VOL. 10 NO. 1 THE MAGAZINE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF UTAH SUMMER 2000
B O O K S H E L F
LIFE
SKETCHES
The Turning: A History of Vietnam Veterans Against the War (1999;
New York University Press) offers powerful testimony on the meaning of
patriotism and moral courage. Andrew Hunt BS'91 PhD'97 tells the story
of young men who served, returned, and then courageously stood up against
their country, often while being called "baby-killers" by antiwar
radicals and "cowards" by the WWII generation. • Twelve
women share their courageous stories of breaking free from abusive relationships
in Surviving Domestic Violence: Voices of Women Who Broke Free
(2000; Agreka Books; paper, $14.95), by Elaine Weiss, clinical associate
professor of family and preventive medicine. • Readers interested
in ideas, philosophy, history, the great leaders of the U, religion, or
just a warm enthralling conversation will find them all in Matters
of Conscience: Conversations with Sterling M. McMurrin on Philosophy,
Education, and Religion (1996; Signature Books; cloth, $28.95), by
the late Sterling M. McMurrin and L. Jackson Newell. McMurrin was well
known in Utah as the E.E. Ericksen Professor of Philosophy, a skilled
administrator, and one of the famous "swearing elders." •
All who encounter Robert Henry Hinckley: Getting to Know Him (1998;
Hinckley Institute of Politics, University of Utah; cloth, $10.00), by
Bae Gardner ex'49, will be uplifted and challenged toward improved citizenry
because of Hinckley's example. He established the Hinckley Institute because
he believed that "our young, best minds must be encouraged to enter
politics." • A close friend of several well-known writers of
her time, including Chateaubriand, Sainte-Beuve, Beranger, George Sand,
and Marie d'Agoult, Hortense Allart, the French feminist and Romantic
writer from the nineteenth century, provides the subject for a biography
by Helynne Hollstein Hansen BA'73 MA'82 PhD'90, Hortense Allart: The
Woman and the Novelist (1998; University Press of America; cloth,
$44.00). • David O. McKay BS1897, best known as having been president
of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for nearly 20 years,
served a two-year LDS mission to Scotland. His missionary diaries are
now available in What E'er Thou Art, Act Well Thy Part: The Missionary
Diaries of David O . McKay (1998; Blue Ribbon Books; cloth, $25.00),
co-edited by Stan and Patricia Larsen.
OUR LAND
Ranchers, miners, sheepherders, Native Americans, urban refugees,
federal land managers, fundamentalists, communitarians, utopians, vendors
of shelter and refreshment-all choose to live in the dry heart of the
Great Basin, one of America's most isolated and arid environments. Photo
documentarian, writer, and U professor Craig Denton MA'76 offers up thoughtful
discussion, striking images, and compelling portraits in his book, People
of the West Desert: Finding Common Ground (1999; Utah State University
Press; paper). • Irrigation came to the arid West in a wave of optimism
about the power of water to make the desert bloom. In his book, Irrigated
Eden: The Making of an Agricultural Landscape in the American West (1999;
University of Washington Press; cloth, $35.00), Mark Fiege PhD'94 portrays
how human actions inadvertently helped to create a strange and sometimes
baffling ecology. • The late Harold Schindler ex'51 offers both an
entertaining introduction to Utah and a distinguished view of the state's
peculiar history in In Another Time: Sketches of Utah History (1998;
Utah State University Press; cloth, $34.95; paper, $19.95), a collection
of his best feature articles from The Salt Lake Tribune. •
In her Hiker's Guide to California Native Places: Interpretive Trails,
Reconstructed Villages, Rock-Art Sites and the Indigenous Cultures They
Evoke (1999; Wilderness Press; paper, $13.95), Nancy Salcedo BS'84
covers those places throughout California that evidence Native cultures
in their natural state, before encroachment of the modern world. •
In eloquent language and stories, members of the LDS faith such as Hugh
Nibley, Vaughn J. Featherstone, Wayne Owens JD'64, Eugene England BA'58,
and Dorothy Allred Solomon BA'71 MA'81 relate personal experiences with
the natural world in New Genesis: A Mormon Reader on Land and Community
(1999; Gibbs Smith Publisher; cloth, $29.95; paper, $19.95), edited
by Terry Tempest Williams BS'79 MS'84, William B. Smart ex'55, and Gibbs
M. Smith BS'63 MS'66. • Exploring the positions of both pro-wilderness
and multiple-use advocates, Contested Landscape: The Politics of Wilderness
in Utah and the West (1999; University of Utah Press; paper, $19.95),
edited by Doug Goodman MS'96 and Professor Daniel McCool, frames the national
controversy about Bureau of Land Management acreage-a debate that has
continued virtually unabated for over 20 years.
