Book description
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…
Why read it?
1 author picked The Year of Decision 1846 as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?
A thrilling if bumpy ride through 1846, as DeVoto tracks multiple stories of Americans who headed west at the start of the great migration. Like Webb’s Great Plains, this book — published in 1942 — is a little dated in places, but DeVoto’s vivid descriptions and strong opinions make it highly enjoyable. The general subject is the “period when the manifold possibilities of chance were shaped to converge into the inevitable,” writes DeVoto. More plainly, the book is about "some people who went west in 1846." Many of them died on the way. Some found fortune. Altogether, they left…
From Jim's list on western migration before the Civil War.
If you love The Year of Decision 1846...
Guns, Furs, and Gold
Guns, Furs, and Gold offers a riveting narrative of the American West by exploring the interactions of the Arikaras, Crows, Cheyennes, and Arapahos with each other and with Euro-American traders, explorers, and settlers from 1804, when Meriwether Lewis and William Clark embarked on their voyage of discovery, to 1864, when…
Want books like The Year of Decision 1846?
Our community of 12,000+ authors has personally recommended 100 books like The Year of Decision 1846.
Share your top 3 reads of 2025!
And get a beautiful page showing off your 3 favorite reads.
1,276
readers submitted
so far, will you?
