Utah Books

Living in southwest Utah this book was not very informitive but it does cover some of the hot spots up north. My only real complaint is the author shows a picture of a tiger trout and identifies it as a splake. For the most part this book has good information.

Just in time for Utah's great fall fly fishing is the latest No Nonsense fly fishing guidebook. The guide packs a lot of information into 77, large format pages. Detailed maps of each fly water show how to get there and where to fish.

The guide offers a quick, clear understanding of 22 fly fishing waters in Utah, not a lot of other "background" information or falderall. This includes the low down on the top, and the lesser-known waters in Utah's mountains, high desert and plains.

Mr. Schmidt is qualified to direct fly anglers around the Beehive State. Schmidt owns and operates Western Rivers Fly Shop, the best source of fly fishing information and gear in Salt Lake City. Steve is an avid outdoorsman and among the most knowledgeable fly fishers in the state. His 24 plus years of travels throughout Utah seem to always included a fly rod and time to explore fishing. His years of experience, notes and contacts blend into a comprehensive explanation of the top fly fishing Utah has to offer.

The "Dean of the Green", fly fishing guide Emmett Heath contributed facts and figures to the section covering The Green, Utah's storied tailwater. This input is extremely valuable for anyone planning to take on the Flaming Gorge to Red Canyon waters.

Steve Schmidt's No Nonsense Guide To Fly Fishing In Utah provides the angler with a practical and informative description and guide to twenty-two fly fishing waters throughout Utah. These sites include major and lesser known waters in Utah's mountains, high deserts and plains. Schmidt (owner and operator of Western Rivers Fly Shop, Salt Lake City) draws upon his more than twenty-four years of extensive travels and fishing expertise to provide notes and contacts as part of his comprehensive explanation of the best fly fishing Utah has to offer. Schmidt's informative text is enhanced with detailed maps of each fly water, illustrations on how to get there, where to fish, what flies to use, knots, and more. If you plan on fishing Utah's challenging waters, begin with a leisurely browse through Steve Schmidt's No Nonsense Guide To Fly Fishing In Utah!

It's too bad most of the works of Lowell Bennion are out of print. He was the conscience of a church that is growing increasingly focused on justice at the expense of mercy. Nonetheless, his words ring with the authority of a man whose life was an exercise in walking the talk.

It's too bad most of the works of Lowell Bennion are out of print. He was the conscience of a church that is growing increasingly focused on justice at the expense of mercy. Nonetheless, his words ring with the authority of a man whose life was an exercise in walking the talk.

great essays by a great man, who has spent a life focusing on the things that matter most. A good read for people of any faith who are interested in finding their purpose and potential.

The compilers of this great book deserve cudos, including for exposing the British propaganda hoaxes of World War I and their baleful role in increasing hatred against German-Americans. The burning of Louvain, e.g., happened in the chaotic struggle against partisans, it was an overreaction, but not a planned atrocity, on the level of the British army burning parts of Dublin in 1916. Anyhow, I teach US history and immigration courses, and strongly endorse that book.

This timeless study gives the reader a snapshot in the long history of discrimination against both immigrants and minorities. In Not Like Us: Immigrants and Minorities in America, 1890-1924 Roger Daniels does a sweep of the big players (in terms of visibility) government, large minority populations (mostly euro based), first nations and African Americans. The book is a quick read -- too quick actually -- but the fundamental points Daniels makes are not trivial. Grounded on his theory of nativism, Daniels weaves a tales of push and pull (and push out) that despite being broad sweeping cannot be said to be comprehensive. The only weakness of the book really is that it does not deal with the Asian question in some detail outside of the Chinese Exclusion Act and the Gentleman's agreements with the Japanese Government.

What is really important about this timeless piece is the candid exploration of why certain players, through a set of agendas decided who was acceptable and when. It was as if depending on the time and place the likelihood that a particular group was desirable or not was based on the signs of the times. Treatment of minorities waxed and waned depending on the nativist sentiment of the time. Interestingly enough, Daniels did identify the Chinese exclusion though as, "the hinge on which all American immigration policy turned" (Daniels 17). According to Daniels after this most immigration policy was racially based. Another interesting treatment by Daniels is the extent to which groups were measured based on their "whiteness." Assimilation is a touchy issue and rightfully so. However, the observation by Daniels concerning the extent to which Native Indians were marked by how well they assimilated to the norms of the dominant culture is very telling. For all that stated above Not Like Us is nothing short of a classic and a great starting point in this complex field of study.

