Utah Books

This book is a must have for anyone seeking a better understanding of the history of Mexican Americans and their role in American history. Dr. Iber, thank you for this wonderful book about my ancestors!

My goal in this work is to present scholars and students of Mexican American history with an introduction to a neglected community. The Spanish-speaking people in Utah have both suffered and benefited from life in one of the 'whitest' states in the US. This work examines a wide range of topics such as working conditions in Utah mines and beet fields, family and religious life, the role of the LDS and Catholic churches in community life, and both the promises and problems that exist among this growing segment (now up to 120,000 or roughly 6%) of the state's inhabitants. It adds yet another piece to the mosaic which is the Hispanic/Latino history of the US.

The field of Hispanic history is entering an expanding and exciting era. A number of vibrant scholars have heeded Alex Saragoza's advice in his 1990 essay "Recent Chicano Historiography: An Interpreteative Essay" (Aztlan, Spring 1988-90, 1-77) to expand the historiography of the Hispanic experience in the United States. Jorge Iber's monograph is a successful attempt to accomplish such a goal. Iber's work explores the successes and obstacles that have confronted Mexican Americans in a state and region that has previously been neglected in the annals of the Hispanic experience. In the course of his study, he reveals the various divergent textures that constitute Utah's Hispanic population, dispelling the notions of Mexican Americans as a monolithic community of working class Catholics who all think, work, vote, and practice religion in a like manner. Iber's book is not strictly revisionist history; he does not discount or contridict the efforts of previous chroniclers of Mexican American history. Rather, he has added another layer to the expanding literature in the field. Spanish surnamed people do not exclusively reside in the Southwest or California and they are not all working class laborers. They are business owners and professionals and they are dispersed throughout the country. Iber has found that Utah's Hispanic population differs in many areas from Hispanics in other regions. They have developed unique communities, with the overarching difference due to the dominant presence of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Utah. In order to accomplish his goal (a goal he reaches successfully), Iber begins with an exploration of the founding of Utah's Hispanic community. He examines the birth of Utah's Mexican American community in the early twentieth century and continues with the changes within the community brought about by the Great Depression, World War II, and post-war America. He is particularly successful in demonstrating how the community was changed by the experiences of the period and the formation of a different attitude among Mexican Americans within the Beehive state. The crucible of economic distress and war, combined with the emergence of the second and third generations of immigrants, led to the development of a unique Mexican American culture within Utah's Hispanics, one that combined the traditional Mexican culture with American values and attitudes. Iber's discussion of the development of a unique Mexican American community in Utah, as well as his inclusion of class differences within the community is one of the key facets of his thesis of differing textures contained with Utah's Hispanic population. While Iber also explores the increased activism and emergence of militancy within the state (somewhat muted, given the small numbers of Hispanics in Utah), it is his discussion of religion throughout the monograph that forms the central core of the work. The LDS Church is without a doubt the most dominant institution in the state. Utah's Hispanics, however, for the most part brought their Catholic faith with them as they moved into the state. Catholic liturgy and the practice of the religion was often a tool of resitence against Anglo domination and a key facet of Hispanic ethnic identity. This unique identity was challenged in Utah. Since Hispanics were a small minority and the evangelical zeal of the Mormon Church was a strong entity within Utah, many of the state's Mexican Americans converted to the LDS Church. Conversion often meant the formation of a different history and societal develoment for Mormon Hispanics, another textural difference within Utah's Mexican American community. Acceptance of the Mormon faith often meant advancement for Mexican Americans in Utah; business, political, and social openings that were in many cases closed to those who retained their Catholic ties. Iber's treatment of the state's Hispanic business community is a notable portion of the book, one that is often forgotten in some scholarly studies. Hispanics in the Mormon Zion is a welcome and vital contribution to the growing understanding of Hispanic history. Iber's study of Utah's Mexican Americans represents the maturity of the field and a positive expectation of further studies of Hispanics in regions not often associated with this ethnic group. Perhaps the only addition to the work could be a more in depth discussion of the role Hispanic's play in Utah politics, but this is a mere minor quibble with a worthwhile and well-done book.

