The word foolhardy has appeared in 26 articles on NYTimes.com in the past year, including on Aug. 31 in the book review “All That Glitters: A Fresh Look at the California Gold Rush” by W. M. Akers:
“Fortune’s Frenzy” traces the path of Henry Jenkins, an Indiana farmer who left for California in 1851. Like many miners, he took on crushing debt to finance the adventure, agreeing to an interest rate of 59 percent on the assumption that he would return a rich man. What followed were years of hardship and misery as Jenkins risked everything and gained nothing at all.
Jenkins was a Philadelphian who went west to make his fortune on the frontier and found himself less prosperous with every year. Lyon describes him as “a responsible, sober adult” whose belief in temperance and toil were no match for a dearth of hard currency and a surfeit of bad luck. His voyage to California was not a foolhardy gamble but a carefully planned attempt to regain his financial footing before his family starved.
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