Utah Books

This is a TRULY SUPERB BOOK in a Three Book Series, The AMAZON website still has the third book as not avilable IT IS IN FACT RELEASED, Book Three "The Last Mile of The Way" in the "Standing on The Promises" Series, Written by Margaret Balir Young and Darius Aidan Gray - About the tribulations of The Early Black Amercian/African Pioneers and The Mormon Church - just read my review!

"Standing on The Promises" - Never before can I ever remember reading three superb books in just over three weeks. No wonder the writers Margaret Blair Young with Darius Aidan Gray have received Awards for these works.

From Book 1 "One More River to Cross" the writers brought these true characters to life, I shared the pain and the tears of Elijah Abel and on to Jane Manning. Book 2 continued my journey. I climbed Ensign Peak in Utah, with Elijah Abel and his Son Moroni and felt the pain that those early Black Mormon Pioneers endured. They all where Standing on the Promises and suffering so much, Green Flake, Lewis Manning, Louis Gray, while still having so much "Faith and Strength"

Book 3 "The Last Mile of The Way" continues the journey of these Black Mormon Pioneers and it does not let us the readers down in any way. Taking us from the period of the 1890's, we meet more new true characters and we share with them their journey and trials, and also getting counted for their beliefs while still waiting for what they long for "The Priesthood" before reaching "Glory" - It reminds me of one of my famous favourite Gospel Songs "Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen, Nobody Knows But JESUS - Nobody Knows the Sorrow I have seen but You LORD" - We also experience other believers in Abner Howell, Len Hope, Ruffin Bridegforth right through to the birth and journey of Darius "Aidan" Gray and the long awaited Revelation of The Priesthood in 1978.

Yes I know I shared those tears and pains and spoke with such as Elijah Abel, nut I can never really know the suffering and pain, but my understanding is now better and stronger.

Everyone! Should read this "Trilogy" of Books "Standing on The Promises" - and they should be in every school and library worldwide.

I give Thanks to the most talented writers Margaret Blair Young and Darius Aidan Gray for allowing us to make this journey and more so to those believers who have gone before us, Elijah Abel, Jane Manning, Green Flake and Lewis Gray and to finish off with words once more from that favourite Gospel Song (arranged by H Fuqua The famous Motown writer)

"IF YOU GET THERE BEFORE I DO, TELL ALL MY FRIEND THAT I'M COMING TOO"

One day I hope I will meet and talk with Elijah Abel and those True Characters!

"In the Last Mile of The Way" - Superb! 5 out of 5

John Barry Sheffield - England UK - August 2003

I have been a Robert Shaw fan for 47 years, and have attended several concerts he conducted. In addition, I have virtually EVERYTHING he ever recorded. I had the great good fortune to do a "sacred sing-a-long" under Shaw in which he did the German Requiem from an English score that he himself had adapted. I also sang the work under him in concert in Tallahassee in German. His English rendering of the German text is exact, yet not stilted. He marked scores like this for all the major works that the Chorale and the ASOC did. Unfortunately, he died about three weeks before he was to do this IN ENGLISH with the MTC. Knowing him, a world of work had already been done before his death, and Craig Jessop, who actually conducted the MTC in this recording was one of Shaw's students. Enunciation is tack-sharp, as are entrances and cut-offs. Craig Jessop worked under and learned well and much from Shaw. It shows in this sensitive interpretation of this glorious work that provides comfort for the grieving, rather than praying for the souls of the dead as in Catholic requiems. Get it, listen to it, and when your time of grief comes, listen and cry. It is heartachingly beautiful; it will help you grieve well. A beautiful masterpiece performed exquisitely, sung in English, and which should be in EVERY home.

Frank De Courten's description of the Great Basin's origins is remarkably clear and enjoyable. The author's explanations of specific geological processes are more complete and satisfying than I've found elsewhere. His style is very relaxed and he has a great gift for organization and presentation of technical details.

After having visited Bryce Canyon, even though our photos were wonderful, this book shows images of Bryce that a regular camera cannot capture. It also gave a detailed geographical explanation of Bryce Canyon and a historical background that enhanced your understanding of this geographical wonder. A great keepsake.