THIS IS A BOOK BY ROD HUNDLEY EX NBA PLAYER AND BROADCASTER. I FOUND HIS BOOK TO BE VERY INTERESTING AND ENTERTAINING. ROD WAS QUITE A CHARACTER AND A CROWD PLEASER. I REALLY ENJOYED HIS STORIES CONCERNING HIS EARLY LIFE AND CAREER WITH THE LAKERS. ROD THEN TURNED TO BROADCASTING WHEN HIS CAREER ENDED. I ALSO ENJOYED HIS MANY STORIES CONCERNING HIS BROADCASTING CAREER BUT GOT TIRED OF HEARING HOW GREAT JOHN STOCKTON AND KARL MALONE WERE. OVERALL THIS IS A VERY NICE READ FOR ALL LAKER, WEST VIRGINIA, JAZZ AND NBA FANS

This is a refreshing and amusing book about a man who has made the NBA a more entertaining place for the basketball fan. You do not have to be a Rod Hundley fan, a Utah Jazz fan, or even a basketball fan to enjoy his opinions and experiences. From his troubled childhood to his golden years, Hundley speaks his mind in a fresh and honest manner. The effort put in by McEachin to edit and organize 60 years of Hundley's stories and anecdotes is obvious, and the result is a thoroughly enjoyable book.

Hot Rod Hundley was the first player drafted in the 1957 NBA draft. He played six years for the Lakers in Minneapolis and Los Angeles. Following his playing career, Hot Rod has remained active is the sport. He is currently the play by play announcer for the Utah Jazz. Since 1957, he has seen or played with or against almost every great NBA player. In his book, which is basically his basketball autobiography, Hundley analyzes the game and its great and not so great players. Hot Rod Hundley was a showy basketball player; he was fancy and "cool" long before they became essentials in the professional game. His writing is much the same as his game was. His book is a good interesting read. His style is both conversational and informative. He gives his opinions freely and unhesitantly. He can be lavish with his praise and unsparing with his criticism. If you are a basketball fan or a Hot Rod Hundley fan, you will enjoy this book.

Peter Gottfredson's Indian Depredations in Utah is a classic firsthand account of the Black Hawk War in Utah. By the time the war with the Indians had started in 1865, Black Hawk and Tabiona had became friends of Peter's as he was invited to their camps on numerous occasions. Peter found himself between two cultures as he was keenly aware of, and sometimes witness to, the injustices that surrounded him and the people he loved. His unique perspective underscores his motivation to write this history book. He reveals in great detail the struggle for survival, the failed attempts to reconcile differences in an agreeable way, and the brutal acts of violent behavior between the whites and the Indian. Peter methodically selected and compiled firsthand accounts that he felt best represented the moral ambiguities, stratagem, and hypocritical respect toward the Native Ute people. It is truly amazing that this event in American history has been ignored. Over 150 battles between the Mormons and Ute Indian took place in a 7 year period, thousands lost their lives yet very few people are aware of this human tragedy. I highly recomend this account to anyone.

Recent artical appearing in the Salt Lake Tribune on 12/15/02 written by Historian and Author Will Bagley, Bagley wrote the following, "Thanks to organizations such as the Sons And Daughters Of The Utah Pioneers, we have thousands of diaries and autobiographies in which the people who lived Utah's history tell us what they saw and felt. Few of these histories are as valuable as a Danish immigrants account of Utah's Indian wars. Peter Gottfredson spent 37 years compiling a unique history of some of the darkest episodes in our past, Indian Depredations In Utah.

With little education, he diligently recorded the memories of his comrades in the Utah Indian War Veterans to tell a story that would otherwise be forgotten. Depredations discribes Utah's longest and most brutal Indian conflict, The Black Hawk War that raged from 1865 to 1872. The struggle began on the day Robert E. Lee surrendered at Appomattox when the Ute leaders tried to settle a dispute that began when Antonga, or Black Hawk, killed one of John Lowry's cows. The peace conferance turned violent when a druken Lowery jerked Jake Arapeen from his horse and the Utes resolved to avenge the insult.

