Edwin Bryant

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Edwin Bryant (1805-1869)

Edwin Bryant was a writer and newspaper editor born in Pelham, Massachusetts. In 1830 he moved to Kentucky, where he lived the majority of his life. In Kentucky Bryant began working as a newspaper editor for several different newspapers, including The Lexington Intelligencer, The Louisville Journal, and The Louisville Morning Courier. Bryant was also very much involved in the political affairs of the time, being good with Kentucky Senator, Henry Clay. Bryant is mostly remembered for his bestselling book, What I Saw in California By Wagon from Missouri to California in 1846-1847. As the title indicates, Bryant set out from his home in Kentucky, in April of 1846, and began to head out West. Traveling by wagon train through the Rocky Mountains and across the desert, Bryant slowly made his way to California, recording his thoughts and experiences all along the way. Among his company of fellow travelers was the widely remembered Donner Party. On September 1, 1846, Bryant arrived in California at Sutter’s Fort. Over the next year he traveled around California, and in 1848 his diary was published. The book was meant to be both entertaining and informative. The book’s popularity increased once gold was found in California in 1849, as many were interested to learn more about the rigors of making the trip to California. Bryant lived out the rest of his life back in Kentucky, although he did make a couple more trips out to California later on. In 1869 Bryant committed suicide in Louisville, Kentucky. He was sixty-four years old at the time, and believed to be in poor health.

Links

California Legacy Radio Anthology http://californialegacy.org

Library of Congress Contains information about Bryant as well as access to some of his works http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/AMALL:@field(DOCID+@lit(tr2984))

Sources

Johnson, Kristin. New Light on The Donner Party. http://www.xmission.com/~octa/DonnerParty/Bryant.htm

Related Authors

William Cullen Bryant

Henry Vizetelly

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Edwin Bryant is an author and indologist. He received a PhD. in Religion from Columbia University in 1997. He was a visiting scholar at the Center for the Study of World Religion, Harvard University, from 1997- 2000. In 2001 he was appointed Associate Professor of Religion at Rutgers University, New Jersey.

[edit] Bibliography

• Edwin Bryant (2001). The Quest for the Origins of Vedic Culture: The Indo-Aryan Migration Debate. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-516947-6. 
• Edwin Bryant and Maria Ekstrand (2004). The Hare Krishna Movement : The Postcharismatic Fate of a Religious Transplant. Columbia University Press. ISBN 0-231-12256-X. 
• Edwin Bryant (2004). Krishna: The Beautiful Legend of God. Penguin Books. ISBN 0-14-044799-7. 
• Edwin Bryant and Laurie L. Patton (editors) (2005). Indo-Aryan Controversy: Evidence and Inference in Indian History. Routledge/Curzon. ISBN 0-7007-1463-4. 

[edit] External links

• Biography
• A review written by Edwin Bryant Edwin Bryant's review of "Questioning the Aryan Invasion Theory and Revising Ancient Indian History by Klaus Klostermaier, ICJ Vol. 6, No. 1"