A wonderful history of a minority faith in a predominantly LDS state, the author does a fair and commendable job of reporting a factual history. This work is a significant contribution to the history of religion in the West

Mary Bradshaw Richards was one of the first women to enter the park on vacation. Many men visited the park for reasons from surveying to vacationing. This story tells the story of Yellowstone from the point of view of one of it's first tourists. An interesting read for women.

You will, I believe, be fascinated by the side-by-side comparisons of photographs taken in 1923 and 1991, and the remarkable degree of change or lack of change in many of them over the span of 68 years. If you have run the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon, or hiked it extensively, you will undoubtedly recognize many of the river and rock features that are depicted in this relatively slim volume (167 pages). A favorite of mine is plate 17, Nankoweap Ruins, taken high above the river. This must be one of the most photographed scenes in the Grand Canyon below the rim, and I know that many river runners have their own shot of this same down-river vista in their personal photo albums. There are 45 sets of photographs in the book, and each set comes with a description of the shot, any significant changes that may have occurred, and other information useful for appreciating the photographs.

The authors achieved a nice balance between text and photos, and provided informative historical summaries of both Grand Canyon river running and the 1923 Birdseye Expedition that produced the original photos. Of possible interest to reader/photographers are overhead maps of locations of all of the shots. With the maps yet more "rephotography" can take place in coming years.

If you love the Grand Canyon, especially at river level, I think you'll love this book.

If you were to think that Canyonlands National Park was near the Grand Canyon in Arizona that would be a reasonable assumption, but wrong. The park is actually in Utah, but within its 527 square miles the Green River meets up with the Colorado, the river that formed the Grand Canyon. While water and wind have carved out Canyonlands National Park in a similar way to the Grand Canyon, what I am most reminded of when I see the color photographs of the distinctive rock formations such as the Doll House, Turks Head, and Candlestick Tower is Monument Valley (you know, the one where John Ford was forever shooting movies starring John Wayne). As David Petersen points out on the first page of this New True Book, this is a park where you will not find any restaurants, motels, or souvenir shops. All you will find are strange rock formations.

Petersen looks at how the shallow sea that was once the Canyonlands became layers of sand and animal shells that became sandstone and limestone, which over millions of years have been eroded and shaped into distinctive rock formations. With an attempt to have the photographs match up with the specific points under discussion, Petersen tries to cover all of the elements that have resulted in such different formations as large holes and arches. I appreciate the fact that Petersen admits that sometimes you need a good imagination to see some of the things in these arches that gave them their names, but the photographs of Angel, Wedding Ring, Washer Woman, and Wooden Shoe arches clearly look like their names.

The rest of the book is devoted to the three areas carved out by the two rivers: the Needles, south of the Colorado; Island in the Sky between the two rivers; and the Maze to the west of the Green River. Along the way Petersen covers the wildlife native to the park, and touches on some of the things you can do to when you visit the park, such as river boating. The last chapter is specifically devoted to your trip to Canyonlands, covering the Native Americans who lived there and left rock art and driving home the fact that many areas of the park can only be visited by hikers since there are few paved roads.

There are enough photographs of the western wonderland of Canyonlands National Park to get you interested in actually visiting the place. The back of the book includes a glossary of Words You Should Know from "ancient" to "wonderland" along with an Index. Petersen, who has updated this volume for the True Books: National Parks series, has written about just about every national park along the Rocky Mountains that you can name. This particular book goes into more detail than most on exactly how nature carved out the Canyonlands, so it should be helpful to students researching how rock formations are made, whether here or elsewhere.

The Story Behind The Scenery books are very interesting. They have pictures of whatever park they are about such as Canyonlands: The Story Behind The Scenery. A must read for anyone planning to visit one of our great parks.

The Council of Writing Program Administrators (WPA) announced that The Center Will Hold, edited by Utah State University's Joyce Kinkead and Georgia Southern's Michael Pemberton has won the WPA's 2004 Best Book Award.
"The Center Will Hold suggests a new agenda for research and teaching in writing centers and signals a turn toward the future in writing center scholarship," said Michael Spooner, director of USU Press.
The Center Will Hold sets a high standard for future awards, said WPA president Chris Anson (North Carolina State University) in his award announcement.
Every two years, the Council of Writing Program Administrators selects a book published in the previous two years for its Best Book Award. The award was established to develop and promote an understanding of writing program administration as intellectual work of depth, sophistication and significance.