During the next year Antonga captured more than 2,000 head of "Mormon beef" and killed some 25 settlers. In retalliation, the terrified whites killed about 40 of his warriors and an unknown number of women and children.

The war degenerated into an orgy of vengence, but fundamentally it was about survival-and who would control the land. As Gottfredson observed, the Utes resented the whites "encroaching upon their rights by crowding them off their lands and hunting grounds."

The war created a vortex of fear and hatred that led to a greater violence and brutality on both sides........"

Brigham Young preached it was "cheaper to feed them than to fight them," but he spent millions in church funds waging a virtually secret war that only ended when U.S. troops intervened in 1872.

Peter Gottfredson witnessed "the last killing of a white man by Indians during the Black Hawk uprising. "Thinking they were attacking a member of the hated Snow family, Utes shot Daniel Miller, breaking his back. Dragging him from his wagon, the attackers "laid his face on a bed of cactus." A pasing friend heard his moans, and Gottfredson helped carry a litter to take the dying man home.

Miller never made it. He told his rescuers he would like to see his newborn twins before he died, and the men "asked him if he wanted us to take vengence upon the Indians."

Daniel Miller said, "No, they don't know any better," and "in a short time the poor fellow expired."

this was a awsome book...one of the best indian history books i have read...there is no editing on what really happened and it will cause some waves with some people....prob like the mountain meadow massicure that happened in utah...real life stuff that maybe some people dont want out to the public.....but its real!!!!!....the book should be read by everyone studying history....im glad they released this hidden treasure

This book was a great one about Utah. It did have several references to the Mormon Church that I was unaware of before I purchased it.

What a nice book! Becky Hall maintains the standard in the Discover America State by State series with her descriptions of Utah history, geography, geology, and culture. Katherine Larson's illustrations are very detailed and nicely done. If you recognize a place or location (Hardware Ranch for me), you can't help notice the fine details she includes in her paintings.

Nine species of wildlife occur in the illustrations.

Brigham Young is mentioned 4 times.

The Utah Jazz is mentioned once.

Under "H is for Handcarts," Hall writes "The pioneers' success proved that using handcarts was an efficient and inexpensive way to move large numbers of people westward." Inexpensive, yes. Efficient... the journal entries describing the deaths and hardships lead to an alternative interpretation.

Nevertheless, this is a very nice book to give to anyone who would like o learn more about Utah.

What an inspiring book! How could any reader, young or old, not learn to love and appreciate Utah's natural glory with a companion like this book? It's beautifully written and with rich, playful illustrations. I wish I had a sixth star to give it!

Phillip Hoose

I was previously a ranger at Mesa Verde. This is without a doubt the best guide to the High Southwest that I've encountered. For years I've recommended this to friends, and each time I've been thanked for giving them an outstanding, wide, yet in-depth, and well written source of critical information about one of the most fascinating areas of our country. From where to go, what to see, and how to understand it -- from history, to geology, to ethnography, and much more -- this is an excellent introduction to the high country of our Southwest.

I bought this book to get some ideas for our family's summer vacation to the "4-Corners" area. The book has alot of information, little of it very helpful for trip planning. Most of the book is about the history, geology and nature found in each park. Details of the actual parks are written in the narrative form as the author drove and hiked in the areas. If you are willing to read through all this you might find a couple helpful gems and tips on your journey.

I travel in the region covered by this book a lot; over the years I have bought lots of guidebooks and other books about the area. Journey to the High Southwest remains my absolute favorite.
I do not understand the comment of an earlier reviewer that it does not include helpful "tips" for "trip planning." You might consider supplementing it with a more standard guidebook of the Frommer/Froder variety, but I have used Journey to the High Southwest since our very first trip to the area (early 1990s) and have found it a trove of "useful tips." On that first trip, using this book, I was able, for instance, to plan travel through the Hopi Reservation, where to stay, how to find out about when and where there would be dances, etc. The recommendations of where to stay/where to eat are terrific. (We would never have found our favorite hole-in-the-corner diner in Espanola without this book!) In addition to all the good travel suggestions, it's beautifully written, a mine of information, and a joy to read. I am so happy to find that there is an 8th edition!

