Utah Books

I found three favorites from my childhood in the book, based on the town I grew up in. As the other reviewer stated, the book is broken up into categories and helps readers find a place based on food type and money.

The only thing that could have made this book better, would be to include photos of "famous" dishes offered at some of the restaurants as I am one of those people who need photos to show me what something will look like before I even consider ordering.

Each listing has icons describing the restaurant. It makes searching quick and easy, especially if you know what you're looking for (e.g., noisy babies OK). Goes on to list relevant information like parking, popular dishes, unique dishes, and "family friendly because..."

Some Useful Legend icons include: well behaved or older kids ok, outside or patio seating available, noisy babies ok, its early and we're hungry, expect to wait, live music or performance, activities to do (e.g., drawing), interesting decor, historical/cultural/educational in theme, Vegetarian/vegan friendly, exceptional kids' menu, drinks for mom and dad.

The guide is broken down by areas, so you can look under Hollywood, East, North East, Valley, Beaches, Pasadena, etc. And those places or areas that have a little more to do have a bonus article (e.g., things to do at the Santa Monica airport or a great park to go to after a lunch in Westwood). Also, the book is NOT filled with monster chain restaurants, but with small, local places. NICE!

Overall, I'm really happy with this book. I just know that there are some local places that are missing, so I know there are probably more places that just haven't been included.

This book provides a straightforward introduction to the interaction of Indians with what is now Yellowstone National Park. It begins with the land and the peoples who lived there before European contact. After this, Janetski moves to tribes from the historic period, especially the Sheepeaters (Bannock) who lived year-round in the park. Three chapters discuss Indian wars that took place, in part, on Yellowstone land, and then topics such as the Bannock Trail and the relationship between Indians and the thermal features. The book concludes with five pages on Indians and Yellowstone in the twentieth century.

Overall, Janetski gives us a basic introduction in a short, readable volume. There are no exciting story lines here, and as Sgt. Joe Friday might suggest, he gives us "just the facts." He could have written a lot more about modern relations between Indians and the park. Many tribes - - too many, in honesty - - are recognized as having traditional ties with the park. Some have played an active role in the bison brucellosis controversy as hunters or as recipients of surplus, brucellosis-free bison. The Treaty of Fort Laramie gave Indians hunting, fishing and foraging rights in the region that they lost with the creation of the national park - - some have tried to reassert those rights. There are some sacred sites in the park to which tribes have renewed access after having lost those rights for decades. Janetski does not discuss any of these contemporary issues, emphasizing instead the pageantry associated with the opening of the West Yellowstone entrance in 1925.

Those remain real issues, but Janetski prefers to see the park as Indian-free once the wars were over and there were no more permanent residents in the park. I think that's a mistake. On the historical issues, though, this book will give you a good introduction to the tribes. If you're planning a visit to Yellowstone and want a brief background book on the historic Indians, this will serve you well.

This book was a joy to read. Janetski paints such a thoroughly engaging picture of the entire Yellowstone area and it's human history that putting this book down was difficult. This is not just another story of the "popular" history of the region (ie the Plains Indian wars), nor is it wrapped-up in any particular "political" agenda. This is just a academic presentation of factual history of the nations and peoples that lived in and traveled through the Yellowstone National Park and it's region.

The entire archeological record is discussed: Paleoindians (10,000-6,000 B.C); the Archaic period (6,000 B.C. - A.D 1); Late Prehistoric (A.D. 1 - 1,500); and of course the Historic period (A.D. 1,500 to the present). The Crow, Blackfeet, Nez Perce, Paiute, and especially the Shoshone and Bannock peoples are discussed in great detail. The information about the SheepEaters (a branch of Shoshone who lived and hunted on foot amidst the grand alpine landscapes of the region) was especially informative and a subject matter that very few Americans know anything about. Another facet that is relatively unknown is the "wild" state of the park at it's inception in 1872. Many Native Americans continued to use the Yellowstone area as both a hunting ground and sanctuary even as late as the 1890's and early 1900's.

