Book Notices

Out of the Black Patch: The Autobiography ofEffie Marquess Carmack — Folk Musician, Artist, and Writer

Edited by Noel A. Carmack and Karen Lynn Davidson

When Effie Carmack wrote an autobiography for her grandchildren, she intentionally wrote not only memoir but also folk history. Her manuscript, which recounts the narratives and folkways of life in Kentucky's "Black Patch," has almost an anthropologist's eye for details. Those details, which are told in a charming and easy voice, are made more compelling by the affection with which Carmack recalls the scenes, people, and stories of her childhood.

Published as part of Utah State University Press's series Life Writings of Frontier Women, the book contains an introduction and annotations, photographs, and a list of Carmack's song and rhyme repertoire (she collected and performed a repertoire of more than 300 songs she had learned in Kentucky) Carmack's manuscript recounts her family's conversion by LDS missionaries and her life as wife and mother, which she largely spent away from Kentucky in the West And it tells of her life as a painter of some renown. But the heart of the book is in the sights, smells, characters, and happenings of rural nineteenth-century Kentucky

Hollywood the Hard Way: A Cowboy's Journey

By Patti Dickinson (Lincoln and and London: University of Nebraska Press, 1999 xviii + 222 pp Paper, $13.95.)

In 1945 Jerry Van Meter's grandpa and his friend make a bet with cowboy actor Jimmy Wakely that the time of gritty, old-time cowboying is not dead—and Jerry gets to prove it. Grandpa wagers that his sixteen-year-old grandson can ride a horse, alone, from Oklahoma to Hollywood in fifty days That's 1,250 miles over plains, mountains, and deserts. What do you do when you learn that someone has committed you to seven grueling weeks on horseback? In Jerry's case, after a few weeks of preparation, he saddled up a tough Osage Indian pony and headed west

Relying mainly on oral accounts and fifty-year-old memories, this narrative must be called a tale, not a history. But it is an interesting tale, and it has something to say about the era as it follows Jerry into small towns and small cafes with their helpful characters and talkative waitresses—and, of course, it takes horse and rider across a landscape that could at the time still be negotiated by hoof (Actually, in order to save his weary horse, Jerry walked across the Mojave Desert in a nonstop march that nearly killed them both.) Of course, the book also has a thing or two to say about cowboy pride and grit.

The Apache Diaries: A Father-Son Journey

By Grenville Goodwin and Neil Goodwin (Lincoln and London: University of Nebraska Press, 2000. xx + 316 pp. $29.95.)

Grenville Goodwin was an anthropologist, largely untrained but now recognized for the quality of his work, who specialized in the Western Apaches. He became fascinated with a band of Apaches who remained hidden in the Sierra Madre long after Geronimo s surrender in 1886; this band had murdered a Mexican woman and her child in 1927, and the husband's campaign of revenge had become big news In 1930 Grenville set out to learn all he could about this group, searching out and studying their abandoned campsites while at the same time they no doubt studied him from their hiding places

Neil never knew his father, who died of a brain tumor three months after the birth of his son But in 1962 Neil discovered Grenville's diaries of his search for the reclusive band Recognizing the ethnographic and historical importance of the diaries, and the interest of the story they told, Neil set out to flesh out history and narrative—and his own limited knowledge of his father He did this by retracing his father's journeys His own diary of this search weaves together the area's history, the stories of the hated Apaches and the Mexicans and Mormons, his father's story, and his own story of discovery The interplay of the two diaries makes for a fine, multi-layered narrative

Westward the Immigrants: Italian Adventurers and Colonists in an Expanding America

By Andrew Rolle (Niwot: University Press of Colorado, 1999 xxxiv + 391 pp Paper, $24.95.)

