This book and its predecessors 'The Course of Empire' and 'Across the Wide Missouri' are must reads for anybody interested in pre-Civil War American History. The author, Bernard DeVoto, presents profound and astute analysis grounded in in-depth research and encyclopedic knowledge of subject, free from political correctness, in a very readable, straight-forward, and no-nonsense manner. You might agree or disagree with his conclusions but you won't question his integrity.

This was a fun book to read, like sitting around the campfire listening to stories of the old West. DeVoto relies on first hand stories and tales to explain that decisions made in 1846 led to the Civil War. Much like Juan dos Passos, he tells of events occurring at the same time on the frontier.

“The Year of Decision: 1846” is a study of the decisive events that occurred in the American West during the year 1846. It focuses on three main themes, the Mexican War, the Mormon trek to Utah and the tragic Donner party’s doomed transit to California. I choose to read it because others that I have read about the Mexican War repeatedly quote it and author Bernard DeVoto.The themes vary from chapter to chapter. DeVoto skillfully weaves what I call “little history”, the daily events of individual...

A book published in 1942, which if you paid attention to the title is about a series of decisions in 1846 by various politicians, explorers, emigrants, soldiers, and a religious community looking for a new home. DeVoto's writing is dense, this book is not a fast read. This work of western American history has plenty of heroes and also plenty of villains. DeVoto sees plenty of ulterior motives by the main characters in his tome including Democratic President James K. Polk who does not want a war

James K. Polk may just be my favorite president. And we did NOT steal it. We won it in a fair fight. Get over it, losers!

Sludgy. Great content, fusty prose that kept mucking it up. Great for its time, no doubt, but now a museum piece...

Authoritative, even magisterial, DeVoto's book is also perhaps the most challenging thing I've read in years. It's dense, convoluted and requires a fairly deep understanding of Western history and literature to make any sense at all. But it's an absorbing, rich snapshot of the most important single year of our history (here in California), an insanely ambitious project that I can compare only to "The Education of Henry Adams" and Morris's "Pax Britannica" trilogy.

This guy could write history. You might think it is out dated but put him on you history shelf.

What a fantastic history. The somewhat insane people who sustained a roughly 50% mortality - walking, pushing, dragging all they have across 3000+ mostly hostile miles to land in a totally unknown geography; and at that point not part of a country they knew.California's written history is about 2 minutes long. My father knew his great grandmother well - distinct and complex memories; she arrived with Sam Brannan in San Francisco in 1846 on the ship Brooklyn whose contents doubled the Euro popula...

This is a tremendously ambitious and entertaining book. De Voto's project is to examine, explore, and explain what happened to America in A.D. 1846, and he does an excellent job of it, from the politicians in Washington, to the army in Mexico, the Mormons fleeing Missouri, and of course the Donner Party descending to cannibalism on the verge of California. He uses lots and lots of primary sources, has a magnificently entertaining and snarky prose style, and not only explained mid-nineteenth cent...

This was a book I had sitting on my shelves for years. It wasn't until I finished Hampton Sides book, Blood and Thunder, that I decided to make the commitment to the 515 pages. And I really, really wanted to like this book. The subject matter was fascinating and he proves his thesis about the year 1846 being a year of migration west that changed our country.As others have stated, his disdain for John C. Fremont gets a tad annoying. But, one learns so much about a wide range of subjects, people,

Really good writing in some places--despite subject material that was less than riveting. Nevertheless, I now know a lot more about the conquests of California, New Mexico, James K. Polk, Kearney, the Donner Party tragedy and the setting for the Civil War.A particularly interesting paragraph regarding the hardiness of those mountain men (one wonders if they exaggerated their own stories?)One morning Jim and the Bill Sublette whom he [Jim Clyman] was to meet again at Independence in '44 saddled t...

It's an amazingly detailed account of one of the most pivotal year in the American History. The book is thick 500 pg read set up in chapters that cover every major player from J.k. Polk to John C. Freemont, to the Donner Party, to the invasion of Mexico by Zach Taylor and W. Scott to Brigham Young and the Saints exodus. The Pulitzer Prize winning author, Bernard Devoto, was actually raised in Ogden in the early 20th century and moved on to be a profeesor at Harvard and one of the Ages most respe...

I found this book in a used book store and it jumped off the shelf at me. Mine is the original published in 1942, a hardback with the dustcover and I just loved it! It is a long read at 500+ pages, but it was so much of so many different histories that I have learned put together. It is about "some people who went west in 1846". It was the year the War with Mexico was started (during which my great-great grandfather spent a year in the Army), tells of the Donner party (I have read a lot about th...

Patience Amply RewardedThe writing style is antique, to be charitable, and goes off on occasional discursions that are near incomprehensible. But once I learned to.skim through those, it's a highly enjoyable tour through a series of momentous events and people all operating simultaneously in that amazing year. DeVoto to is a great story teller and meticulous researcher, and a compelling writer when he stays on topic. Best of all he does not shy from saying what he thinks about the major figures

Useful, but tedious. Read a Polk bio or "Let the Sea Make A Noise", by Walter McDougall.

Why 1846, a year that hardly stands out in anyone’s consciousness as a important year in this nation’s history? DeVoto’s answer is that it’s a brief time that determines a long future, a “period when the manifold possibilities of chance were shaped to converge into the inevitable, when the future of the American nation was precipitated out of the possible by the actions of people we deal with.” That’s the essential theme of the book, a concentration on many individuals, depicted in their surroun...

I learned a lot about the Mormon drive to go west. It seems that there was violence associated with their drive. I also learned about France Parkman. It was also quite disturbing to read of the details of cannibalism. It is quite disturbing to think about this situation. I wonder what I would have done if there was no other food. "The next day, December 27, they butchered the bodies of Graves, Dolan, Antoine and Lemuel Murphy and dried at the fire such portions as they did not need now, packing

This is a very thorough history of an important and especially busy expansionist period in the U.S. The author, a well regarded historian treats this history almost as if he was telling the story around a campfire located in the foothills west of Great Salt Lake. He seems to know all the main and minor characters; Fremont, Benton, Kit Carson, Webster, John Calhoun, Donner, Emerson, Taylor and J.K. Polk, for example. He also includes about 20 pages of very helpful notes, Don't overlook those. Tak...

Solid (and bulky) history of the events affecting the West in the decisive year of 1846. The book reads as if we acquired California and Oregon mostly by luck. The "leaders" come off very badly. Such a partisan approach makes for lively reading, but also makes one question the truth of what is being sold. There is fascinating detail on the Mormon emigration, and the hardships of the emigrants to Oregon and California. The book is at its strongest in capturing the tribulations of those either mar...