Customer Reviews

History of Wyoming (Second Edition)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

T.A. Larson -- known in fine Western fashion by his initials -- has written the official, scholarly history of Wyoming filling a huge gap in published literature about the state. Primary source material about Wyoming abounds, but few of us have the time or training to find it and then plow through it to make sense of it. Anecdotal information and imagined histories are also widely available, but few of those are reliable if you want accuracy or even the slightest bit of objectivity. Places built on myth -- and Wyoming was born of a number of them -- are wonderful, but they shouldn't be exempt from a more scholarly treatment like this. There are plenty of guidebooks, such as "The Wyoming Handbook" in the series published by Moon, that give you historical "color". But for a fuller, more realistic picture of this fascinating place, Larson is definitive.

I could not disagree more with the other reviewer who opined that it was encyclopedic but not exciting reading.

Larson certainly has researched his subject very well and could easily be stated as the Dean Of Wyo History. As this is a comprehensive history up to the Post WWII era, the author by necessity touches on every area, yet leaves some at the macro stage where one wishes for more. This is well supplemented with a thorough annotated bibliographic section for further research.

From its frontier routes with the Natives and mountain men to the explorers and natural resource, railroad and ranching industries which comprise this land, Larson weaves a tale which engages the interested reader and keeps your interest growing.

The book is equally divided from its beginnings and overall description and then section two of the 19th C. on.

A treasure of a state history. It must be added also that the line drawings by Brodie are very nice!

This is a superb single volume on the history of the State of Wyoming. I have not had the time to finish it yet, it's a large book, but I can't put it down. This is a must for anyone researching American history and I can recommend it.

T. A. Larson is THE ULTIMATE AUTHORITY on Wyoming history. His course used to be mandatory to graducate from UW. To own this magnificent book is a complete and pure pleasure. He has taken the facts and made them into a pleasurable reading experience. Thank you Professor Larson (from one born and raised in Wyoming)

If one wishes to read the truth about Wyoming, I highly recommend this book.

I have not read this book but as I was looking to purchase it I used Amazon's excellent preview features to search the contents. In a short time I discovered several serious errors. One of the most egregious was saying that Otto, Wyoming was settled by Mormons. It was not. Otto was the first town in the Big Horn Basin and was the home of the inestimable early Wyoming physician, Dr. Hale. After Otto lost the vote for county seat of the newly formed Big Horn County, the original settlers largely moved away. This was accelerated when the town was inundated by a spring flood of the Greybull River. The town was then moved to its current location where it has since been largely populated by Mormons. (The original Otto site is now a farmer's field which is infinitely more attractive than the "new" Otto.)

Readers interested in a fascinating history of northwestern Wyoming might try to find a copy of Carla Loveland's Sagebrush and Roses which I believe is now out of print and was never available through Amazon.com. I found a copy at the surprisingly good library in Cody, Wyoming and was able to purchase a copy by contacting the city of Burlington, Wyoming who put me in touch with the author. Among other things, Loveland documents the charming pre-Mormon history of Otto which includes rangeland murders, frontier medicine, practical jokes, and music.

Larson also errs on some of the canal-building history and so on. Though an avid student of Wyoming history, in the end, I chose not to buy.

I bought this book to add more to my upcoming trip to Wyoming in October. I was hoping to read exciting stories from Wyoming's past like the adventures of the Hole-in-the-Wall Gang. However, this book is very encyclopedic and dry in its presentation of Wyoming's data. The information on the weather will be handy, but I could have done without the pages upon pages of data on soil composition and historical costs of cattle. This book is certainly full of information, just don't expect to be entertained by it.