Although it's written with an academic tone, it is anything but dry. Janetski's writing style is very readable and presented in a non-scholarly manner that makes it perfect for the average reader- but it's so packed with insight and information that even well-read history buffs will find something new and exciting. This book is one of those rare gems that despite little press and media attention deserves to be in the library of everyone interested in the history of the American west.

Very well researched. A valuableresearch tool for a very controversial and obscure subject

I found the book in a Utah bookstore the same weekend I first visited the town. We were staying with a family that we had business with. We were not aware the town is polygamous but were able to figure it out fairly quickly. Later we told the folks we had stayed with about the book and they had never heard of it. We loaned them our copy and one comment they made was the number of innaccuracies listed. None of them were particularly major but they were numerous. We were favorably impressed by the people we met. My wife visited there again last year and stayed for nearly two weeks. She says that the depiction of the community in the book really doesn't match what she saw during her stay. We did feel that the book didn't take a "mainline" Mormon viewpoint versus the community's minority viewpoint.

I already purchased Moon's Utah and thought I'd get this book, believing it would go into much further detail on the national parks. WRONG! This book is basically a short version of the Utah book, leaving out areas north of the park and duplicating most of the info about the parks that you can find in the larger book. I wish I would have known that so I could have saved my money.

Beauty is an interesting, abstract concept that is very tough for young children to grasp. I recall as a young child hiking on a "sky island," a forested mountain above the desert floor, and realizing that beauty was in the trees around me which I contrasted with the desert floor. I don't recall where I was or my age. I do, however, recall where I first found beauty in the desert. I was 8 years old and visiting Zion National Park. I was utterly infatuated with the towering cliffs, the hike to Angel's Landing (not generally recommended for 8 year olds and their 6 year old sister) and absolutely devastated when I discovered that a visitor center relief map of the park was sold out by the time I got my allowance. Drat. But I have remained a fan of the the southern Utah Parks ever since. If you want to explore these parks, be sure to pick up this guide, which covers far more than just Zion and Bryce Canyons.

Like many other Moon guidebooks, this one offers a glimpse into all forms of recreation. You will benefit from the book whether you plan a quick few day auto tour or a week long hiking excursion. Each location includes a list of scenic highlights, trails to take (the emphasis is on short walks to half day treks, though a few longer excursions are included), other recreational opportunities (cliff climbing, off road vehicle use) and where to stay and eat, depending on your budget. Side bars within the text discuss everything from natural history to how one can order beer, wine, and coffee with minimal inconvenience. I was happy to discover a few hostels where one can actually make an extended stay at a reasonable price.

The best part of this book, however, is that it covers a variety of parks you might not otherwise think to visit along the "Grand Tour." Yes, Zion, Arches, Bryce, Canyonlands, and Capitol Reef are all spectacular. But Cedar Breaks National Monument will simply take your breath away (especially if you do any hiking there--it is well above 10,000 feet) and most people drive right by. State Parks like Snow Canyon (a near rival to Zion minus the crowds and annoying tour bus) and other recreational areas (Red Canyon near Bryce) are also covered in this book. Indeed, if you like your visits on the slightly less regulated side, these are fabulous destinations, as is nearby Escalante Grand Staircase National Monument. In all, this is a fine book for planning your southern Utah vacation. And by all means, take the kids. Part of growing up is experiencing beauty firsthand in all its myriad shapes.

This book is a collection of articles written in the 70s shortly after "correlation". As a result, one or two of the articles have a slightly bitter tone regarding the resultant loss of female autonomy. Interestingly, however, the predictions made then about how the church would have to change it's RS programs to suit the new global church have come to pass with the new Enrichment program.

Because the articles are written by women with an interest who are not necessarily historians, the articles are of varying quality. Nevertheless, the book is definitely worth a read and should be in your library of Church books.

