Book Notices

Cidermaster of Rio Oscuro

By Harvey Frauenglass (Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press,2000.xii + 191 pp.$21.95.)

After years ofemployment ina New Mexico nuclear weapons industry, Harvey Frauenglass sought personal redemption asanorchardist and cidermaker on a small farm along the Rio Oscuro His enchanting memoir of simple enterprise, worn-out machinery, art, life, death, and nature's cryptic ways, along with his practical pomological snippets and his lyrical expression of the agrarian mystique, comprise ablend as pleasing as the cider he seeks to press and sell at the farmers' market in Santa Fe

Telling Western Stories: From Buffalo Bill to Larry McMurtry

By Richard W. Etulain (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press,1999 xvi +174 pp Cloth, $35.00;paper, $17.95.)

Etulain looks atthe evolution of American consciousness about the West as reflected in and shaped by western narratives, beginning with William "Buffalo Bill" Cody, who "did more than any other person to create the archetypal western story during the late nineteenth century" (8). From the foundations Cody laid, the story of conflict and drama in the taming of the frontier continued with variations into the twentieth century The book traces these themes in the writings of such authors as Frederick Jackson Turner, Owen Wister, and Louis L'Amour. Although some minority writers described women's orethnic experiences, these accounts could not displace the master narrative. But change picked up momentum with authors like Wallace Stegner, Patricia Limerick, Leslie Marmon Silko, and Larry McMurtry Etulain shows how a new story,"gray," complex, and multiple in perspective, has supplanted the old story

En Aquel Entonces

Edited by Manuel G Gonzales and Cynthia M Gonzales (Bloomington: Indiana University Press,2000 xvii + 289 pp Cloth, $39.95;paper, $19.95.)

This anthology ofthree decades ofscholarship in Mexican American history surveys awide range of topics Essays are arranged in chronological sections and address the Mexican American experience throughout the West, from Mexican colonization during the 1600s toactivism of recent years. The editors have condensed the essays,which come mainly from previously published work (and they have also dispensed with footnotes) As a result, there is room for thirty-one essays, enough to give readers a broad sense of Mexican American history and historiography.

The Five Crows Ledger: Biographic Warrior Art of the Flathead Indians

ByJames D Keyser (Salt Lake City: University ofUtah Press,2000 128 pp $24.95.)

During the historic period, Plains Indians produced pictographs showing stylized action scenes of combat, raiding, and hunting. Drawn on shields, clothing, paper, and other perishable objects, this "ledger art" shows artifacts and cultural practices.The details in these drawings are of course invaluable for anthropological study.

This volume focuses on a group of thirteen drawings made by the Flathead leaders Ambrose and Adolphe and annotated by Father Pierre Jean De Smet. Illustrated with abundant examples of other ledger art, the book explores in depth the history, meaning, and significance of this art form

Black Elk Speaks

By Nicholas Black Elk;compiled and edited byJohn G Neihardt (1932, 1959,1961,1972;reprint, Lincoln and London: University of Nebraska Press,2000 xxx + 230 pp.+ illustrations.Paper, $12.95.)

An account of Lakota spirituality and history in the late nineteenth century, Black Elk Speaks has become an intriguing classic Both influential and controversial (Neihardt's role as "editor" of Black Elk's discourse is not clear), the text narrates Nicholas Black Elk's famous visions and his subsequent experiences. His first vision, received at age nine, seemed to promise a restoration of peace and wholeness to the oppressed Sioux and in fact to all nations But as he lived through the unfolding of history—the victory over Custer, the murders of Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull, starvation and broken treaties, the Ghost Dance craze,Wounded Knee—Black Elk felt that he had failed in the work he had been given to do No wonder his memoir is visionary, action-filled, culturally and historically revealing—and often melancholy.

Black Elk Lives: Conversations with the Black Elk Family

By Esther Black E. DeSersa, Olivia Black Elk Pourier,Aaron DeSersa,Jr.,and Clifton DeSersa; edited by Hilda Neihardt and Lori Utrecht (Lincoln and London,University ofNebraska Press, 2000 xvii + 168 pp $25.00.)

The descendants of Lakota holy man Nicholas Black Elk talk to the daughter ofJohn Neihardt about their personal lives, their memories of Black Elk, and their culture These free-flowing discussions cover a wide slice of Lakota experience, including such topics as political activism, boarding school, alcohol abuse, traditional ceremonies, relationships between men and women, extended families, color television, and, of course, Nicholas Black Elk The University of Nevada Press has launched a website tied to its new Black Elk books The website, Black Elk's World, contains the full text of Black Elk Speaks, biographies, photographs, maps, scholarship on Lakota and Dakota history and culture, Native biographies and memoirs, and winners of the North American Indian Prose Award

From Everglade to Canyon with the Second United States Cavalry: An Authentic Account of Service in Florida, Mexico, Virginia, and the Indian Country, 1836-1875

By Theophilus F. Rodenbough (1875;reprint, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press,2000 576 pp Paper, $19.95.)

Second Cavalry officer Theophilus Rodenbough was a fine writer as well as a fine soldier, and his history of the cavalry written 125 years ago is highly readable and historically significant. "No other study has so thoroughly and so vividly captured the lifestyle, color, and personality of a Regular Army regiment," writes Edward Longacre in the foreword (7) Rodenbough intertwines military narrative with extensive first-person accounts by others and primary documents He does not neglect the human side of the soldier's life; various anecdotes spice up the accounts of long marches, battles, and daily life. Included are a narrative by Gen. George Crooke of the Second Cavalry's bitter wintertime march to Utah as reinforcements to Johnston's Army and a description of the Salt Lake Valley as seen through the eyes of a bugler with the cavalry

Treasure Hill: Portrait of a Silver Mining Camp

By W Turrentine Jackson (1963; reprint, Reno and LasVegas: University of Nevada Press,2000 xiv + 254 pp Paper, $17.95.)

