Book Notices

Researching Western History: Topics in the Twentieth Century.

Edited by GERALD D NASH and RICHARD WETULAIN (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1997. ix + 220 pp. Cloth, $50.00; paper, $24.95.)

This small volume is a rich source for students of western history looking for the "cutting edge" perspective of prominent historians on the directions and opportunities for research on twentiethcentury western history topics. In this book historians become architects as they lay out plans, ask questions, give directions, and prod students along the way to building a history of the West from the boards and bricks of economics, natural resources and the environment, urban issues, politics, women, culture, and an ongoing examination of myth and the modern West

Leroy Robertson: Music Giant From the Rockies.

By MARIAN ROBERTSON WILSON. (Salt Lake City: Blue Ribbon Publications. 1996. xvii + 344 pp. Cloth, $14.95.)

Seldom is heard a discouraging word in this rosy account of the Utah composer But then, Wilson is Robertson's daughter, and although this is not critical history, it is nevertheless an engaging portrait of an energetic and innovative man. As a ten-year-old, Robertson was so enthralled with music that he labored to make his own violin from a cigar box and embroidery thread; that passion continued through his life in a singleminded devotion both to the art form and to its development in Utah.

The story of how Robertson composed his widely-performed "Lord's Prayer" illustrates how immersed he was in his metier. In the middle of teaching a class, the scripture and a melody suddenly came into his mind. As the students watched dumbfounded, Robertson scribbled the whole composition on the chalkboard, from beginning to end.

Musicians will be interested in accounts of Robertson's associations with Ernest Bloch and Arnold Schoenberg, and of his close friendship with Maurice Abravanel, who played so many of Robertson's compositions that critics questioned his judgment But perhaps the volume is most important for its chronicling of Robertson's enormous influence on the quality of music in the state.

Friendly Fire: The ACLU in Utah.

By LINDA SILLITOE (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1996 ix + 263 pp Cloth, $24.95.)

Behind the headlines of the perpetual conflict between the American Civil Liberties Union and Utah's power structure is a story of personalities, political maneuvering, and fervor. Sillitoe has interlaced these elements of the ACLU's 40-year history in Utah into a compelling narrative. The book recounts behind-the-scenes interactions between the local chapter, state officials, journalists, and LDS church officials—from the first difficult and discouraging struggles over civil rights in the 1950s to recent controversies over gay clubs and abortion Clearly sympathetic to the ACLU, Friendly Fire should reward all but the most avid ACLU-despiser with a greater insight into Utah's often-fought, often-baffling civil liberties battles.

The 1854 Oregon Trail Diary of Winfield Scott Ebey.

Edited by SUSAN BADGER DOYLE and FRED W. DYKES. Emigrant Trails Historical Studies Series No. 2 (Independence, Mo.: OregonCalifornia Trails Association, 1997 xiv + 247 pp. Cloth, $27.95; paper, $14.95.)

Trails enthusiasts will welcome this edition of the noteworthy Winfield Scott Ebey diary. Captain of the 1854 train that is documented here, Ebey took hisjob of captain and chronicler seriously, and we are the better for it. The two-notebook travel diary was rewritten in 1857 and includes personal comments and quotes from the diarist's library This expanded version presents a detailed look at the trail as the "Ebey wagon train" traveled from Plum Grove, Missouri, to Puget Sound, Washington Territory. It was welcomed by H. H. Bancroft and other early historians as a primary source for their comprehensive treatment of the emigrant experience. Parts of the trail were also followed by the Mormons and Forty-niners.

The editors have provided maps and photo illustrations of the trail. Their volume enriches our knowledge of the westering adventure and calls us to go see the actual sites for ourselves.

Why I Can't Read Wallace Stegner and Other Essays: A Tribal Voice. By

ELIZABETH COOK-LYNN (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1996 xiv +158 pp. Paper, $17.95.)

In this volume of articulate essays, Cook-Lynn explores from a Native American standpoint topics ranging from literary criticism to racism.

The title essay makes it clear that, although Wallace Stegner may have achieved iconic status among his devotees, not everybody is bedazzled Examining Stegner through the lens of her Dakota Winyan background, CookLynn charges that his writing celebrates America's colonialist history. Stegner, of course, saw the West through his own lens, and it is his Eurocentric viewpoint that Cook-Lynn objects to—a viewpoint that she characterizes by Stegner's phrase that Western history "sort of stopped in 1890." When Stegner tries to express regret for the Euro-Americans' dispossession of native peoples, she dismisses his remorse. For Cook-Lynn, Stegner is just another writer who mythologizes the West, creates his own realities, and laments the past without acknowledging the recent past, present, and future of tribal peoples.

Cook-Lynn's essay is nothing if not provocative In fact, given the current flood of West-centered personal narrative, it is worth exploring as a way to fine-tune a reader's "built-in, shockproof shit detector," as Hemingway put it. But Cook-Lynn's critique, centered around a few of Stegner's quotes, ignores the larger body of Stegner's work and the inclusiveness of his viewpoint. Nor does she acknowledge the fact that Stegner broke new ground in reassessing the Euro-American's relationships to land and to other cultures. But then, Cook-Lynn doesn't read Stegner Her exploration of Stegner is "minimally undertaken, and only to remind myself that literature can and does successfully contribute to the politics of possession and dispossession." You find what you're looking for.

The Geography of Hope: A Tribute to Wallace Stegner.

Edited by PAGE STEGNER AND MARY STEGNER (San Francisco: Sierra Club Books, 1996 viii + 140 pp. Paper, $15.00.)

Some of these essayists hardly knew Stegner; others were on intimate terms But each was deeply influenced by the man, and it's in the individuality of their encounters that the significance of this volume lies. Bruce Babbitt, for instance, describes how Beyond the Hundredth Meridian revolutionized his understanding of the West. Raised in a mining and ranching town, Babbitt had been raised to celebrate the conquest of the land Stegner changed that.

William Kittredge explores through Stegner the responsibility of the artist to "name the sacred"; Nancy Packer describes his ability to unite masculine and feminine in both his life and marriage; politician David Bonior tells how Stegner helped him keep his head and heart in the mad world of Washington. Barry Lopez, however, remembers Stegner in light of a prime question: "What I want to know is what good was a person capable of, how did love flourish around him or her? How did what they do help?"

The personal answers in this volume are more than affectionate tributes; they're palpable evidence of the multifaceted ways in which one person can and did "help."