Book Review: America 1844 by John Bicknell
1844 was an election year in the United States, but there was much more happening in the nation than politicking. Expansionism and a desire for a better life sent many Americans westward, to face harsh weather, rigorous travel conditions and unpredictability. New inventions were being developed that would transform and enhance Americans' way of life. Incumbent "accidental president" John Tyler maintained feint hope of holding his office. Religious evolution and tensions were occurring, complete with zealots, bigots, the devout, and the rise of new sects. New immigrants came into conflict with those espousing intense nationalism and anti-immigrant sentiments. And then there was Texas and the divergence between those who wanted to annex it and those who feared the consequences of such an act. All of these factors contributed to the outcome of one of the most fascinating Presidential elections in history, and to the future that the 68 year young nation would soon experience.
In America 1844: Religious Fervor, Western Expansionism and the Presidential Election That Transformed The Nation, author John Bicknell displays a remarkable appreciation of the fact that to truly understand what elections are all about, one must look at more than just the speeches and promises of politicians and their parties. While an election is occurring, life happens, and life in 1844 was fascinating.
An apocryphal Chinese curse is said to translate as "may you live in interesting times" and 1844 was a most interesting year. Religion was at the center of much of the contemporary cultural upheaval. Preacher and Adventist forefather William Miller and his Millerites prophetically predicted that the end of the world would occur in October of 1844, a message strongly embraced by a surprising number of people. Catholics in Philadelphia faced strong and violent religious prejudice from nativists, leading to the Philadelphia Nativist Riots. Joseph Smith and the Mormons also confronted violent religious bigotry amid Smith's campaign for the presidency. John Bicknell provides the reader with an excellent understanding of these and other religious based occurrences, explaining both their specific details, and their significance to everything else that was happening in 1844.
An excellent component of this book is the author's description of exactly what western migration entailed. He does so by having the reader travel along with a number of hardy souls who made the trek west, including soldier and explorer John C. Fremont, mountain man James Clyburn, the Sager family (who experienced significant tragedy on route) and resilient teenager Moses Schallenberger. The experiences of these travelers provides the reader with a far greater appreciation of the hazards of such an onerous journey than any generic description of what it was like for those who made the trek west.
John Bicknell's brilliance as an author can be seen from how much information he is able to convey in only 257 pages. I learned a tremendous amount of information from this book and am amazed at the author's ability to convey that information so succinctly and yet so thoroughly. Bicknell also earns high marks as an analyst. His post-mortem of the failed campaign of Henry Clay in the election of 1844 is excellent, and I appreciated this book's epilogue in which the author not only fills the reader in on the subsequent lives of the major subjects of the book, but also explains why their actions in 1844 were important to how the nation unfolded in the years leading to the civil war. Most impressive for me was his profound analysis of how history might have taken a completely different path if Henry Clay had run a smarter campaign and won the election of 1844.
In this book John Bicknell proves that excellent history does not have to be voluminous and wordy to be intelligent, informative and a pleasure to read. I thoroughly enjoyed America 1844 and highly recommend it to readers with an interest in history from slight to great who appreciate good writing that entertains and informs concurrently and concisely.
In America 1844: Religious Fervor, Western Expansionism and the Presidential Election That Transformed The Nation, author John Bicknell displays a remarkable appreciation of the fact that to truly understand what elections are all about, one must look at more than just the speeches and promises of politicians and their parties. While an election is occurring, life happens, and life in 1844 was fascinating.
An apocryphal Chinese curse is said to translate as "may you live in interesting times" and 1844 was a most interesting year. Religion was at the center of much of the contemporary cultural upheaval. Preacher and Adventist forefather William Miller and his Millerites prophetically predicted that the end of the world would occur in October of 1844, a message strongly embraced by a surprising number of people. Catholics in Philadelphia faced strong and violent religious prejudice from nativists, leading to the Philadelphia Nativist Riots. Joseph Smith and the Mormons also confronted violent religious bigotry amid Smith's campaign for the presidency. John Bicknell provides the reader with an excellent understanding of these and other religious based occurrences, explaining both their specific details, and their significance to everything else that was happening in 1844.
An excellent component of this book is the author's description of exactly what western migration entailed. He does so by having the reader travel along with a number of hardy souls who made the trek west, including soldier and explorer John C. Fremont, mountain man James Clyburn, the Sager family (who experienced significant tragedy on route) and resilient teenager Moses Schallenberger. The experiences of these travelers provides the reader with a far greater appreciation of the hazards of such an onerous journey than any generic description of what it was like for those who made the trek west.
John Bicknell's brilliance as an author can be seen from how much information he is able to convey in only 257 pages. I learned a tremendous amount of information from this book and am amazed at the author's ability to convey that information so succinctly and yet so thoroughly. Bicknell also earns high marks as an analyst. His post-mortem of the failed campaign of Henry Clay in the election of 1844 is excellent, and I appreciated this book's epilogue in which the author not only fills the reader in on the subsequent lives of the major subjects of the book, but also explains why their actions in 1844 were important to how the nation unfolded in the years leading to the civil war. Most impressive for me was his profound analysis of how history might have taken a completely different path if Henry Clay had run a smarter campaign and won the election of 1844.
In this book John Bicknell proves that excellent history does not have to be voluminous and wordy to be intelligent, informative and a pleasure to read. I thoroughly enjoyed America 1844 and highly recommend it to readers with an interest in history from slight to great who appreciate good writing that entertains and informs concurrently and concisely.