Rosen, a former arts columnist for the New York Times
and true crime writer, is out of his element in this mundane history. He proposes that the American character is dominated by an unrestrained desire to get rich quick, an affliction directly traceable to "when [President] Polk's lips uttered the magic word 'gold!' " in his 1848 State of the Union address. According to Rosen "[the] announcement let loose something primordial that had been lurking in the American character since John Adams had been a boy." But facts to support such broad premises are sorely lacking. Much of the book is true to Rosen's crime-writing roots, with chapters devoted to the lawlessness that pervaded the mining camps and lurid tales of notorious gold rush criminals. Rosen also speculates that Jesse James's predations were linked to the gold rush because James's father headed for California, leaving Jesse bereft of moral guidance. Rosen describes the toddler Jesse "in halting though plain language" begging his father not to go. Such melodrama, along with the lack of source notes and a very brief bibliography, put this in the category of history super-lite. 8 pages of b&w photos not seen by PW
. Agent, Lori Perkins
. (Sept.)