Despite the title, not all of the articles are about early Utah women. Many of them deal with cultural issues of today. Polygamy is treated but not in as much detail as I would have expected (or preferred) by Mormon women writers.

For the faint of heart, nothing in here is likely to try your faith or tempt you to leave the Church, and know that the authors have tried to be objective about historical, social, and political issues facing Mormon Women.

A good read.

This book is a great resource for anyone doing research on Latter-day Saint women or for anyone simply interested in learning about women and frontier life. All of the articles are insightful and discuss topics that might not be found in the standard history of the LDS church such as mysticism and feminism. There is also extensive writing on polygamy and the effects it had on women in the Church.

"No Way Out" By: Ivy Ruckman.. I really like books like " No Way Out" because they are fun to read and it got my attention. I would say this was a great book. Every person who likes a little adventure should definately read this book. Ivy Ruckman is a great author and she really knows how to explain what her books are about and what is going on at all times.

"No Way Out" by Ivy Ruckman, is very good adventurist book. Many people would like reading it because of all the exciting things that all the teenaged kids do in the book.All the kids have a good time at some point in the book, but yet they all had their bad times too. And when the kids would all get in a fight, The kids would tell how they were feeling and everthing else.When the kids started out on their hike, they were all good friends but by the mid-hike, they all had been tired and mad at some point of the hike. Ivy Ruckman does a very nice job in explaining her books and giving them exciting details. Most books are hard to follow but Ivy Ruckman's books are easy to follow and to understand everything. If you like exciting books, and adventure, then you would enjoy this book."No Way Out" by Ivy Ruckman. She does a very nice job in telling her feelings to the whole world.

An educational but at times fatiguing read on the pivotal role of the nineteenth century military post trader.
Delo effected some demanding research on this subject and the reader gains insight as to the significance this profession played in frontier expansion.
The trader's demeanor and importance was both praised by many and debunked by many. The subject matter of whether or not to allow alcohol on a military base bounced around like a tennis ball for the entire century. The question always seemed to be to either abolish alcohol entirely or limit its consumption.
That aside, the function of the post trader seemed to be several fold. Besides furnishing provisions such as dry goods and foodstuffs, he was also the news source, post master, banker and creditor. The entire geographical area centered around the post trader.
An interesting read on a subject oftentimes overlooked.

Very readable and meticulously-researched book. My great-great uncle was a post trader at Fort Walla Walla, Washington for several years in the 1870's. I bought this book to learn more about "post traders". I learned a great deal from the book about "sutlers" and "post traders" (if you read the book, you'll find there is a significant difference between military "sutlers" and "post traders"). I found the book a wonderful read that provided many details about military life and the life of civilian post traders on the American frontier.

This book has a ton of really good information about fishing nearly every body of water in Utah, the problem is that it is poorly organized. There are several sections on different types of fishing, which is great if you're looking for a place to fish, bad if you already know where you want to go, and are looking for some tips. There is no index, so finding information about a specific body of water is difficult and time-consuming. You'll have to read the entire book, highlighter in hand, and mark things as you go. It's not really what I wanted.

It was a gift for my husband. He loves fishing and says the book gives great information.

Excellent book! She was my great, great, great grandmother and it was nice to see pictures of her and her family and read about their lives. An added plus is the quilt patterns of hers in the back of the book!!

This book is tantalizing. I recommend it for the clues it can provide anyone interested in quilt history, women's history, and cultural and material history.

