Book Reviews

Church State, and Politics: The Diaries ofJohn Henry Smith

Edited by JEAN BICKMOREWHITE (Salt Lake City. Signature Books in association with Smith Research Associates, 1990 XXX + 700 pp $75.00.)

John Henry Smith served as second counselor in the First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and was president of the 1895 Utah Constitutional Convention, cofounder of the Utah Republican party, and an active participant in many businesses. He had a lively and informed interest in public affairs as he played an important role in Utah's religious, political, and business history In June 1874, as he prepared to leave for a Mormon mission to England, he began writing thirty-six volumes of personal diaries that detailed the next thirty-seven years of his life.

The editor's purpose in presenting this work is to provide diary accounts that show the kinds of complex matrices from which political, religious, business, and personal decisions flowed White never lets her presence as editor get between the reader and the material She allows the words of John Henry Smith to carry the story, as she intrudes only occasionally and gently to introduce some of the leading figures and to insert footnotes and annotations A good introduction also summarizes much of the diaries' content

Within the diaries one can discern the dynamics of nineteenth-century Mormon mores and standards as they related to marriage, divorce, social responsibility, child rearing, personal sin, and political and religious authority. Included are a host of topics that provide insights into the historical and ideological context of nineteenth-century Utah There indeed is some grist here for scholars of Mormon and Utah history.

The reader laments the fact that as John Henry Smith assumed more responsibility in church and state matters, he became increasingly circumspect in what he revealed of his life and the lives of others. Seldom did he express his feelings and views One can only infer the more intimate revelations lurking beneath the text as Smith's emotions remained covert Since the diaries evolve into an internal or institutional story where few critical Judgments are made, they would have benefited from an epilogue wherein the editor could fill in critical blanks.

The work, though attractively designed, does contain a few minor printing errors R xxiii places Joseph Fielding Smith as president of the Mormon church from 1907 to 1972. The bibliography is very limited. The index is inadequate; it does not even include place names of cities and states.

One finishes the book wishing there had been more of the candor that appears on p. 85 when Smith says, "A. M Cannon. got badly muddled and made some wild rulings I would spank my boys for such lack of justice and judgment" Instead there are too many entries such as that on p. 506, "I was at the president's office most of the day. I paid the State Bank $1,005.77 I had a bath at the springs." Nevertheless, this work is a valuable window providing material relating to important people and events.

WAYNE K HINTON Southern Utah University

The Struggle for the Land: Indigenous Insight and Industrial Empire in the Semiarid World.

Edited by PAUL A. OLSON. (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1990. x + 317 pp. $35.00.)

In 1986 the Center for Great Plains Studies of the University of Nebraska Lincoln sponsored a symposium on "The Meaning of the Plains Indians' Past for Present Culture." This volume, edited by Paul A. Olson, foundation professor of English at the University of Nebraska, contains symposium papers and two essays that were commissioned especially for this work.

The book is divided into four parts ("The History of Institutional Transformation," "Traditional Use and Modern Alienation," "European and Indigenous Institutions," and "Indigenous Religion and the Struggle for Land"), preceded by a lengthy introduction by the editor. In each part an essay focusing largely on the North American Great Plains, its indigenous peoples, and the impact of Europeanbased civilization is followed by one or more essays concerned with somewhat parallel circumstances in such widely separated places as Australia, the Kazakh steppes, southern Africa, and Alaska The authors are drawn from a broad spearum of academic disciplines, with representatives from anthropology, economics, and environmental studies most numerous.

Most essays are thoughtful and informative, and many remind me of what first attracted me, years ago, to the study of arid and semiarid lands and their inhabitants: the wide-open spaces, nomadic peoples, the social, political, and economic rivalries between pastoralists and sedentary agriculturalists, ;md the colonization of these lands by outsiders with strikingly different cultural values. One of the best contributions is made by the anthropologist fohn W Bennett, whose paper, developed from decades of work on the northern plains, expresses concern about the lack of conservation in the region and stresses the need for fundamental changes in its institutions in order to reverse on-going environmental degradation. Another is written by Solomon Bekure of the World Bank and Ishmael Ole Pasha, a Maasai civil servant, who describe the changing location of Maasai territory in Kenya and northern Tanzania, contrast the land policies affecting the Maasai before and after establishment of Kenyan independence in 1963, and analyze the development and subsequent subdivision of "group ranches" in Maasailand. All essays are supplemented by extensive bibliographies that collectively constitute a remarkably comprehensive listing of classic and less well known works that should be essential reading for anyone seriously concerned with the semiarid world and its inhabitants.

