Utah Books

I agree with the author when he says that this is the only guide to flatwater in Utah. Even though it is the default choice, it is a well thought out book. It hits the obvious places and a few out of the way places I'd never heard of. Each individual review does a good job of describing the location. The book would have benefited from individual closeup maps for at least the "best bets" destinations.

Also, for the destinations that are reservoirs (most of them) it might have been helpful to have listed the water level required for the paddling that is described. Some of the destinations flat out don't exist in a dry year.

Of course, any travel guidebook is outdated the day it is published and this book is no exception--the kayak rental place on Antelope Island is closed as of September 14, 2007.

While you could eventually discover most of the destinations yourself (there just isn't much water in Utah), this book can will save you a lot of time and miles. Recommended.

This large single volume work is comprised of articles by several specialists in archaeology and anthropology concerning sites, excavations, and artifacts throught the Chihuahuan and Sonoran deserts believed to be related to the the World Heritage site of Casas Grandes in northern Mexico. The authors pose various theories about occupation, trade, and abandonement in this region of North America during the period from around 1200AD to 1400AD, and thus this work is well suited for all interested in a detailed, non-stereotypical understanding of the Southwest, especially professionals and academics. I bought this book when I was a student on a field-school archeological dig of a site within this region, and the book helped me better understand what was going on around me and what the motivations for such a study were. The book can get pretty dense and heavily intellectual at times, a fact that makes it a good resource for those involved in either school or professional research.

"Cataract Canyon" is an incredibly readable treasure of book, disguised by its subtitle and size as something of a textbook. But it's not just a volume of research material--though it does have excellent accounts of the area's geology, history, and ecological controversy. It's also an incredibly gripping read for anyone who loves the Colorado River, who loves rivers in general, or who loves the West. It tells the story of Cataract Canyon as one might tell an exciting narrative.
Read this book, and then visit Cataract Canyon for yourself. It will be like reading the biography of a famous historic figure, then realizing that person (although ancient) is still alive, then meeting that person and finding out she's more amazing than even the best book could ever tell.
This is an excellent, well-written, scrupulously researched book that no fan of the Colorado Plateau should be without. It contains many excellent now-and-then photos, great accounts of historical figures such as Denis Julien, and a terrific chapter on the portion of Cataract Canyon that's usually submerged beneath Lake Powell. Buy it, buy it, buy it.
(Note however that Robert Webb is only one of the book's three authors; the others include John Weisheit, Conservation Director for the environmental group Living Rivers.)

Cedar Breaks is a nice place to visit, this book gives a sense of it with red rock canyons and wonderful, varied wildflowers on the pine-covered rims, and history of the area.

Madsen(the foremost authority on the Shoshoni and Bannock Indians of Idaho and Utah) here gives us a portrait of the real Chief. According to Madsen, Pocatello was simply a Chief who was interested in feeding his people and making peace with the white man. While it is true that Pocatello led many raids on wagon trains most notable at Massacre Rock, Madsen says that he was credited with many more raids than he was actually involved in. Madsen also sets for the many fanciful tales that the anti-Pocatello media attributed to him. But the thing that Pocatello is most famous for is the small Idaho town that has his name.

Sir Richard Burton--master explorer, linguist, and scholar. He is known as the man who brought the Arabian Nights to the English speaking world, and is credited with being partially responsible for the discovery of the source of the Nile. He infiltrated the sacred cities of Medina and Mecca, disguised as an Arab.
So what prompted him to go to Salt Lake City? Burton was at a very difficult stage of his life, and needed a sort of vacation. Plus, according to him, he wanted to "see the Mormons." Some say he was interested in seeing their system of polygamy firsthand, some that he loved to visit sacred cities (having been to Mecca, Medina, Harar, and Damascus). Whatever the reason, he fortunately documented his trip, and we are left with this wonderful look, from an outsider, at "The City of the Saints."
One of the things that makes Burton so great is his absolute objectivity. His account of his visit among the Mormons is no exception. He went, he saw the facts, and he formed his opinions, just as everyone else. What set him apart, though, was that he managed to recount his adventure without the taint of his own bias.
Another great quality of Burton's was his incomparable eye for detail. He noticed everything, and took great pains to discover the history of everything he encountered. The result is a wonderfully rich account full of history and culture that Burton gives us as no other man could.
This is considered to be one of Burton's best books, though it is little known. It is by far the best non-Mormon account of early Salt Lake City that I've ever encountered. Its only flaw is that it is a little drawn out in places, but for the most part, this is a wonderfully detailed account and well worth the read.