Miguel Llora

During almost four centuries of immigration to America, few eras were more fascinating than the two or three decades preceding the First World War. The social tumult caused by the arrival of millions of southern and eastern Europeans was never to be repeated on quite such a scale. This book captures some of the excitement of the age and gives an insight into why, by the early 1920s, there was a "nativist" reaction. Alas, its lively, liberal-minded arguments are not always on the right track. Explaining the rise of anti-German sentiment, for example, it is wrong to accuse the British and French of inventing stories of First World War atrocities committed by Germans in Belgium. Such atrocities undoubtedly took place - in the historic university town of Louvain, for starters. Had this book been longer, it could have tackled such matters with greater sophistication.

I bought this book after seeing one with the same title and photographer in a bookstore while traveling. I thought it was the same book, but this one is paperback and only 80 pages (1/4" thick). The pictures are beautiful, but if you're looking for a coffee table book, this isn't a good choice--it's too thin and flimsy. You'll need to be careful to make sure you don't damage the pictures while viewing them (e.g., by creasing them if you open the book too wide).

I went to school with David Muench's sister. When she bragged a bit about him (and rightfully so), I began to follow his work. When I lived in Arizona in the early 60s, I saw his photographs everywhere. His images have become so much a part of my consiousness that I often wonder how many of the descriptions in my book were inspired by "the real thing" and how many reflect Muench's vision.

Muench's work is everywhere. It's in Arizona Highways, calendars, and in the libraries of many who love the Intermountain West.

This book is pure pleasure. Anyone who loves Utah will want to turn its pages and keep a copy with their other coffee table treasures.

Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of "This is the Place"

Utah deserves its PR-created title as "The Best of the West". When it comes to bright, even garish, multi-colored rock formations, canyons, mesas, arches, pillars, cliffs, and grottoes, Utah has no equal. What would be a national park or monument in any other state is a feature whose name isn't even known to most locals here. From Zion to Dinosaur, and all points south and east, Utah is a scenic wonderland par excellence.

This is the second of two books, bearing the same title, by photographer David Muench. Here, the companion writer is Ann Zwinger, the renowned Western naturalist. Zwinger's writing, of course, is peerless. In a brilliant essay, she captures the nature of this beautiful, but difficult, land and those who have settled it. I commend it highly.

Muench's photography is another matter. The subject matter is excellently chosen. In this book, as opposed to its predecessor, Muench has left behind the obvious tourist magnets such as Zion and Bryce Canyon, to focus on such little known, but equally striking areas of beauty and wilderness, such as the San Rafael Swell, an area that could easily be a national park. This is commendable.

However, as with most of Muench's work, undue emphasis is placed on use of the wide-angle and, particularly, the telephoto lens. The result is pretty pictures, but ones that are deceptive to the traveler/reader. No one is ever going to see, except through a telephoto lens, the things Muench shows in this book. You may detect that I don't care for this form of presentation, and you are right. I would much rather see photographs by Ray Manley or Fred Hirschmann, who obtain items of surpassing beauty without visual distortion being necessary.

So, while the book is a nice loaner from a library perhaps, I was disappointed after having bought it.

Good book- Planning to go to Utah for honeymoon-possibly Arches and Canyonlands or Escalante I need to decide though where I am going first before I buy the book-Wish that I could've seen more of the North Rim of the Grand Canyon-too bad there was a fire in progress

I waited for more than three months while Amazon kept telling me that they would ship this title soon. Finally, I shelled out fourteen bucks for a used copy just before discovering that there is a new, second edition, revised by the author Christy Karras. So, if you want this title, don't mess with this one. Search Amazon for the new author and buy the up to date issue. I hope this was helpful.

In 2002, I knew that we wanted to tour through Utah and this book was invaluable in planning the trip. I noted all the areas that we wanted to see, plotted it on the map and used this guidebook to determine the best route. A big part of my decision-making was based upon the author's descriptions of scenery and drives. We were so thrilled with our trip that we returned in 2004.

Inside the book were small "off the beaten path" dirt roads that were more than worth the price of the book. If they hadn't been mentioned in the book, I would not have known about them.

I definitely recommmend this book if you are planning a vacation to Utah.

This is a great book, the only complaint is that all of the pics arent in color, but overall a very use full guide.

If your heading to Utah I would recommend this book, the writer of this book has black and white photo's of each waterfall he listed in his book, near the middle of the book he does have 16 pages of color photo's of waterfalls.
As far as the detail on how to get to the falls, he does a pretty good job on giving that- only complaint is he has no maps whatsoever in the book.
At the end of the book, the writer gives his top ten list of the waterfalls in Utah- which I did like, although in order to find the waterfalls in his top ten list's you have to search through the index page.

Huppert provides the best quick introduction to how European society _really worked_ before the industrial age. He starts with the village and the family, then moves to cities, elites, and the way things (slowly, slooooowly) changed.

The book does a great job of combining big slow processes with enough local detail that the reader stays interested. Based mostly on France, but his view applies to all of Continental Europe from 1348 to about 1800.