ANOTHER TIME AND PLACE
Positioning readers in the midst of Greece in the fifth century B.C.,
Modern Echoes from Ancient Hills: Our Greek Heritage (1998; Freethinker
Press; cloth, $15.95), by the late Marvin J. Bertoch BA'38 LLB'41 and
Julia Brixen Bertoch BS'37 MS'71, tells the story of the Athenian statesman,
Pericles, and his love affair with the beautiful Aspasia. This chronicle
dramatizes the legal and political wars fought on or near the three most
celebrated hills of Athens. • In The Saxon Mirror: A Sachsenspiegel
of the Fourteenth Century (1999; University of Pennsylvania Press;
cloth, $69.50), Maria Dobozy a professor of languages and literature,
offers a translation of the very first German lawbook written in the vernacular.
This lawbook, with its amendments, marks a major shift in the history
of German law from purely oral authority and transmission to a written
documentation that allowed greater consistency in legal procedure. •
The Time of the Little Black Bird (1999; Swallow Press; cloth,
$28.95; paper, $16.95), by Helen Papanikolas BA'39, is a novel of generations,
beginning with the story of a young, semiliterate Greek and his plans
to build a future for his family in America. Unlike the Greek stories
of old, the drama is rendered on a human scale.
OF SPECIAL SESQUICENTENNIAL NOTE
Celebrating an active 150-year history, The University of Utah:
150 Years of Excellence (2000; University of Utah Press; cloth, $34.95),
by Craig Denton MA'76, offers a fond view of the U's past, takes stock
of the present, and looks forward to the new century.
| ON
THE NEWSTAND
What are your three favorite works of nonfiction?
Since history is a prologue, we are doomed to repeat it. Schlesinger gives us a valuable guide to this principle as it applies to American history. America moves back and forth from public work to private pursuits. Ishmael by Daniel Quinn Ishmael may be called fiction by some. How else would one characterize a wise and thoughtful full-grown gorilla? But I find Ishmael's thoughts so valuable they become solid nonfiction. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig I've read this three times. Each time there is a new understanding. Sorry, Harley fans, it's not much about motorcycles. It is about life, vitality, and balance. —Ted Wilson BS'64, Director, Hinckley Institute of Politics
Portraits of John Quincy Adams and His Wife by Andrew Oliver John Quincy Adams has long been neglected as one of the great figures in our history. His presidency (sixth) of the United States was never celebrated as being great, but his life and influence as a diplomat, Secretary of State, and Congressman portray a great intellect and dedication to public service. His influence on foreign policy and relationships extends into the present. The book is enjoyable and illustrates his life as a cranky individual committed to his ideals and vision. It is an excellent history of an early period in the United States, with attention to the human struggles and successes of the time. The Complete Collected Poems of Maya Angelou Maya Angelou's poems are not fiction but the powerful truth of life, emotions, survival, and hope. Her poetry takes me to my roots, to experience freedom, to care for others, and to be proud of being a woman. Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee Brown This wonderfully written and well-documented book is an Indian history of the American West. It is a disturbing history of systematic plunder of the American Indians as they were killed/massacred and driven into reservations. During the decades of broken treaties and promises, I found that I lost my heart at Wounded Knee, but I gained respect, insight, and motivation. The benefits of experiencing the despair in this history should compel us to make sure that no group should ever be treated this way in the future. — Linda K. Amos, Associate Vice President for Health Sciences |
The
Cycles of American History by Arthur Schlesinger Jr.
I
read so many books that it is difficult to pick just three. However,
here are three very special favorites of the time.
Copyright 2000 by The University of Utah Alumni Association