This book was a very interesting one. I liked the fact that Colton covered several different conflict that happened during the Civil War. In the first chapter he gives some background on eac of the territories. In chapet two he talkes about the Confederat action in each of these states. Chapter three gives some background on the troops fron Colorado. The chapter that really impressed me was chapter seven, this chapter was about the effect the indians had on the War.In the last chapter he puts some closure to what the states did after the War. There was one thing that I did not like about the book and that was the way he used names in this book. Everytime he used a name he would use the full name for example Lieutnant colonel Edward R. Eyrethe first time and after that he could have said Lieutenant Colonel Eyre. This made me very frustrated having to read the long name every time. Overall this book worked for me. I liked the structure of this book. He used some good maps and photos of some of the individuals that were talked about in the book. I would reccommend this book to anyone who is interested in learning more about the Civil War in the West.

This is an excellent book about Butch Cassidy, his gang, and the myths and legends that surround them. That it's written by someone who knew and lived among many of the stories' characters makes it even better.
Butch Cassidy was a jack Mormon outlaw, back in the 1880s, 1890s, and early-1900s, and was the unofficial leader of the Wild Bunch--a gang of hell-raising ranch hands named for their rowdy, trigger-happy visits to local bars. Butch led the Wild Bunch on the longest series of successful robberies in the history of the Old West, making use of well-planned attacks, attention to detail--like cutting all the telegraph wires along their escape routes--skilled horsemanship, and a seemingly impenetrable hideout: Robbers Roost.
Robbers Roost was so isolated, so full of hiding places, so riddled with sudden cliffs and smaller canyons, and so hard for someone who didn't know the area to move through, that the Wild Bunch was secure in their hiding spots there. They would rob a bank, or a train, and then escape into a maze that only they knew the way out of, and where fresh horses and natural springs were waiting for them.
It didn't hurt the gang either that rumors existed of Robbers Roost being guarded by two hundred armed men, surrounded in land mines, stocked with an almost limitless amount of ammunition, and riddled with a hidden network of tunnels and secret fortifications.
As a result of such rumors, the area being so difficult to move through, and armed outlaws being willing to defend it, the area was never successfully breached by lawmen. Butch Cassidy eventually escaped to South America, and what happened after that is uncertain, though this book suggets it's pretty likely he came back to the U.S., and lived anonymously until the 1940s, when he died as an old man somewhere in the American Northwest.
Supposedly, he never even killed a man during his entire outlaw career, believing murder to be the result of poor planning, and something that drew too much attention from the law.
This book does a great job of detailing Butch's character, as well as the characters of the lesser known members of his various gangs. I checked this out as a reference book, and ended up unable to put it down until I'd read it all.

This is a very informative book. I learned a lot from it, had to by it for my Urban Folklore Class.

Diaries and letters of 10 of the 12 men in the 1923 U.S. Geological Survey to obtain detailed and useful information on the Colorado River including the Grand Canyon stretch make the "backbone" of the book. The 12 men included a variety with particular knowledge and skills to accomplish the purposes of the expedition. Among them were a hydraulic engineer, a photographer, a writer, and topologists and geologists. The main aim was study of the River for favorable places to build dams to supply water to the fast-growing Western states, especially California with its large agricultural areas, and make the area suitable for additional development and tourism.

Though the locations for dams recommended by the 1923 Expedition were not accepted, its findings were used to determine locations where dams were built, notably Hoover Dam. The publicity given to the Expedition, in the periodical Scientific American for example, and appearances and writings by several of its members brought national attention to the large, unique natural area about which little was previously known despite previous explorations and expeditions going back to the first half of the 1800s. The Grand Canyon has since become a popular tourist area.

The format of much of the book is to follow the progress and varied work of the Expedition by excerpts from its members' diaries and letters covering the same day or short period of time. Background on the Expedition and its aftermath are provided in surrounding chapters by the coauthors, both of whom have done much work and writing relating to the region's natural environment.