As might be expected from a collection of papers, some essays do not quite "fit," despite the editor's efforts to hammer them into the book's overall context For example, C. Patrick Morris's paper, "Hydroelectric Development and the Human Rights of Indigenous Peoples," which emphasizes the vulnerability of native peoples' economies when hydroelectric development occurs, is on target when dealing with circumstances on the Great Plains but is less compelling when its attention turns to Norway and Mexico. Similarly, neither the essay by J Baird Callicott nor that by O. Douglas Schwartz, both ostensibly concerned with the interplay between indigenous religions and the land, contributes much to our understanding of the plains or any other part of the semiarid world Each floats through the thin air of philosophical musing and rarely provides the reader with a sense of place or much understanding of people interacting with semiarid environments.

In the final analysis, the quality of this ambitious book is compromised by its too-broad scope and the inability of the editor to keep a tight rein on some of the contributors For readers of this journal who wish to learn about the interplay between cultures in the semiarid world, it does offer some keen insights But if they are seeking a common thread, a consistent intellectual theme, or perspective that might be useful for interpreting past and present life in and around Utah, they will find that the rewards are negligible.

MARSHALL E BOWEN Mary Washington College Fredericksburg Virginia

The Wagon Trains of'44: A Comparative View of the Individual Caravans in the Emigration of 1844 to Oregon.

By THOMAS A. RUMER (Spokane: Arthur H. Clark Co., 1990. 274 pp. $35.50.)

This Emigrating Company: The 1844 Oregon Trail of Jacob Hammer.

Edited by THOMAS A. RUMER (Spokane Arthur H. Clark Co., 1990. 274 pp. $35.50.)

By taking a comparative view of the caravans of 1844 on the Oregon Trail, Thomas A. Rumer has provided us with an insightful image of the people who unknowingly played such an important part in American history. That influx of nearly a thousand individuals into the Oregon country in 1844 tipped the balance in favor of the United States and convinced President Polk and Congress in April 1845 to terminate the joint occupation treaty that had been in effect with England since 1818. This led ultimately to the incorporation of the Pacific Northwest into the United States.

Statements excerpted from the many diaries and the later reminiscences of the 1844 Oregon pioneers allow the author to show some of the factors that motivated the men to uproot their families and head west (One man said " the United States has the best right to that country, and I am going to help make that right good" He also commented that without slaves, which he refused to keep, he could not prosper at farming in a slave economy The farming families had heard the widely publicized stories about the rich soil of the Willamette Valley and the faa that a couple could claim 640 acres of land) To get there however, careful preparations had to be made; companies had to be organized along military lines, and then all the problems of a long and hazardous journey had to be overcome. Rumer has ferreted out numerous personal experiences of many of the people involved and has made this a vibrant story, enhancing the historic epic as it evolves. Sufficient background history is presented so that the events of 1844 blend as they should into the overall development of the West. He has combined the collective experiences of the three main parties that started out from Independence, St Joseph, and Council Bluffs, respectively.

The party that left from Council Bluffs had been commonly referred to as the Stephens-Murphy party but in The Wagon Trains of'44 it is identified as the Hammer family of Northsiders Merrill J. Mattes in the foreword emphasizes that this party traveled on the north side of the Platte River as far as Fort Laramie, thus firmly establishing a route that was later to be followed by as many as 166,000 emigrants Of that total, a minority using this northern route, or what was later known as the Council Bluffs Road, were Mormons; yet this has now been designated as the Mormon Pioneer National Historic Trail.

Rumer has separately considered the many faaors that affeaed the caravans Weather was a major consideration, since 1844 was charaaerized by a particularly wet and stormy spring season that delayed the start of all the parties and contributed to sickness and some deaths. The author has been able to account for twelve deaths on the trail to Oregon that year. From journal entries he analyzes the causes, including cholera and similar diseases, and he tells how the pioneers attempted to contend with their health problems. Among other factors serving as the bases of separate chapters are preparations for the journey, leadership, trail traffic, and Indians.

The Wagon Trains of'44 is valuable in that it covers many diverse views of related events in a delightfully readable form. What might be called a companion volume, edited by the same author, is This Emigration Company: The 1844 Oregon Trail Journal of Jacob Hammer. This newly discovered and previously unpublished journal is one of the few day-to-day narratives of the Oregon-bound contingent of the Stephens-Murphy party of 1844. Rumer's technique of interspersing both background data and his own explanatory material as separate chapters between sections of the actual Hammer journal makes this history stand by itself. His map illustrations are commendable for their uncluttered clarity They are completely adequate for supplementing the text ;md are detailed enough so that any trail buff could use them with maps such as Franzwa's to follow the trail.

