The Year of Decision, 1846; Across the Wide Missouri, with an Account of the Discovery of the Miller Collection by Mae Reed Porter; The Course of Empire (Three Volume Set)

Three volume set. The second book of the trilogy won the Pulitzer Prize. ABOUT THE YEAR OF DECISION: "1846 was the year in which the United States of America began to spread westward in earnest. Over forty years after the Louisiana Purchase and Lewis and Clark’s expedition, this year marks the point at which men and women from the east began to travel westward and populate the land near the Pacific. Bernardo DeVoto’s fascinating study of this movement fully captures this moment when Western frontier was first truly settled by adventurers and explorers. This year marks the point at which troubles with Mexico come to a head and the Mexican-American War broke out. It was also the year when the Mormons made their famous trek across from Illinois to Utah. Immigrant trains spread across the breadth of the country and men and women aspired to make new lives for themselves in the west. Some of these made in through the treacherous passes, but others like the Donner Party ended in tragedy. DeVoto uncovers the famous adventurers and explorers who were instrumental in forging new paths westwards like Jim Bridger, Frances Parkman and Jim Clyman. This brilliant book uncovers how through the course of the year and through a variety of different reasons the United States greatly expanded as areas that would become known as Texas, new Mexico, California, Oregon and Utah came under its sway." ABOUT ACROSS THE WIDE MISSOURI: "Containing a 96-page section of contemporary watercolor paintings--32 pages in full color--by Alfred Jacob Miller and others, most of them previously unpublished. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the Bancroft Prize. Across the Wide Missouri tells the compelling story of the climax and decline of the Rocky Mountain fur trade during the 1830s. More than a history, it portrays the mountain fur trade as a way of business and a way of life, vividly illustrating how it shaped the expansion of the American West." ABOUT THE COURSE OF EMPIRE: "Tracing North American Exploration from Balboa to Lewis and Clark, Devoto tells in a classic fashion how the drama of discovery defined the American nation. The Course of Empire is the third volume in historian Bernard Devoto’s monumental trilogy of the West. Entertaining and incisive, this is the dramatic story of three hundred years of exploration of North America leading up to 1805."