The founder of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (commonly referred to as the Mormon church), Joseph Smith was always a controversial figure. Considered by his followers to be a prophet of God charged with the mission of re-establishing His church and people on earth, he established Nauvoo, Illinois, a militia, and was deeply involved in the politics of the day. At the time of his death in 1844 at the hands of a mob who attacked and killed him while he was under arrest in a Missouri jail, Joseph Smith was also an active candidate for president of the United States. In Junius And Joseph: Presidential Politics And The Assassination Of The First Mormon Prophet, historians and co-authors Robert S. Wicks and Fred R. Foister lay out a persuasive case that the death of Joseph Smith was no random act of mob violence, but a carefully planned and orchestrated political assassination to prevent Smith's election to the nation's highest office -- the presidency. Key individuals engaged in the conspiracy, as well as those who took part in the assault on Carthage jail are identified. Evidence that the lethal effort to remove the Mormon leader from political power through his assassination extended to include prominent Whig politicians as well as the Democratic governor of Missouri. Also available in a hardcover edition (087-4216079, $45.95) Junius And Joseph is a seminal, ground breaking work of truly impressive scholarship, and critically important reading for students of Mormon Studies and American Political History Studies.

I hesitantly give Junius and Joseph four stars. It is a comprehensive study of the events leading up to the assassination of Joseph Smith and gives the most detailed reconstruction of the assassination I have read. The authors successfully argue that the assassination was result of a conspiracy of local and state politician, but their attempt to link the conspiracy to Henry Clay and a nation-wide conspiracy seem tenuous at best.

While the authors try to present their material objectively, a lurking anti-Mormon sentiment clouds their analysis. Most notably is the chapter in which they argue that the Mormon's actively sought to avenge Smith's murder. For example, the authors make the gratuitous statement that number who lost their lives to Mormon vengeance "can only be guessed at." Their attempts to show that anyone died are remarkably weak.

They color the death of Frank Worrel, a conspirator in Smith's murder, with a love letter Worrel wrote and his tender leave-taking of his wife and child on the day of his death. (Significantly, Smith's leave-taking of his wife and children before his death is not even mentioned.) However, the authors do not give the circumstance of Worrel's death are not given and their conclusion that Worrel was a casualty of Mormon vengeance cannot be evaluated.

The authors' attempts to link the Mountain Meadows massacre to Mormon vengeance are based solely on one statement by John D. Lee, who was then disaffected from the Mormon church. Again while they discuss the massacre in some detail, they neglect to mention that Brigham Young sent orders that the wagon train was not to be attacked.

Readers must be wary of these and other flaws as they read this important work.

Fascinating information about the time and era of Joseph in Nauvoo; including all the facts leading up to his presidential nomination, the presidential campaign and subsequent assasination.

The one major complaint I have is that I found some of the presentation a bit overly academical, with long sentences and fancy words. I prefer a simpler approach to writing. One that the average and simple-minded (like myself) can easily follow. This is not to say that it was all very complicated, but I sometimes had to read paragraphs or sections two or three times to comprehend the meaning. (Jan Shipps is another example of bad academic-styled writing, while Richard Lyman Bushman is an example of comprehensive writing.)

In spite of this weakness, I nearly gave it 5 stars for the sheer audacity and boldness with which it attacks its subject matter - not to mention the plethora of documentation and factual information surrounding General Joseph Smith's presidential campaign, the council of fifty, the 'Kingdom of God' and all the facts leading up to Joseph and Hyrum Smith's assasination at Carthage.

The final chapters conclude by giving us the names of the men responsible for the assasination (including the men who pulled the trigger!) and what became of them following the act.

Junius & Joseph paints a clear picture of the political times of the 1840's, including the ambitions and tactics of politicians including Henry Clay, Martin Van Buren, John Tyler, James Polk, Thomas Ford and several others. It also lists names of 30 of the 50 members of the 'council of fifty' and describes exactly what we know about the somewhat secret organization.

