The Year of Decision 1846

A classic history of the pre-Civil War, far western frontier of the United States, from a Pulitzer Prize– and National Book Award–winning author.

“In the first volume of the trilogy, Devoto made 1846 the “year of the decision.” The reason was that it was in 1846 that America began a war with Mexico that would lead to the annexation of New Mexico, Arizona, and California; and that America settled a long-smoldering dispute with Great Britain and became sovereign in Oregon, thus beginning the process of making the Southwest and West Coast into a part of the American Republic. It was also a peak year in the emigration across the plains and mountains.” -Stephen E. Ambrose, from the Introduction

The 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 part of DeVoto’s Trilogy of the West, along with 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.

“Bernard DeVoto has woven a pattern of history more meaningful than any of its strands . . . This rare combination of the scholar's accuracy, the novelist’s creative vision, and the historian's insight has won him a distinguished place among American historians.” -Garrett Mattingly, author of The Armada