Utah Books

A Voice in the Wilderness: Conversations with Terry Tempest Williams is a selection of interviews with naturalist, author, and activist Terry Williams, as collected by Michael Austin. The discussions cover Williams' love of wildlife, her reflections upon eroticism, art, family, literature, democracy, politics, Mormonism and much more. A mind-expanding and highly contemplative reflection upon the multifaceted dimensions of life, A Voice in the Wilderness draws the reader in with its succinctly worded insights into the foibles and paradoxes of daily life. An index allows for quick reference to key subjects in this one-of-a-kind reflective memoir.

In this book William Fox writes about maps, the Great Basin desert, Native American Rock Art, ecology, ranchers, the many dimensions of water in the desert, Michael Heizer's landscape projects and history. The book is unique for the tone he strikes and the desert that he writes about. This is a detailed and articulate book that never bogs down.

He writes with a naturalist's eye and a poet's heart. The blurb on the dust jacket compares his writing to Barry Lopez. The comparison is apt and Fox has put together something here I will remember and re-read for a long time to come. He examines why deserts charm us and explores the Great Basin on foot and with eloquence. I loved it from the Introduction to the detailed Bibliography at the end. Read it!

A wonderful collection of early 20th century Native American interpretations of Western American History. Ottogary's fascinating career as a journalist is brought to life in this edition. This book is a must read for any one interested in the history of the American West.

This is one of the most beautiful books I've ever seen. I wish they would have given details on the printing process for this book. I've never seen such vibrant, sharp, photographs in a book. They look almost as good as professionally done prints on photographic paper. As for the artistic merit of the photographs themselves, they are wonderful, something to get lost in.

Although it took a long time to get the book, it was worth the wait. Excellent book. I appreciate the fact that I was kept informed with the constant changing delivery time.

This book was beautiful! American history was recorded so well by the author it made you feel his hunger! I gave this book to my grandfather, who is a WWII vet, and I plan on having my children read it. Amazing!

This book, edited by a couple of well-known historians with long connections with the emigrant trails of the early pioneers, is made up of often-verbatim quotes from the diaries of the emigrants who were heading west in the early days of the emigrant trails and often groping about in the uncharted wilderness as they sought the promised land of California or Salt Lake City.

"But if that's the case", I hear you say, "where is the interest? Anyone with more that a passing interest in the emigrant trails will have already read the diaries".

Well, I bet they have, but I bet they won't have read them quite like this. Most of the pages are divided into two parts - the verbatim quote from the diary, and underneath are footnotes by the editors. And what footnotes they are, too. Quite often, the footnotes are much longer than the entries to which they relate.

And the content of the footnotes is wonderful. "It has been held for many years that the party camped overnight at the XYZ Canyon, and when I walked over the spot in 1949 I could see a rock of a distinct shape that might meet the description given by the emigrants. However in 1962 I walked the ABC Canyon some two miles away and observed a rock that fits the description so much better and which corresponds with the mileages given by the party in their diary. It may be that popular thought might benefit from a slight revision in this respect".

It is choc-a-bloc with wonderful remarks and observations such as this.

It's also the only serious book that I have read that makes an attempt to tie in the stories of all of the emigrants of this period so that a consistent narrative of dates, times and places can be read almost as one great adventure.

It's without doubt one of the most useful books that has ever been written about the emigrant trails, and it's the personal input from the editors that makes it so important. You won't find any of this in any other book - Charles Kelly's famous "Salt Desert Trails" included, and for this reason it has to be an essential item on the bookshelf of any emigrant trail fan.

When writing rubrics were first introduced to the teaching of composition, instructors thought that we had finally created the ideal tool for assessing student writing. It seemed that writing rubrics were all that we would ever need to formalize and guide our assessments. Bob Broad challenges the idea that traditional rubrics can effectively chart each of the criteria by which we really assess writing in our classrooms.

The dominant metaphor Broad employs to demonstrate the inadequacy of writing rubrics involves early attempts at creating geographical maps. Such an attempt to map various landmasses adorns the cover of the book. The result of is what looks, by today's standards, to be a distorted and rudimentary sketch of what the continents "really" look like. In short, these maps were both inaccurate and useful.

Similarly, Broad argues that rubrics, while extremely useful, are also highly inaccurate in charting the things that we "really value" in assessing writing. Broad also outlines a method of assessing writing which abandons the concept of rubric and embraces a more comprehensive mapping of the things we value in writing.

This book is both revolutionary and inspiring. Years of using rubrics have convinced writing teachers that the scope of criteria by which they can assess student writing is quite limited. Instructors often assess writing by examining and commenting only upon grammar and mechanics; Broad's argument opens new avenues for instructors to look critically at many other important criteria. The best thing about the book, however, is that Broad creates practical and useful methods for assessing those seemingly intangible criteria we really value yet rarely assess.

Broad's "What We Really Value" only begins the process of "mapping" writing assessment. Much like ancient maps, the rubrics we currently use to assess writing fail to adequately represent the things we really value in writing. Broad's book makes it clear that this is the time to acknowledge the terrain that rubrics fail to chart and develop ways of exploring those uncharted areas.

I loved this book from front cover to back cover. Although it helps to have a background in the Mormon Church, or at least familiarity with Utah and its' climate and geography, and unique culture, none of that is necessary to fully enjoy this book. Ms. Sorensen writes with vivid feeling about her childhood and brings it all back to life. She has a delightful sense of humor and yet, when something tragic happens in her young life, she relates it with great depth of emotion. She always bounces back to her innate cheerfulness, and brings you right along with her! Must read! You will not be disappointed.

Frannie Lindsay holds an MFA from the Iowa Writer's Workshop, is a classical pianist, writes wonderful poetry, and resides with her three retired greyhounds. This book was the winner of the 2004 Swenson Poetry Award and none other than the renowned poet J.D. McClatchy, in praising her work stated, "In her craft in the truth." I first read this book, twice, late in the evening and was struck by the sense of calm and tranquility it brought after a somewhat hectic day. This even though the subject matter frequently deals with loss and pain and its attendant bewilderment, denial, and sorrow. Lindsay has the rare ability to convey her obviously genuine, heartfelt, truthful feelings about some of life's most sensitive subjects and make the reader feel, in the end, a sense of peace and hope. This is the type of book that stays on the bedside table.