Utah, the Right Place: The Official Centennial History [Hardcover]

Thomas G. Alexander (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1995

"The common denominator of these Utahns is neither birthplace, gender, politics, economic position, religion, ethnic background, liberalism, conservatism, nor profession," Alexander writes. "It is, rather, that each chose Utah as their home and that they have made the state a better place for all of us. Like these people, we become Utahns because we love its land and people, and because we have come to understand that it is still 'the right place.'"

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

Weaving together the stories of the Anasazi; the Spaniards; the Mormons, Protestants, Catholics, Jews, and Greek Orthodox; the athletes, artists, and entertainers--all the famous and not-so-famous people from Utah's past--Thomas Alexander tells a story of determination, creativity, and originality.
With humor and insight, Alexander traces the personalities and events that have shaped Utah, bringing to light little-known facts and raising for discussion often-buried issues. His narrative is rich in detail, providing context and perspective to familiar but sometimes misunderstood events, along with fascinating anecdotes to illuminate the times and people.
Among other things, Alexander offers a candid look at the displacement of Native Americans by Mormon settlements and the state's early efforts to tame prostitution in the cities. He provides a new perspective on environmental activism in Utah, including movements as early as the 1890s to improve air quality and limit pollution from smoke. He describes the state's longstanding promotion of the arts and the decades-old leadership efforts by Utah's women in education and politics. And he delves into the turn-of-the-century struggles with growth in the state's urban areas--even describing one Salt Lake City plan to pay children a bounty on rats of ten cents per head (and ten cents per hundred for flies).
--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

From the Back Cover

"The common denominator of these Utahns is neither birthplace, gender, politics, economic position, religion, ethnic background, liberalism, conservatism, nor profession," Alexander writes. "It is, rather, that each chose Utah as their home and that they have made the state a better place for all of us. Like these people, we become Utahns because we love its land and people, and because we have come to understand that it is still 'the right place.'"
--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 487 pages
• Publisher: Gibbs Smith; Revised edition (June 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0879056908
• ISBN-13: 978-0879056902
• Product Dimensions: 10.1 x 8.7 x 1.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,438,442 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Commissioned history, June 27, 2003

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I am the "mindfunker" (Live from Kolob) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Utah, the Right Place: The Official Centennial History (Paperback)

One of the other reviewers here suggests that Alexander is the wrong man to write a comprehensive history of Utah. This statement is patently absurd! Alexander is one of the most important historians of Mormonism and Utah since Leonard Arrington. Unfortunately, this book is commissioned history, and as such, Alexander's heart doesn't really seem in it. The book is overly verbose at times, and at other times it seems as if the introductions and conclusions to chapters are tacked on. Also, the book is almost entirely narrative with very little interpretation. (Another misstatement of this same reviewer.) In short, this is a workman-like narrative history, but it is not edited or written with the excellence and care that Alexander's other works exhibit. I know that this book was expanded and updated in 2003, so if you are inclined to purchase this book, get the newer edition. If you are looking for a tightly written, superb one volume history of Utah, try Dean L. May's, Utah: A People's History.

2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Solid history of Utah. Good narrative and pictures., August 19, 2000

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L. Troy Beals (Las Vegas, NV USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Utah, the Right Place: The Official Centennial History (Paperback)

Alexander's "official" centennial Utah history is a strong overview of the history of Utah. Their are many pictures to make the work interesting, and the narrative is flowing and enjoyable. It's only flaw its that it does focus on Mormons, but that is the majority religious group in the state so he can be forgiven. The book celebrates the people of Utah past and present and glosses over some not so pretty events. A must read for anyone interested in Utah history.

2 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An Excellent Start, but not the Last Word in Utah History, April 12, 2004

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Roger D. Launius "Historian" (Washington, D.C., United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Utah, the Right Place (Revised and Updated Edition) (Paperback)

I have long been wary of any book that uses the term "official" and "history" in its title. It connotes a certain sense of self-adoration and celebration at best and exhibits rather blatant spin-doctoring and perhaps even untruth at worst. If any historian could write an outstanding official history, however, it is Thomas G. Alexander, one of the leading historian of the Great Basin. Because of his skill, he often succeeds here, but the blinders of centennial celebration and religious heritage limit what could have been a magnificent synthesis to what is merely a good one.

