Book Club 1: Month of November 2024- Astoria by Peter Stark

Book Club 1: Astoria by Peter Stark

This is my book club collection. I won’t ever reveal too much about a book, but if you’d like to discuss the book please reach out to me and we can talk it over in detail. The more the merrier.

1. Astoria

You ever read or watch something that makes you question your entire existence. This book Astoria, by Peter Stark has done that for me.

I have an obsession for history, but this one takes the cake for one of the more interesting books I have ever read.

I grew up in Utah, it is barren. So barren that it’s hard to believe it can support a population. The winters are brutal, the summers are dry, and the climate is as harsh as can be. The largest natural body of water is a saline lake. Since I was little I always imagined what it would be like to be exposed to the elements of Utah without the luxury we have now.

Astoria is based in 1810, three years after Lewis and Clark traversed the United States. I am fortunate enough to have traveled a lot of the Western United States, and let me tell you, it's just as barren and harsh as Utah. The book features Oregon, Idaho, and Wyoming all of which have very unique landscapes that are still mostly unpopulated.

The amount of hardship, uncertainty, and courage the people of the recent past went through to pave the way for the America we know is unfathomable. I can’t imagine commuting across the United States face to face with death's doorstep everyday.

At that time, the only people that lived in a majority of the United States, were native tribes. From what I’ve heard and read they lived the purest lifestyle you could live. They mastered the elemental attributes (Landscapes, Seasons, etc.) of the United States and had a deep sense of the natural world around them (Medicines, Hunting, etc.).

The book goes into a great amount of detail about the lifestyles of some of the native tribes. One of my favorites I looked into was the Chinook Tribe. Their abundance made them rich, which completely changed the characteristics of their tribe compared to other tribes. They had a hierarchy, lived in stationary homes, and were master boatmen.

One of my favorite quotes that is represented time and time again in this book is, “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power tends to corrupt absolutely” (Lord Acton). You see it with the main characters, certain tribes, and the governing bodies that existed back in 1810. This book is a great insight into human character/nature. It goes to show that we as a species are capable of much more than we make ourselves out to be.

Hope you enjoy the book as much as I did.

With love,

Kai

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