A fascinating read for anyone interested in the politics and conspiracies surrounding the death of Joseph Smith. It will place you completely into the time, and give you an understanding of the event that is as complete as possible with the documents available to us today. It may never get clearer than this.

Somehow I didn't buy one of the picture books available locally when I visited this fabulous area so I've been trying to find a memento for several years. This is a very nice find, full of excellent, but somewhat modest, photos.

Many controversies surround the Glen Canyon Dam and Lake Powell related to environmental concerns and I share some of these. Nevertheless Gary Ladds book is a brilliant photoessay which proves that out of bad policy decisions great beauty may serendipitously arise. I have travelled and photographed these regions for more than 20 years and these pictures are so beautiful and vivid, providing at times panoramic and at times intimate views of this beautiful canyon country, that my breath is taken away.

For many people, the name Lake Powell conjures up images of a blue lake among red rock--of boating over a sprawling, azure sheen of unbroken water, beneath high, vermilion sandstone walls. It calls to mind shorelines lined with tamarisks and cottonwoods, bays mottled with preening mergansers and watchful egrets, water caves full of reflected light, and sunsets mirrored by a shining, landlocked ocean.
For others, the name alone is enough to make them start shaking in anger and sadness. For those, Lake Powell is not a lake at all. It's a misbegotten reservoir. It's a crime. It's all that lies between them and the legendary, long lost Glen Canyon-a stretch of the Colorado River so inviting, so overwhelming, and so full of secrets, it's often been called the Grand Canyon's lovelier sibling.
Unlike Cataract Canyon upstream, and the Grand Canyon downstream, Glen Canyon was a tranquil place with currents friendly enough for even the most boyish of Boy Scouts and the oldest of old ladies. Edward Abbey considered it the heart of the canyon lands. The residents of White Canyon, Utah--a town since submerged by Lake Powell--considered it home. The Bureau of Reclamation just considered it a good place to build a dam.
That dam, Glen Canyon Dam, was built in the early-1960s, to create a reservoir in which to store the water of the Colorado River for the states that needed it, to use the river's water to turn turbines and generate lucrative electricity, to control the Colorado River's seasonal flooding, to bring visiting boaters and their money in from all around the world, and to stop water-borne silt and sediment from clogging Lake Mead, an even larger reservoir downstream. The 710-foot-tall Glen Canyon Dam blocked the path of the Colorado River, the trapped river backed up behind the dam, and everywhere the water could go, it did. It covered multiple rivers, created bays, filled Glen Canyon and side canyons and coves, drowned beavers and snakes and trees, and turned buttes and spires into islands. It changed an almost two hundred-mile-long stretch of the Colorado River into Lake Powell, into a deep, manmade lake with about 1,960 miles of ragged, convoluted shoreline-a shoreline longer than America's West Coast.
And then, then there was Gary Ladd.
Gary Ladd knew Glen Canyon, and initially hated Lake Powell for inundating it. But then over time, he realized Lake Powell had a very real beauty, a beauty all its own, regardless of its origins, and he started to take pictures of it.
And his pictures were gorgeous.
And here they are.
Right here in this book.
Buy this book, and dive into the colors and textures that Gary Ladd manages to capture on film: the blues and the reds, the sugar cookie textures of sandstone, and the shocks of color-filled flowers that burst like life itself up from acres of barren rock.
Buy it, set it on your coffee table, and watch the discussions begin.

I read this book for the first time when I was in my last semester of graduate work at Kansas State University. I was about to graduate with an M.A. in English that I had no idea how I was going to use. Tallmadge's autobiographical tale of his struggles with nature, self, career, and others encapsulates perfectly the agonizing dilemma that strikes any teacher with the slightest amount of idealism still in their blood. He wants to be true to himself, to, as Joseph Campbell put it, "follow [his] bliss." But he keeps getting derailed: first by the army, and then by a succession of teaching jobs that seem intent on crushing the budding idealism out of his teaching methodology.
While the book is at times a bit overly idealistic and starry-eyed, you can't help but admire the enthusiasm and passion with which Tallmadge tries to instill his passion for nature in his students. He's the kind of teacher that any lover of Emerson, Thoreau, Whitman, or modern writers like Terry Tempest Williams, Leslie Marmon Silko, or the like would immediately take to. He wants his students to understand their connection, not only with the land, but with each other, as a community of learners as well as a community of human beings. And then, at the end, when everything seems to fall apart, he finds solace in the simplest of items: a jack pine cone. I'd say more about that, but I don't want to ruin the moment of revelation that comes at the end.
Sufficed to say that "Meeting the Tree of Life" will leave you with a greater appreciation as well as understanding of the complex relationships that exist within nature as well as within the human soul. Like this review the book can be a little overly flowery at times, but the understanding that comes with reading this book makes those moments of saccharine sweetness almost pleasant. Give this book a try and I'm pretty sure you won't be disappointed.