This pioneerin g "work was first published as The Immigrant Upraised: Italian Adventurers and Colonists in an Expanding America by the University of Oklahoma Press in 1968 Author Andrew Rolle tackled the task of tracing Italian immigration into the American West, broadly defined as the twenty-two states west of the Mississippi River Rolle's main objectives centered on illustrating an Italian presence in the West and showing that, in the main, irnrriigrant experiences were positive, highlighted by optimism and a sense of opportunity. The latter thesis rang as a counter to the then widely held assumption, developed by historian Oscar Handlin, that immigrants were basically uprooted individuals largely confined to eastern ghettos and steeped in pessimism

The 1999 edition, basically the same as that of 1968, adds only a new preface to recognize that work on the subject has uncovered new particulars For Rolle, the research done to date by various scholars only solidifies his early assertions He makes specific references to the study of Italians in Utah The book offers some good insights into the activities of Italians in the West, but most readers may regret that the author did not choose to update his work

Staff Ride Handbook for the Battle of Bear River, 29 January 1863

By Robert S. McPherson (Riverton: Utah National Guard, 2000. vi + 81 pp.)

A "staff ride" is a study of a military campaign that includes both documentary and onsite learning. Intended to further the development of U. S. Army personnel, staff rides provide case studies into various aspects of battle and "war. This compact volume on the Bear River Massacre uses narrative along with various documents to set the stage for and recount the events of the massacre Most of the documents, which include first- and second-hand accounts, newspaper stories, and military reports, naturally favor the Anglo point of view, but one— an account compiled by Shoshone historian Mae Parry—gives another perspective The book includes helpful maps and photos.

The University of Utah: 150 Years of Excellence

By Craig Denton (Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 2000 212 pp $34.95.)

"This book is not a history," writes the author, a communications professor. "Unlike those earlier works that the University compiled about itself, this one focuses on the present and tries to peek into the future." The coffee-table volume, splashed with both modern and historical photos, is an insider's fond look at the University In fact, many references will make sense only to those who are familiar with the institution and its past. The reader who does not want to see warts or controversy but only wants to enjoy a gentle celebration of the "U " will be pleased with this offering

Covered Wagon Women, Volume 10: Diaries and Lettersfrom the Western Trails, 1875— 1883

(Reprint ed.; Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press 288 pp Paper, $13.00.)

The last in a series of paperback reprints, this volume includes an introduction by Elliott West. The documents in this book were written when the overland journey had been dramatically transformed by the railroad, the decimation of the bison, the grazing of emigrant cattle herds, and the felling of trees. Yet, as West writes, "Perhaps the most striking feature of the ten volumes...is the consistency of a distinctly women's perspective and experience across these decades of upheaval and transformation." In any decade of the western migration, women's responsibilities remained largely the same: washing, mending, caring for children, cooking, bedmaking, nursing And for all of the women the West was a new experience, full of trials at times and pleasures at others.

Sharlot Hall on the Arizona Strip: A Diary of a Journey through Northern Arizona in 1911

Edited by C. Gregory Crampton (Reprint ed.; Prescott, Arizona: Sharlot Hall Museum, 1999 112 pp Paper, $14.95.)

Writer, poet, adventurer, and historian, Sharlot Hall was so wellknown in Arizona that she was appointed the first territorial historian. In that office she diligently traveled the territory, collected oral histories, and wrote historical accounts. She visited the Arizona Strip, traveling with a guide, a horse, and a wagon in the late summer of 1911

One goal of her visit was to get ammunition for her campaign against Utah's proposed annexation of that area. The trip took 75 days and covered a thousand miles, including visits to Tuba City and the Hopi villages, Lee's Ferry, Fredonia, and the North Rim . Writing about these for an Arizona magazine, she gave enthusiastic reports of resources, accounts of difficult traveling, and descriptions of people and towns. However, the narratives stop there. Personal difficulties prevented her writing about the rest of the journey—Kanab, Pipe Springs, southwestern Utah, and the Mt. Trumbull area.

Photo Odyssey: Solomon Carvalho's Remarkable Western Adventure, 1853—54

By Arlene B. Hirschfelder (New York: Houghton Mifflin, 2000. $17.00.)

Carvalho, the photographer "who accompanied John C Fremont's fifth expedition, made more than 300 daguerreotypes during the journey, risking his life on several occasions for the sake of an image Yet the images were never published, and the daguerreotypes have since been lost. This book, therefore, contains what is perhaps the only surviving image he took on the expedition, a daguerreotype of Cheyenne tipis. Because the volume is intended for adolescent readers, however, it is well-illustrated with other artwork and photos As a novice on the trail and an observant Jew, Carvalho encountered many obstacles but rose to the challenge The narrative, based on Carvalho's journal and letters, tells the story.