This book is a very enjoyable and colorful description of life from the 1400's to the 1600's. However, if your only knowledge of European history was this book, you would think that history ended in the 1600s with masses of starving naked people lining the roads of burnt villages, while distant cities were filled with no one but idle nobility with their servants and some street venders. Seems a bit too much class warfare too me. During the period of the 1300's to the 1600's there were tremdendous developments in the sciences, technologies, and humanities. This book discusses little of those. Still, it is an excellent description of the effects of changes in warfare on common people. It description on the motivations and benefits of all the societal changes I found to be better described by other books.

This novel, which takes place mainly in New Zealand and America, details the story of two characters who travel down self-destructive paths. William, after believing that God revealed Himself to him while on a drunken night on his farm, obsesses over finding God and embarks on a spiritual journey that eventually drains him of his sanity. Myra, William's wife, who despite the abuse she consistently suffers from her husband, always finds a way to love him again. The author takes you into the mind of each of the characters to know why they choose their paths as such, though readers may grow weary of the suffering that Myra and her children repeatedly have to go through with William. Although mostly depressing, the novel has its small bright moments with other characters who serve as friends to Myra.

As an American who has lived in New Zealand, I found the author's descriptions were able to paint a very detailed picture in my mind of what life was like in both of these places 100 years ago. Through occasional flashbacks, Stephanie Johnson creates a large detailed world geographically and chronologically.

In late nineteenth century New Zealand, William McQuiggan, a victim of child abuse, strikes out at those who love him such as his wife Myra. William finds solace only in alcohol. However, while working in the hated fields, a drunken William sees a vision. He decides to go on a quest in search of God.

William leaves behind his pregnant wife and journeys across the Pacific to Utah where he joins the Mormons. When he concludes that religion as bogus, he tries the Jehovah's Witnesses, but feels that movement is a sham. He next heads to Illinois to join Dr. Alexander Dowie's Zion City utopia before souring on that faction. While on his American adventure, his wife and twin children finally join him and soon more children follow. He becomes further unhinged until he returns home in a last ditch effort to reach God through his own church.

Stephanie Johnson paints a dark work of historical fiction in that there is little hope beyond bleakness even for those who believe in God. The story line is vivid as it describes several locales, the era, and religions with clarity and depth. William is a wonderfully drawn character whose slow descent into a self-made hell makes BELIEF work though readers will tire of the abused Myra traipsing after her man.

Harriet Klausner

I had to read this book for a class on European Nationalism, and it was amazing. It took a very long time to read, as it is a hard book and a complex one, and discusses in-depth unfamiliar ideas and especially unfamiliar people. This, however, is what makes it so good: it is completely original, to me at least and I have read a fair number of history books over my undergraduate career. It is definitely worth picking up if you have any interest in modern European history, or especially if you are teach European history, have a discussion on this one!

After searching for a objective view of the development of this ideology I stumbled upon this book and was gratified by Zeev Sternhell's indepth educational coverage. The typical persistant sophistic demonizing of the philosphers and political ideologs, along with pharisee like critisism of the principles, myths and ideals of Fascism are thankfully nonexistant throughout the book. Instead Mr. Sternhell takes you from the early fomations in late nineteenth century France to the final solidification in post Great War Italy with meticulous perspicacity.

Misconceptions are dispelled--and Mr Sternhell should be thanked for his willingness to not only clearly and concisely separate Fascist principle from Nazi ideology but to also relate the surprising Italian Jewish contribution and memberships from before Fascism's move to government in 1922.

Names of philosphers and political scientists normally left out of other books on Fascism are given healthy coverage and should also be studied to fully understand why this non reactionary movement swept into popularity.

Finally I'd like to say that Mr Sternhell will convince you that parallel to Socialism and Liberalism, Fascism offered a original direction and answer to the development of European society and the problems that that development caused. It is as much the failures of Socialism and Liberalism to address and cure the problems that nineteen and twentieth century modernity created that successfully enacted the Birth of Fascist Ideology.

As one who has traveled, and will continue to travel and explore, the Colorado Plateau extensively, I find all of Mr. Baars' works both useful and entertaining. This one is no different. Mr. Baars has an excellent grasp of the geological complexities of this wonderful area and shares his enthusiasm and keen insights well. I would like to see more photography, especially color, because I believe it is important to visualize an area before seeing it in real life, if for no other reason than to enhance photographic opportunities. Even in this minor absence, the book is a great read,and heartily recommended for any student of the Plateau.

This book is definately worth the money. I bought it while at Arches N.P. because I was amazed by the rock formations of the area. It was so varying that I wanted to learn more. This book definately helped me to understand in laymans terms. This book is definately for the novice. It will make you want to study the subject even more.