Bursting with all manner of human life and endeavor, here are 36 true stories that took place around the world in 1847. From American explorers to show-stopping entertainers like Lola Montez and General Tom Thumb; from the famine-starved Irish to persecuted German emigrants; the ivory-tinkling genius of Liszt and Mendelssohn to the horse-bound Comanche warriors of the Texan plains; from American opium magnates in China to the Irish soldiers who fought for Mexico; and from ground-breaking inventors to the Arctic explorers and Australian settlers who pushed against the frontiers of the known world. 1847 is a rich and stirring portrait of a chaotic world surging towards the modern age.