In the early 1800s, John Astor made the fateful decision to make good on his long-held dream of establishing a fur-trading company in the Northwest United States. Astor later convinced Washington Irving, one of the most important figures in nineteenth-century American literature, to create a non-fiction account of the operation's origins. The result, Astoria, is a fascinating work of history. Astoria is a history book published in 1836 by Washington Irving. The full title being "Astoria: Or, Enterprise Beyond the Rocky Mountains". The book was commissioned by John Jacob Astor as an official history of his company's expedition to Oregon in 1810–1812. The book became a bestseller in 1836 and at the time was required reading in some schools. Astoria has been read as a vivid and fascinating history, comparable indeed to the finest of romances, but rooted in the rough and hardy life of trapping, hunting, and exploration.