The Poker Bride: the First Chinese in the Wild West - Hardcover

"Corbett delves deep into the soul of the real old west, using the story of one Chinese 'sojourner'--a young woman named Polly--as the thread to link a thousand pearls of fact and lore and whatever you call those fragments of story that lie somewhere in between. All I can say is, Twain would be proud." -- Erik Larson "There is no alkali dust in these pages. The Poker Bride is a gorgeously written and brilliantly researched saga of America during the mad flush of its biggest gold rush. Christopher Corbett's genius is to anchor his larger story of Chinese immigration around a poor concubine named Polly. A tremendous achievement." -- Douglas Brinkley "The Poker Bride offers a compelling look at a largely invisible--and mostly unremembered--population of the mid-nineteenth-century American West: Chinese laborers and prostitutes. Christopher Corbett weaves a fascinating tale about the underbelly of the Wild West." -- Laura Wexler "Utilizing his skills as a literary detective to piece together this saga of boom times during the Gold Rush, Christopher Corbett introduces us to one of the more beguiling characters to emerge from the Wild West." -- Wil Haygood "[An] amazing tale of the Chinese in the making of the American West--a slice of largely forgotten history that is by turns funny, chilling, and polgnant." -- Jill Jonnes Christopher Corbett has brought home a tale delicate and sad and not a little bit heroic, and in doing so he has rescued from oblivion an extraordinary chapter of the immigrant experience in America. With "The Poker Bride" and his earlier reconsideration of the Pony Express, "Orphans Preferred," Corbett has established himself as a fresh and thoughtful voice in the historical realm of the American West. David Simon, author of "Homicide: A Life on the Killing Streets" and producer of "The Wire" In "The Poker Bride," Christopher Corbett delves deep into the soul of the real old west, using the story of one Chinese sojourner a young woman named Pollyas the thread to link a thousand pearls of fact and lore and whatever you call those fragments of story that lie somewhere in between. All I can say is, Twain would be proud. Erik Larson, author of "The Devil in the White City" There is no alkali dust in these pages. "The Poker Bride" is a gorgeously written and brilliantly researched saga of America during the mad flush of its biggest Gold Rush. Christopher Corbett s genius is to anchor his larger story of Chinese immigration around a poor concubine named Polly. A tremendous achievement. Douglas Brinkley, author of "The Great Deluge: Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans, and the Mississippi Gulf Coast" In Corbett s expert hands, the extraordinary story of Polly Bemis, the unlettered Chinese concubine lost in a poker game, acquires tragic grandeur without losing any of its comical unpredictability. Christoph Irmscher, author of "The Poetics of Natural History, Longfellow Redux" and "Public Poet, Private Man" Utilizing his skills as a literary detective to piece together this saga of boom times during the Gold Rush, Christopher Corbett introduces us to one of the more beguiling characters to emerge from the Wild West. He tells the story of Polly Bemisthe poker bridewith panache, sensitivity, and wondrous detail. Wil Haygood, author of "In Black and White: The Life of Sammy Davis, Jr." "The Poker Bride" offers a compelling look at a largely invisibleand mostly unrememberedpopulation of the mid-19th century American West: Chinese laborers and prostitutes. In chronicling the life of one Chinese girl who was sold into slavery, brought to Idaho, and ceded to a man during a poker game, author Christopher Corbett weaves a fascinating tale about the underbelly of the Wild West. Laura Wexler, author of "Fire in a Canebrake" On July 8, 1872, a young Chinese concubine arrived by horse in Idaho gold country, where a white gambler soon won her in a poker game. and so begins Christopher Corbett's amazing tale of the Chinese in the making of the American Westa slice of largely forgotten history that is by turns funny, chilling, and poignant. Jill Jonnes, author of "Empires of Light: Edison, Tesla, Westinghouse, and the Race to Electrify the World" " "Christopher Corbett has brought home a tale delicate and sad and not a little bit heroic, and in doing so he has rescued from oblivion an extraordinary chapter of the immigrant experience in America. With "The Poker Bride" and his earlier reconsideration of the Pony Express, "Orphans Preferred," Corbett has established himself as a fresh and thoughtful voice in the historical realm of the American West."--David Simon, author of "Homicide: A Life on the Killing Streets" and producer of "The Wire" "In "The Poker Bride," Christopher Corbett delves deep into the soul of the real old west, using the story of one Chinese 'sojourner'--a young woman named Polly--as the thread to link a thousand pearls of fact and lore and whatever you call those fragments of story that lie somewhere in between. All I can say is, Twain would be proud."--Erik Larson, author of "The Devil in the White City" "There is no alkali dust in these pages. "The Poker Bride" is a gorgeously written and brilliantly researched saga of America during the mad flush of its biggest Gold Rush. Christopher Corbett's genius is to anchor his larger story of Chinese immigration around a poor concubine named Polly. A tremendous achievement."--Douglas Brinkley, author of "The Great Deluge: Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans, and the Mississippi Gulf Coast" "In Corbett's expert hands, the extraordinary story of Polly Bemis, the unlettered Chinese concubine lost in a poker game, acquires tragic grandeur without losing any of its comical unpredictability."--Christoph Irmscher, author of "The Poetics of Natural History, Longfellow Redux" and "Public Poet, Private Man" "Utilizing his skills as a literary detective to piece together this saga of boom times during the Gold Rush, Christopher Corbett introduces us to one of the more beguiling characters to emerge from the Wild West. He tells the story of Polly Bemis--the poker bride--with panache, sensitivity, and wondrous detail."--Wil Haygood, a

When gold rush fever gripped the globe in 1849, thousands of Chinese immigrants came through San Francisco seeking fortune. In "The Poker Bride," Christopher Corbett uses a little-known Idaho legend as a lens into this Chinese experience. Before 1849, the Chinese in the United States were little more than curiosities. But as word spread of the discovery of gold, they soon became a regular sight in the American West. In San Francisco, a labyrinthine Chinatown arose where Chinese smuggled into the country were deposited. Polly, a young Chinese concubine, accompanied her owner to a mining camp in the highlands of Idaho. After he lost her in a poker game, Polly found her way with her new owner to an isolated ranch on the banks of the Salmon River. As the gold rush receded, it took with it the Chinese miners, but left behind Polly, who would make headlines when she emerged from the Idaho hills nearly half a century later to visit a modern city and tell her story. "The Poker Bride" vividly reconstructs a lost period of history when the first Chinese sojourners flooded into the country and left only glimmering traces of their presence scattered across the American West.