The Rush.jpg
The Rush.jpg

The Rush by Nathaniel Philbrick

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Hardcover:

A New York Times Most Anticipated Nonfiction Book of 2026 · A Los Angeles Times Best Book of the Fall

National Book Award winner and Pulitzer Prize finalist Nathaniel Philbrick, author of In the Heart of the Sea and Mayflower, reveals how California’s Gold Rush forged the modern United States—and lit the long fuse to civil war

Nathaniel Philbrick tells the story of the California Gold Rush as the event that helped shape modern America and push it toward civil war. Beginning with the 1848 discovery at Sutter's Mill, he follows the gold from riverbeds to the halls of power, showing how the scramble for wealth reshaped ideas of freedom, labor, and belonging.

The Rush is built around a varied cast, from Chilean fortune seekers and enslaved people caught up in the violence to the merchant and showman Samuel Brannan and the rival politicians David Broderick and William Gwin.

Through them Philbrick traces the fight over whether California would be free or slave, along with the rise of vigilantism, concentrated capital, and xenophobia.

The narrative runs through the Civil War years and ends with Lincoln's transcontinental railroad legislation, which secured the state's loyalty to the Union.

It suits readers of narrative history who want a fresh angle on the road to the Civil War, told by an author known for vivid, character-driven storytelling.

A New York Times Most Anticipated Nonfiction Book of 2026 · A Los Angeles Times Best Book of the Fall

National Book Award winner and Pulitzer Prize finalist Nathaniel Philbrick, author of In the Heart of the Sea and Mayflower, reveals how California’s Gold Rush forged the modern United States—and lit the long fuse to civil war

Nathaniel Philbrick tells the story of the California Gold Rush as the event that helped shape modern America and push it toward civil war. Beginning with the 1848 discovery at Sutter's Mill, he follows the gold from riverbeds to the halls of power, showing how the scramble for wealth reshaped ideas of freedom, labor, and belonging.

The Rush is built around a varied cast, from Chilean fortune seekers and enslaved people caught up in the violence to the merchant and showman Samuel Brannan and the rival politicians David Broderick and William Gwin.

Through them Philbrick traces the fight over whether California would be free or slave, along with the rise of vigilantism, concentrated capital, and xenophobia.

The narrative runs through the Civil War years and ends with Lincoln's transcontinental railroad legislation, which secured the state's loyalty to the Union.

It suits readers of narrative history who want a fresh angle on the road to the Civil War, told by an author known for vivid, character-driven storytelling.

  • Publisher: Viking

    Title: The Rush: California Gold, the Civil War, and the Making of the Modern World

    Author: Nathaniel Philbrick

    On Sale Date: October 6, 2026

    ISBN 13: 978-0-525-56223-8

    ISBN 10: 0525562230

    Format: Hardcover

    Retail Price: $38.00

    Page Count: 464

    Dimensions: 6 x 9 inches

  • Nathaniel Philbrick is the author of In the Heart of the Sea, winner of the National Book Award, and Mayflower, a Pulitzer Prize finalist. His other books include Valiant Ambition, winner of the George Washington Prize, Bunker Hill, winner of the New England Book Award, and Travels with George, Away Off Shore, Second Wind, Sea of Glory, and The Last Stand.

  • Critics and fellow authors are calling it compulsively readable, lucid, and gripping:

    • The New York Times Book Review called it compulsively readable and said Philbrick brings the era's gritty political dramas to life.

    • Kirkus Reviews described a lucid, lively melding of economic and political history.

    • Publishers Weekly called it a gripping account of the California dreaming that propelled America forward, for better or worse.

    • Hampton Sides called it elegant narrative history, with Philbrick at the height of his powers.

This book is for you if

  • You enjoy narrative history that pairs big economic and political forces with vivid individual characters.

  • You're interested in how the 1848 Gold Rush connected to the fight over slavery and the coming of the Civil War.

  • You want to see the Gold Rush through more than the prospectors, including Chilean miners, enslaved people, and political rivals like Broderick and Gwin.

  • You appreciate the work of Nathaniel Philbrick, author of In the Heart of the Sea and Mayflower.

  • You're looking for a book on how wealth, democracy, and private interest collided in nineteenth-century America.

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