The Year of Decision: 1846

Where to start? It's brilliant. It's engaging. It's unique. It's beautifully written. DeVoto is an inconoclast and loves knocking off the pedestal heroes like Zachary Taylor and John C. Fremont. And he loves the West, particularly the mountains. And he loves the Mountain Men.

This is not a chronological history book. It weaves together a number of stories: The Mexican American War, The Mormon migration, the migrations to Oregon and California (including the Donner party) and the ultimate creation of a continental American empire.

DeVoto asserts the creation of that empire doomed the idea of a loose affiliation of states, an affiliation the allowed slavery, the country's central contradiction. Once we became an empire, with stronger show more centralized government, confronting slavery was inevitable.

Maybe my favorite part of all DeVoto's books is the clear love, and fear, he has of the mountains. And equally for those people who are able to survive in that environment, and/or tame it. He writes, "Remember that the yield of a hard country is a love deeper than a fat and easy land inspires, that throughout the arid West the Americans have found a secret treasure." Maybe you have to have grown up in the mountains to understand.

If you like history, read this book. If you like literature, read this book. show less

Told in a friendly, accessible style, 1846 is a comprehensive look at the dynamics of the western migrations and the inner mood of a young, vigorous nationalism. I was hardly surprised to learn of the all too familiar ways of cunning politicians like James K. Polk and Senator Thomas Hart Benton, a primary mojo behind the aggressive push west termed 'Manifest Destiny'. DeVoto's love of detail bring the journey alive. The tribulations of the Mormons, the Donner Party, and Polk's War with Mexico are just a few of the major events covered in this fine book. The reader is introduced to all the major players in the country. Besides colorful tableaus of stars like Emerson, Whitman, and Thoreau we witness countless, humble pioneers, as well as show more famous mountain men like Jim Clyman, Jim Bridger and Jedediah Smith. The enormity of the journey and the mysterious natural history of a region famous for roaming bands of Indians, great herds of buffalo, endless deserts and impassable mountains, provide a majestic backdrop for strong leaders like Brigham Young or Stephen Kearney on the one hand and pathetic glory seekers like like John C. Fremont and General Taylor, who both deserve a wider, more critical exposure.

DeVoto throws light on that shadowy period between Cherokee removal and the Civil War. He is one of those few authors who makes me want to read more of his work. . show less

A good deal of focussed research underlay a lively account of the year in question. It presents the activities clearly, and is a good explanation of the intellectual and social underpinnings of the massive expansion of the USA. De Voto writes well, and provides many possible epigraphs for other writers.

2199 The Year of Decision:1846, by Bernard DeVoto (read 23 Mar 1989) When this book was published in 1942 I really wanted to read it but I have not till now. It certainly wasn't what I thought. It has no source footnotes and no bibliography. It tells in a kind of literary way a lot about the Donner party, while acknowledging George Stewart's book as the authority thereon, and a lot about the Mormons' journey to Utah, and some about the Mexican War and James K. Polk and Francis Parkman. But it is all kind of a mish-mash, and not history told as I like it. I definitely did not care for the book, even though it tells of interesting things. He sure has nothing but bad to say for Zachary Taylor and John C. Fremont.

Excellent but Devoto does like to ramble on

Bernard DeVoto is a forgotten great. Most people have never heard of him. This is my favorite of all his books. It is a close examination of what happened in 1846...a more important year than most would think.

A must read.

Relates the events that led up to the Mexican American War and the events of the war itself.