In the preface to This Emigrating Company, Aubrey L Haines notes that the Council Bluffs Road on the north side of the Platte River had been used by fur trappers at least as early as 1827 and that the Whitmans had driven their buggy over that route in 1835. Mattes states that the famous scout James Clyman had traveled east over this trail in 1824. By the time that Jacob Hammer started for the Oregon country the Northside Road was apparently well established; thus, Rumer's well-written and carefully researched editorial treatment of the journal is a valuable addition to Oregon Trial history. It is also most enjoyable reading.

RUSH SPEDDEN Utah Crossroads Chapter Oregon-California Trails Association

Yosemite: The Embattled Wilderness.

By ALFRED RUNTE (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1990 xii + 271 pp $24.95.)

Alfred Runte's newest book, Yosemite: The Embattled Wilderness, is the latest in a growing list of books on the disjunctions among political philosophy, publicpolicy, environmental management, and popular perceptions and use of America's national parks. Like Richard Bardett's Yellowstone: A Wilderness Besieged and Alston Chase's Playing God in Yellowstone: The Destruction of America's First National Park, Runte's environmental history of Yosemite takes a hard look at the growing conflict between the original intent of national park creation and the increasing demands of a recreationally minded American public often heedless of the greater values of wilderness preservation Although Runte's work (as the author himself acknowledges) invites obvious comparisons with Bardett's and Chase's excellent studies of Yellowstone, there are distinctions. Chief among those distinctions is that Runte examines most closely the consequences of changing park management for the natural ecosystem of the Yosemite valley and its surrounding highlands region. Where most tend to think of Yosemite simply as a place of geological grandeur, the author deals with the park as part of a natural system that includes both organic and inorganic components.

Runte notes that public park policy has been intentionally vague, seeking only to protea areas in order that they might be left "unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations" and then leaving it up to those future generations to define what is meant by "protect," "unimpaired," and even "enjoyment" He contends that each succeeding generation of Yosemite users has developed its own notions of proteation, impairment, and use and, further, that those changing perspectives have been imposed upon public management policies He sees in this process a logical contradiction in which even the strictest preservationists have contributed to environmental modification, a sort of social and political version of the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle of the physicists in which observation itself alters the phenomenon observed This contradiction serves as a focal point for his study. But it is not the dominant focal point; the real core of this book is the concept of environmental change itself Runte submerges the social history of Yosemite in the environmental history of the greater Yosemite ecosystem with remarkable effectiveness

Those who pick up this book expecting to read lengthy quotations from John Muir or a catalogue of events and anecdotes from the park's history may be, at first, disappointed. This is not a puff piece designed for the Yosemite visitor who wishes to recapture the wonder of a childhood visit to one of America's greatest natural wonders. This is not to say that the reader interested in the history of both Yosemite and the national park movement in the United States will not learn from and appreciate this work Runte does provide an excellent running commentary on the evolving management philosophies and policies that have directed Yosemite's course for a century and a quarter. But he does so, for the most part, within the context of the impact of those philosophies and policies on the natural environment. As the author himself states in his introduction "natural resources, like people and events, appear in the narrative as barometers of change." In Runte's opinion, those natural resources, particularly vegetation and wildlife, have been accurate barometers indeed. In this sense, the history of Yosemite is symbolic of the environmental history of America itself Those who read this fine study will come to understand that and, perhaps, to learn from it.

JOHN L ALLEN University of Connecticut, Storrs

Atlas of American Indian Affairs.

By FRANCIS PAUL PRUCHA.( Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1990 x+ 191 pp $47.50.)

To appreciate the ebb and flow of historical events over a long period of time, a quick glance at a map can be very revealing. This is especially true in American history where expansion was such a key factor in nineteenth-century developments. However, maps can reveal more than territorial acquisition or border realignments. The everchanging demographics of our society can best be expressed in cartographic form In his book Atlas of American Indian Affairs, Francis Paul Prucha focuses on Native Americans in order to demonstrate the impact of national trends on the country's original inhabitants in graphic form. Long recognized as the foremost authority on American Indian policy, Prucha provides students, experts, and buffs with an important reference book.

The book is made up of chapters containing maps that emphasize various aspects of Indian history and culture These categories include tribal areas, demographics, land cessions, reservations, agencies, schools, hospitals, military posts, and important events in frontier history. Each of these areas is further broken down into chronological order. For example, a map showing Indian population by counties in the United States for 1910 is followed by another for 1920 and so on up to the present. As the reader flips from one map to another, he can gain a great deal of appreciation for the changes that Native Americans have experienced under the dominant culture.