Tallmadge uses the events of his own life to illustrate mankind's connection to the environment and the necessity of wilderness. Writing in the spirit of his admired predecessors, Thoreau, John Muir, Edward Abbey, and Aldo Leopold; Tallmadge attempts to find his own unique voice in the enlightenment of his experience. At times he may get a little too "intimate with the rock", but he leaves the reader an optimistic feeling of the joy of discovery and knowledge.

On-Line Review by Leo Goldman, Natural Resources Defense Council.:

In one way, this book is in the tradition of the author's admired nature writers -- such folk as Emerson, Thoreau, John Muir, and Aldo Leopold. But the framework is an autobiography, beginning with brief mention of his childhood in suburbs, which he describes almost as if they were crowded cities, and from which he began to escape at age 15 to backpacking and climbing. A college student during the Vietnam War, he later sought in wilderness "authenticity" and " a model for just and sustainable human societies" -- which he did not see in the world he and his friends had grown up in.

He begins the detailed story with a difficult High Sierra climb -- between his military service (having volunteered for a program of Russian studies and intelligence work in order to avoid Vietnam itself) and graduate school. As he seeks for understanding of his motivations and feelings, he speaks first of challenge, thrill, danger, and athletic pleasure, but eventually realizes that he has become a naturalist, appreciating nature in all its complexity, not just the physical challenges and dramatic views. We follow his wilderness explorations, first in the mountains of the southwest during his first three years as a professor in Utah, then his disappointment in leaving the mountains for his next job, in Minnesota. There, however, he develops an appreciation of the wilderness of the flat country, mostly in canoe trips.

Certainly an offbeat English professor, he had his students read nature writing, then accompany him on difficult treks to mountains and lakes, and return to write about their experiences. This approach was not appreciated by his colleagues, who apparently preferred traditional methods of teaching literature and writing. He ends this volume with the shock of being denied tenure -- but finds new awareness in the metaphor of a pine cone that releases its new life only in fire.

This is the story of a young man's journey to discover the mystery behind his family's troubled history. It is rich in its description of life in the Colorado mining towns, including the mistreatment of the miners, and the degradation of the Navajos. The characters are well-developed and the reader is left feeling like she knows each one personally. However, I did feel that some of the descriptions were overly dramatic, and some of the prose seemed redundant. I enjoyed the book, as it enriched my knowledge of the Colorado mining towns and the shameful politics that surrounded that life; however, the book was full of misery from start to finish.

MINE WORK is not your standard western fare. It combines mystery with an episodic quest for a middle-age man's family history and identity. The story focuses on the plight of Markus Cottin and his search for a reason why he's estranged from his father and why a troubled younger brother committed suicide. Along the way, the author weaves in many little known historical and social elements of the 1940's and 1950's American West, including the struggles of the socially disenfranchised Navajo Nation, a dimension which lends this story a Hillerman-esque feel. The novel was a little difficult to digest in the early sections, however after a few chapters this reader was absolutely enthralled with the story. The writing is vivid and accomplished - the story itself, heart-wrenching.

