Published to coincide with the 150th anniversary of the Mormons' arrival in Utah, this unique history explores how these pioneers lived, interacted, and worshipped in nineteen communities extending all the way to San Diego."
| ||||||||||||||||||
Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Kirkus Reviews
An adequate, if hackneyed, rehearsal of a century's worth of history in the Great Basin region from Durham (a longtime editor for Life magazine). Durham's three-part narrative is not so much an original work of scholarship as an impressionistic synthesis of the state's history. This approach inevitably sacrifices depth for breadth. The book's publication is timed to coincide with the sesquicentennial celebration of the Mormon arrival in the region. But Mormons don't even appear until Durham has given us a hundred pages of Spanish explorers, fur-trapping ``mountain men,'' trailblazers like Jedediah Smith, and a reprisal of the ill-fated Donner-Reed party. This history is admittedly important, but Durham breezes through it with little analysis and too many stereotypical characterizations. When he addresses the Mormon experience, he does so with a remarkable and welcome impartiality, but his attempt to address the complexities of Mormon polygamy is unpersuasive, and he offers nothing original except a one-line, unsupported rebuttal of the long-standing tradition that Mormons crossed the frozen Mississippi River on foot. The lack of citations, here and elsewhere, is irritating. But the book has its good points: The best chapter is undoubtedly Durham's recital of the incidents leading up to the 1857 Mountain Meadows Massacre, when a Mormon-led party--feeling persecuted and mobilized for a possible battle with the US army- -murdered more than 120 adults and children passing through southern Utah toward California. But just when the story becomes engrossing, Durham abandons it for another trajectory, exploring the opening of Utah via the telegraph, Pony Express, and railroad, and introducing still more strands to an already crowded narrative. Durham is a fine storyteller, but he wants to tell too many stories. What's more, the lack of original research leaves the book seeming more like a recapitulation than an original or necessary work. (50 b&w photos, not seen) -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
About the Author
Michael S. Durham, a former writer and correspondent for Life magazine and editor of Americana magazine, is author of The Desert States, a volume in the Smithsonian Guide to Historic America series. His latest book is the National Geographic Guide to New York City.
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
More About the Author
Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Unsatisfactory,
By
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Desert Between the Mountains: Mormons, Miners, Padres, Mountain Men, and the Opening of the Great Basin, 1772-1869 (Paperback)
Pay close attention to the Kirkus review above. Hackneyed is the correct description of this work. It goes off on so many tangents that it is very hard to follow at times. But mostly, it is quite boring.There are better histories of Utah, the Mountain Men, the Padres, the Mormons, etc., but if what you desire is a quick, very superficial overview of Utah's early history, then you will find this work useful.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
This book makes the Great Basin come alive!,
By A Customer
This review is from: Desert Between the Mountains: Mormons, Miners, Padres, Mountain Men, and the Opening of the Great Basin 1772-1869 (Hardcover)
As someone interested in that region of our country, I found this book compelling . . . and it gave me a new understanding of the Mormons' struggle to find their homeland. I would recommend it to anyone even remotely interested in Mormons or in that area of that country. The story is page-turning, not a dry history at all.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Interesting Read,
This review is from: Desert Between the Mountains: Mormons, Miners, Padres, Mountain Men, and the Opening of the Great Basin, 1772-1869 (Paperback)
Other reviews say that the book goes in too many tangents, but that's why I enjoyed it so much. Instead of a dry history, Durham makes the work come alive with stories of the people in the area. I'm buying it for my dad to enjoy as much as I did.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
|
|
Inside This Book
(learn more)
Browse and search another edition of this book.
Browse and search another edition of this book.
First Sentence:
The Great Basin is aptly named. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
federal appointees, central route, plural marriage, transcontinental telegraph, plural wives, pioneer era Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Brigham Young, Salt Lake City, Joseph Smith, Sierra Nevada, United States, San Francisco, Pony Express, Salt Lake Valley, Bear River, South Pass, Mountain Meadows, New York, Jedediah Smith, Humboldt River, Old Spanish Trail, Latter-day Saints, Virginia City, Fort Bridger, Jesus Christ, Utah War, Carson Valley, Green River, Utah Lake, Central Pacific, Snake River New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
The Great Basin is aptly named. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
federal appointees, central route, plural marriage, transcontinental telegraph, plural wives, pioneer era Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Brigham Young, Salt Lake City, Joseph Smith, Sierra Nevada, United States, San Francisco, Pony Express, Salt Lake Valley, Bear River, South Pass, Mountain Meadows, New York, Jedediah Smith, Humboldt River, Old Spanish Trail, Latter-day Saints, Virginia City, Fort Bridger, Jesus Christ, Utah War, Carson Valley, Green River, Utah Lake, Central Pacific, Snake River New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 100
books:
See all 100 books this book cites
3
books
cite this book:
- Pony Express (Wild West in American History) by A. I. Lake on 9 pages
- The Mountain Meadows Massacre by Juanita Brooks on 7 pages
- Brigham Young by M. R. Werner on 7 pages
- Great Basin: The Story Behind the Scenery by Michael L. Nicklas on 4 pages
- Roughing It (Signet Classics) by Mark Twain on page 301, page 302, and Back Matter
See all 100 books this book cites
- Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith by Jon Krakauer in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
- The Void, The Grid & The Sign: Traversing The Great Basin by William L. Fox in Back Matter
- The Fateful Journey of Tamsen Donner by Frankye Craig in Back Matter
Books on Related Topics
(learn more)
|
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Tag this product(What's this?)Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organize and find favorite items. |
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