For those who have little background m the subject matter, the section on Indian land cessions will have the greatest impact. Even a quick perusal of this chapter will leave the reader with a sense of despair and tragedy There are nine maps spanning the nineteenth century that demonstrate quite vividly the loss of ancestral homelands Experts in the field may not be so awed by this information, but they should be intrigued by other sections. The locations of agencies, schools, and forts over the decades of time provide information that is often hard to obtain Many of these maps are also excellent teaching aids.

In addition to the maps previously mentioned, Prucha includes a collection from cartographer Rafael D. Palacios. A dozen of the maps that Palacios produced for a book published in 1964 emphasize major military engagements between soldiers and Indians. This addendum, while informative, seems to be included merely to pad the book It adds little new information and completely ignores the American Southwest. Also, if Wounded Knee deserves two maps, should not Custer's Last Stand have more than one?

For experts in the field the notes and reference section will be the most informative section of the book. Here Prucha provides sources for the maps and also includes precise statistical information. This is especially important for those who need these data for their own research, because the maps show only approximations through the use of bar graphs and the like. Many Indian historians will also appreciate the special focus on Alaska, Oklahoma, and the eastern part of the United States.

This reviewer would strongly recommend this book for academic libraries. Private individuals, however, may find the cost too high for the amount of information provided.

JIM VLASICH Southern Utah University

Wind's Trail The Early life of Mary Austin

By PEGGY POND CHURCH Edited by SHELLEY A RMITAGE (Santa Fe Museum of New Mexico Press, 1990 xxii + 215 pp $14.95.)

This book is a surprise. Under one tide there are four compositions by three authors: not only Peggy Pond Church's account of Mary Austin but also Shelley Armitage's introduction, Armitage's analysis of Austin's work, and one of Austin's own compositions, "The Friend in the Wood," included, the editor says, to strike " a significant balance... in the consideration of the woman artist and her life'' ( p. xx). These various contents present no problem, of course, but the title is also misleading in a more significant way: rather than a true biography covering a defined period, as the phrase "early life" suggests. Church's book is more a personal memoir of limited scope.

Church's original plan, Armitage explains, was to write a full-scale biography of a woman whom she had met only briefly but whom she recognized as a kindred spirit Both women, Armitage says, were dedicated to "writing nature," to being "a tongue for the wilderness" (p. xiii). The original plan was soon amended, however, as Church's fascination with her subject ended with Austin's twentieth year. After following Austin only that far, Church "seems to have exhausted the biographer's resources" (p xv) Indeed, the memoir does not actually end; it merely stops in mid-idea, "where we now leave her" (p 180), Church says abruptly.

Within these limits Church presents a generally engaging portrait of a frustrated and contradictory personality, one who all her life, "would walk the fine line between humility toward the creative powers and the most outrageous identification of her own human ego with them" (p 163) One finds here a number of interesting incidents from Austin's difficult childhood and youth, when her unique, headstrong inclinations often ran afoul of what was expected of her either from society at large or her temperance-preaching Methodist mother In this respect the book serves as an unsettling reminder of the restrictions imposed upon women not too many years ago.

Church's focus is also limited in another way. Although Armitage credits her as being especially qualified to write the biography and contends that she employed the "obligatory sources," there is scarcely a line in the book not derived from Austin herself, from letters, fiction, or autobiography. Little wonder, then, that Church's analysis of her subject "agrees with Austin's own philosophy" (p xv) Perhaps it is this derivative quality that accounts for the times when Church seems overcome by the mystique she perceives surrounding Austin and her ideas. At these times the book lapses into melodrama while at others it resorts to gossip To be sure, there are some fine passages, like the one near the end about Austin's forced move to California; on the whole, however, readers impressed by the unique perspective and fresh, evocative imagery of House at Otowi Bridge will be disappointed by Church's performance here The one piece is inspired, the other almost perfunctory.

Armitage's own essay, "Mary Austin: Writing Nature," flows faster and more smoothly than her somewhat labored introduction, probably because Armitage is freed from the obligation of imputing significance to Church's observations A concise catalog of Austin's fife and philosophy, this piece concludes that Austin serves modern readers as a good example of the quester, one who continues "the pilgrimage writing—because one does not know the whole story" (p. 30). From the standpoint of literary criticism, however, this essay is another incomplete story as Armitage's bibliography is nearly as restricted as Church's.

Ultimately, this volume is pleasant enough but of a limited value As biography it is superseded by another recent but earlier book, Esther Lanigan Stineman's Mary Austin: Song of a Maverick (Yale University Press, 1989); as literary scholarship, it offers few glimpses of recent work in a very active field Still, one is glad to see the book if for no other reason than that it may encourage continued interest in Mary Austin and Peggy Pond Church.

DAVID HARRELL Santa Fe, New Mexico