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The Year of Decision 1846
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 978.02
EAN: 9780312267940
ISBN: 0312267940
Label: St. Martin's Griffin
Manufacturer: St. Martin's Griffin
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 576
Publication Date: October 05, 2000
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Studio: St. Martin's Griffin
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Editorial Review:
Year of Decision 1846 tells many fascinating stories of the U.S. explorers who began the western march from the Mississippi to the Pacific, from Canada to the annexation of Texas, California, and the southwest lands from Mexico. It is the penultimate book of a trilogy which includes Across the Wide Missouri (for which DeVoto won both the Pulitzer and Bancroft prizes) and The Course of Empire. DeVoto's narrative covers the expanding Western frontier, the Mormons, the Donner party, Fremont's exploration, the Army of the West, and takes readers into Native American tribal life.
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Reading this book is like running in sand
I will have to disagree with most of the reviewers on this site and with the Pulitzer Committee. I love this period and was predisposed to buy his thesis that 1846 is a great lens to view the creation of the American West and the coming of the Civil War, but I found this book to be a difficult and unrewarding read. I have confronted this "breezy" style before, and found the tone of it a little condescending, seeming to contain too much of the author's ego. Most good stories are told without us noticing ... Read More
Rating:  - An Integrated History of the American West
DeVoto is often entertaining, frequently insulting, but always informative as he takes the reader through one of the most transformational moments in US history.
From President Polk to Pathfinder Fremont to Colonizer Young, DeVoto delights in describing the motivations and context behind the actions that reshaped the United States into a nation with a continental reach. The war with Mexico, the diplomatic wrangling with Britain over Oregon, and the comic-opera "revolution" in California are ... Read More
Rating: - This Work Is Timeless
This book won the Pulitzer Prize in 1942 and would easily win it again today. There is a reason writers and historians have deified Bernard DeVoto's works and this, the first of his trilogy on the early American West, is the reason why: The man can write.
Focusing on the 2 years, 1846 -1847, DeVoto describes the turning point in American history as it was never explained in school. This work is at once poignant, sweeping, hilarious and introspective. If you already know a fair amount about this ... Read More
Rating:  - Dated and boring
Written in 1942 in a style that is at best outdated, this book is a collection of dis-jointed stories that have no real theme. If you are a reader of recently written history books you will be severly disappointed by this recitation of meaningless characters, distractions and lack of action. How DeVoto has managed to take one of the most interesting times in U.S. history and make it so unengaging is staggering.
The publishers of this book have taken an out of date work, slapped a mimimal introduction ... Read More
Rating: - Mandatory
DeVoto's skills included writing. What writing!
The year 1846 is the year of decision because so many choice points were passed in 1846 that the future was largely determined. Whatever happened later would be modifications on what was laid out for the actors in 1846.
If you know a bit of American history, you may want to argue that some other year was more decisive, 1775, maybe, or 1860. Perhaps DeVoto is being arbitrary. But if you read his book, you will recall that other years, whatever you think ... Read More
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