“The Archaeology of the Donner Party is a significant book, not simply because it provides new insights regarding a well-covered episode of western history, but also because it demonstrates how historians and archaeologists can work together to arrive at conclusions of benefit to both disciplines. The result is good history and good archaeology.” —Western Historical Quarterly
"Taken as a whole, this new work on the Donner Party tragedy is the best to come off the press and should be part of every private library in the state." —Las Vegas Review Journal
"This book goes a long way toward humanizing and de-mystifying an episode that over the years has so often assumed a larger-than-life dimension in contemporary American popular culture." —American Antiquity
"The Archaeology of the Donner Party provides a perspective that neither personal reminiscences nor history could provide. . . . This important book certainly indicates that there are still a few gems to be mined by studying the Donner Party." —California Historian
"Research and archeological techniques employed in these excavations were impeccable." —CHOICE
"Hardesty might be called the champion of people who have no written records to define their existence." —Reno Gazette-Journal