The author tells the story of Dorinda Moody Slade with great sympathy. Its pattern is typical of a segment of the Scots-Irish immigrants who came to America in the 18th and early 19th centuries, staking and farming land until it was depleted of its nutrients, and then moving further south or west and repeating that pattern. Born into a family that took care to see their children had an education, Dorinda moved with them to Georgia and Alabama and finally to Texas. She married another member of the general group, who died of "alcohol poisoning," leaving his young widow to provide for her two children by working as a domestic servant and by her needlework skills, which included lace making, quilting, and sewing. By that time, 1835, the family was in Texas. In time, Dorinda met yet another Scots-Irish immigrant, Michael Goheen. In consequence of his work in the Texas militia, he had been granted valuable land in what is now Houston, which the couple developed with the help of slaves. Thirteen years later, he died of one of the fevers that routinely swept across the border regions. In her grief, a 42-year-old Dorinda found solace in Mormonism and began to plan to migrate to Utah with other community members who had converted to the new faith. Facing the trip, she and a widower whose land lay near hers, married, a match that seems to have been happy. She spent the final 40 years of her life in Utah.

As I read Davis' account of this woman's life, I kept looking for footnotes, wondering what source she had accessed in order to reach sundry conclusions and wanting to follow some of her statements that had important implications. Sadly, few were there. Thus, we cannot know the basis for the writer's reasoning and conclusions. This is a serious flaw in a book such as Davis projected.

Dealing with the quilts and with a sampler, the author treats them as almost incidental objects, produced to console her or to feed her fertile imagination. She does not use the many tools of analysis available to her to account for their meaning. Nor does she consider the political and cultural contexts that, given the names and dates, almost surely are replete with meaning. Dorinda Slade's entire family converted from Methodism to Mormonism, for instance. In fact, it appears that many in the community made that shift. Why? What made them so ready to depart Texas, especially when all seemed to be thriving there?

More to the point, however, are the many unanswered questions about the quilts and needlework produced. All exhibit refined needlework skills. Where did she acquire these skills? Moreover, even the early ones are ambitious projects and are executed in fabrics that appear to have purchased specifically for the quilts. Dorinda was educated at home by tutors and later sent away to school for a brief time, and education of young women seemed to be an important value in her family. Later, she would follow her parents' example with her own children, including sending them into the town of Houston to live with relatives so that they might have access to schools. Was the sampler she created an assignment in her own school? Does the school account for the sense of design and the preference for applique that mark her work? Did her parents' decision to move account for its unfinished condition? Where did she acquire the design sense and the sophisticated needle skills to conceive and execute the quilt shown on the cover, for instance? And what is the significance in her decision to substitute either pineapples or flowers for the "feathers" she had used when she had made the same pattern. Who named that earlier pattern--Dorinda or descendants? It is a pattern commonly associated with the Democratic Party after 1844, one called "Whig's Defeat." Where did she discover the pattern?

In short, this is a book that cries aloud for a second look. What a service it would be if the author returned to her materials, armed with the research techniques that have been introduced to the study of quilts in the years following the publication of her book. There are important meanings in these quilts, and I hope Ms. Davis will consider revisiting her subject and locating them.

Dorinda Moody Slade's eventful life itself needs contextualizing. How such remarkable needlework survived the journeys and hardships she experienced, why she preserved the early sampler when every inch of space was valuable in a successful overland journey, the place of the early whitework quilt---so many questions. Too few answers.

I value the book for the questions it raises and for the photography. I recommend it as a story of determined optimism. I consider it a book that anyone studying southern quilts should own. Yet, those questions need to be answered.

This is a great book. It has beautiful illustrations, very clear and helpful. It also has maps on each page showing where the snake lives. One minor problem, it uses a lot of technical terms like "Fossorial" and "Riparian". But (I discovered after my fourth trip to the dictionary) it has a glossary in the back.

However, one major problem. There is no clear indication which snakes are poisonous, which are a little dangerous to humans, and which are harmless. This is a big drawback. I want to know without having to read through the text for a clue if the snake that just entered my tent is going to kill me or not. Some of the time it doesn't tell you even in the text, as in some of the rattlesnakes. Of course, you assume that rattlers are not exactly friendly, but a clear symbol or icon would really help. So would a section letting you know what to do if you've been bitten by a snake.

Great descriptions and beautiful pictures of the snakes found in Utah. Anyone spending time in the natural areas of the state should enjoy this small field guide while getting to know some of Utah's scaley residents!