because of the men being gone.

As Brian Roberts concludes his book, he restates his argument, about the false myths of the lonely forty-niner. Roberts’s narration and arguments of the era of the Gold Rush was very well written, but he could have done better to make some of his points a little more clear.

Overall the book was very fascinating and interesting to me, because it cleared my perspective on the forty-niner, and showed me the real motives of these men in migrating to the West. The conclusion of the book becomes very convincing in clarifying that the forty-niners were well-established middle class men who had a degree or a certain business in which they thrived from. Brian Roberts says:

there is a lot of doubt, that the gold rush became liberating in the sense of riches and wealth,

In fact the forty-niners were validated in their desire for rebellion and adventure. Rebellion from middle-class culture, and liberation in the form of a new quest.

I would highly recommend this book to someone who is interested in learning more about middle class culture in the 19th century and learning in detail of the incidents and events that occurred during the Gold Rush in both the East coast and the West.