"Utah, The Right Place" was commissioned by the state government in commemoration of the centennial of statehood. In a fit of largesse, the state legislature appropriated funds for this overview, a four-volume chronological history each written by a different scholar, histories of each Utah county, and several other publications and events. In this new state history, Alexander presents Utah as a crossroads where cultures met, conflicted, assimilated, and ultimately changed forever. Although there is some discussion of aboriginal peoples, the vast majority of the book deals with the cultural interaction between European-Americans and Native Americans, as well as between various groups of European-Americans. Alexander heavily emphasizes the period since 1847, with well over three/fourths of the book dealing with this chronological period.

A group that is both overrepresented and handled with a surprisingly positive alacrity is the Mormons. No doubt the members of the Mormon church have fundamentally influenced the development of Utah since 1847, but Alexander's too-easy acceptance of the church's conventional position is troubling. For instance, with the many other issues appropriate for this state history given incomplete treatment or omitted altogether, presumably because of space limitations, why does Alexander devote nearly a chapter to a narrative of Mormon origins and development prior to the 1846 exodus to Utah? And, having chosen to do so, why is the treatment so reflective of the Mormon leadership's beliefs about the church's origins?

Alexander, as a believing, practicing Mormon, handles most Mormon issues in this Utah history in a "faithful" manner, in most instances reflecting the church's beliefs about itself. A notable example of Alexander stepping beyond his religious convictions, however, is his use of the lessons of the Mountain Meadows Massacre to chide present-day mid-level Mormon officials about overzealous execution of presumed policies from the church leadership. In 1857, a combined Mormon and Paiute party brutally murdered a wagon train of Arkansans stopped at Mountain Meadows in southern Utah who were on their way to California. At the time, middle-management Mormon John D. Lee misinterpreted comments from Brigham Young and his chief lieutenants about possible war with the United States as a license to carry out this heinous crime, and successfully covered up the church's involvement for a number of years. Twenty years after the fact, Lee was executed for his role in the massacre but no one else was punished; in ritualistic manner he became a Christ-like figure absolving Mormonism of its great crime through his blood sacrifice.

Alexander uses this event as a launching pad to deride extremism among the Mormons. Presently, the church has publicly broken with its intellectual community and demanded complete subservience to an increasingly narrow party line. The church's middle-managers have zealously excommunicated some of the best-known Mormon intellectuals, and the question has been repeatedly asked, "Who is responsible for this crackdown?" Are local church officials taking obscure cues from high Mormon leaders or acting under their direct orders? Such intellectuals as Alexander probably hope that it represents incorrect cue-taking from higher officials, and he suggests this is improper. It happened in 1857, and the Mountain Meadows Massacre was the result. At one point, he wrote of the massacre, "Such underlings will abuse and murder others if they believe their leaders really want them to do so. Neither James Buchanan nor Brigham Young wanted people to suffer or die needlessly, but...[their underlings] believed that their leaders really did want these things to happen" (p. 133). They acted on that belief. Alexander might well conclude, just as surely as in 1857, that underlings in the present Mormon church have acted to punish intellectuals.

There are difficulties in the book, despite its usefulness overall. For instance, Alexander is at best cursory in his discussion concerning the development of air transportation and the aerospace community in Utah. A fair amount of U. S. western history has much to do with transportation, and in the twentieth century the air transport structure has been critical to regional development. Utah leaders were early and persistent advocates of air transportation, yet this area is barely mentioned. Likewise, the rise of large-scale aerospace activities in Utah-Morton Thiokol, Hercules Powder Co., and others-receive superficial treatment. These activities have fundamentally transformed the state's economic, and to some extent the political and social, landscape and cry out for analysis. At the same time, lengthy, but less important, discussions of sports teams in Utah, complete with photographs of sports celebrities, grace several pages.

Despite my apprehensions about what is missing in the book, there is much to praise in "Utah, The Right Place." It is a serviceable state history that emphasizes the themes of the "new social history"-race, ethnicity, class, and gender-and the "new western history" with its emphasis on social and environmental issues. It is sympathetic without being hagiographic, and Alexander's conclusions are usually well-measured. It can be profitably read by anyone interested in the development of the American West.