Small company politics and manipulations mangled many laborers' lives during this bleak era, including the parents of Markus Cottin, about whom he knows almost nothing. Physically and emotionally alienated from a father who lives as a hermit and spits venom on the rare occasions they meet, Cottin pursues all leads in the hope that someone can give him some idea of who his father is, and why he's so consumed with bitterness and hatred. Revelation comes at last when Cottin is made to understand the horribly tragic experience of the oppressed working-class Colorado miners, second only in emotional devastation faced by the economically hapless Navajos. The author succeeds wonderfully in bringing these peoples' heroic struggles to life, allowing the reader to look back at a excruciatingly tragic episode in 20th Century American history.

MINE WORK is a powerful "western". I'd recommend to my friends of the most sophisticated tastes. This novel is as go

Written with a compassion for working men in much the same vein as John Steinbeck, "Mine Work" treats the ruins of memory and the need for family reconciliation in the backdrop of desolate mining country in the Southwest. The author, Jim Davidson, deftly inerweaves the present (in which a tormented son despeately attempts to piece together three generations of family tragedy) and the past (in which a compelling narrative of injustice, racism, and personal pain) seamlessly.

One of the significant themes of this beautifully-paced first novel is the disgraceful treatment of Native Americans by rapacious industry and racist individuals. Markus Cottin's quest for knowledge and inner-peace cannot exist without a coming to grips with this aspect of history. The author has not written a polemic, however; Mr. Davidson's language is elegant, spare and precise.

Since Mitt Romney's Presidential bid, discussion blogs are overloaded with people asking about Mormon beliefs, but there are few asking about Mormon cultural norms, which arguably could have a bigger impact on a Romney White House. This hilarious gem of a recipe book provides incisive tongue-in-cheek insight into Mormon culture in Utah and Idaho, as well as a hidden treasure of recipes by Sister Enid Christensen.

From Tuna a la King of Kings and Adam's Barbecued Short Ribs to Legislature Weenies and Suppresso, both Latter Day Saints with a sense of humor and those who have lived among them will delight in this buffet of tasty treats.

Savory morsels of history with a dash of theology are artfully blended with wholesome family social structure into a Utah feast. The family tree at the begininng of the chapter on "In-Breads" explains LDS cosmology, genealogy, history, plural marriage and naming conventions all in one easy diagram.

Let the kids make Bologna Angel Wings and try constructing a Sugar Cube Temple (if you happen to have 26,000 sugar cubes on hand) while you sip on Joseph and Emma's Afternoon Delight. One can only wish for a supplement on tapioca salads and home-canned goods.

If you live in the northern Utah/southeastern Idaho region, this book is legendary. It's one of those things that seems to be passed back and forth under the table; some people have seen it and others can quote whole passages from it. I was finally "gifted" a used copy by a gay friend, and I have to admit, this book is the damnedest thing: a humor classic that is also an incisive (but gentle) satire of a regional/religious culture, and above all else, a cookbook.

Sister Enid Christensen is the LDS housewife and mother to end them all: a Stake Relief Society Ancestral Recipe Coordinator whose duties coincide with the care and feeding of her husband and their "eternal family." Ingredients for the recipes are the stuff of the odds-and-ends cupboard: Ritz Crackers, Jell-O mix, leftover candy; the end results are Sunday horrors such as "Jell-O Ribbon Loaf" and "Franked Corn Things." Accompanying the recipes are photos of Sister Enid and her husband LaMar reveling in the eternal bliss of their kitchen or the hallowed glow of "Conference" over the living room television.

The Christensens are the alter-egos of Roger Salazar and Michael Wightman, two gay men who have brilliantly revealed the regional culture without eviscerating it. The Christensens may be harrowingly moribund in a box store, lock step lifestyle, but they're lovably goofy too, rendering this book a minor masterpiece of humor and pathos.

I can quibble about just two things: the "Jello-O Belt" shown on page 6 actually extends all the way north to Rexburg, Idaho, if not just beyond to St. Anthony. There's also no recipe for the famous "Funeral Potatoes" (a.k.a. "Party Potatoes"). But as one of my gay neighbors told me, "If you don't know that one already, you haven't lived here long enough."

This is very funny cookbook for those familiar with the Mormon (LDS) culture. It does not make fun of the religion only the culture so Mormons and non-Mormon will enjoy it equally. It has recipes. Includes such things as the Jello-Matrix for all occassions.