1846: PORTRAIT OF A NATION
by Margaret C. S. Christman (Smithsonian Institution Press, 212 pages, $24.95, paper). Almost 200 images, 77 in color, vividly illustrate Christman’s account of one of the seminal years in American history. Published in connection with the National Portrait Gallery’s exhibition of the same name, the book presents the young republic’s push to settle the West, which brought about such memorable events as the Mexican War, the journeys of Mormon leader Brigham Young (1801-77), and the tragedy of the Donner Party; its steady movement toward sectional division between the North and South on the issue of slavery; its cultural growth in art and literature; and its establishment of a national museum in Washington, D.C., thanks to the bequest of James Smithson (1765-1829).