Out of print for many years, this book is still the only study of Nevada's White Pine silver rush. The rush, which began in 1867, was perhaps the "shortest, most intense one in the history of the West" (1); the bust occurred after only three seasons of prospecting In his preface the author states that the shortlived mining camps consumed "far greater effort and suffering, more money and equipment" than the more famous long-lived camps. This is an account of that expenditure of effort in east-central Nevada, the tenuous community brought together by hope in the proverbial pot of gold, and the failure, once again, of western miners to realize their dreams

The Last War Trail: The Utes and the Settlement of Colorado

By Robert Emmitt (1954;reprint,Boulder: University Press of Colorado,2000.378 pp.Paper, $24.95.)

First published in 1954, this volume uses interviews and historical documents as the basis for a narrative of the escalating tensions in western Colorado that led to a battle between the Utes and federal troops, the Meeker Massacre, and the removal of the White River Utes from their treaty lands Indian Agent Nathan Meeker is portrayed as humorless, single-minded, and small-hearted in his crusade to turn hunters into farmers At the same time, the Utes are portrayed as honorable, misunderstood children of the land.

Despite stereotypes, the fictionalization of events, and the somewhat inflated tone of the writing, Emmitt's strong effort to understand and communicate the Ute point of view makes for a book that, upon its first publication, probably had an important impact in showing history from a non-majority viewpoint. Today, it is still an absorbing story

Homeward to Zion: The Mormon Migration from Scandinavia

ByWilliam Mulder (1957;reprint,Minneapolis and London: University ofMinnesota Press in cooperation with BrighamYoung University Press,2000.xii + 377 pp.Paper, $16.95.)

Many have greeted the reissuing of this Mormon classic, complete with added maps and photographs, enthusiastically. This is not surprising, since Homeward to Zion tells its story of proselytizing, conversion, emigration, and settlement with style and verve.The research is extensive; Mulder uses varied sources to describe the movements and development of individuals, groups, and larger Scandinavian societies. The book describes Scandinavia's religious and social climate as the first LDS missionaries arrived in Denmark in 1850 and continues through the decades to the 1890s, by which time Scandinavians had become well assimilated and influential in their Utah "Zion."

North Logan Town: 1934-1970

By Jesse L. Embry (North Logan: North Logan City,2000.x + 36 pp.Paper, $10.00.)

North Logan, Utah, has evolved from an atypical Mormon village of scattered farms to an expanded and sprawling—but still relatively small—town As she tells the story of change, Embry describes the town's strongly Mormon culture, the development of utilities and infrastructure, "church-state" cooperation in the building and use of facilities, pressures from developers, and the town board's various means of coping with growth The book's sources consist mainly of oral histories, so this is largely a view of history through the eyes of those who experienced it.

America's Public Holidays, 1865-1920

By Ellen M.Litwicki (Washington,D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press,x + 291 pp.$39.95.)

Between 1865 and 1920, Americans created more than twentyfive holidays. The celebrations, some of which became traditional and some of which quietly faded away, reflected the times The CivilWar, emancipation, immigration, labor, class conflict, and urban growth were all impetus for new holidays; many were created out of idealistic, reform-based motivations Reformers also sought to reclaim virtues and a sense of seriousness that seemed to have been lost in established holidays; the Sane Fourth movement is an example. This book examines holidays as diverse as Memorial Day, Bird Day, and Haymarket Martyrs' Day and the cultural conditions that produced them

The Gold Rush Diary of Ramon Gil Navarro

Ed and trans, by Maria del Carmen Ferreyra and David S Reher (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press,xxii + 315 pp $45.00.)

When Navarro, a twenty-two-year-old Argentinian political exile, heard of gold in California, he decided to jump into the fray With other investors he gathered 120 men and supplies and sailed with them to California. "Astute, cultured, yet impassioned," he wrote a detailed diary. His position as a nonAmerican—a highly educated and highly principled observer/participant—allows him to record the events and atmosphere of the gold rush with vivid writing and insightful commentary. He also reveals himself in his very personal entries. The three years Navarro spent in California came to naught financially, but they no doubt influenced the way his life unfolded After his return to Argentina, his experiences, talents, and interests led him to a career as a politician and journalist

Quest for the Golden Circle: The Four Corners and the Metropolitan West, 1945—1970

By Arthur R. Gomez (Reprint;Lawrence: University ofKansas,2000 288 pp Paper,$16.95.)

The author traverses the economic and social terrain traveled by the cities of the Four Corners region after World War II: the uranium boom; increased development of oil, gas, and timber; accelerated road-building; in-migration; economic decline; and tourist development efforts that were stimulated by the "Golden Circle"vision of Interior secretary Stewart Udall

The hardback version of the book, published in 1994, looked optimistically at a future of cooperative regional economic development through tourism However, in six years a lot of water has passed under the bridge, and the author reconsiders those views in the preface to this edition He writes,"If population growth at the expense of economic diversification, development at the cost of a diminished land base, and recreation that exacts a price on environmental quality could be viewed as indicators of economic well-being, then my optimism for the future of the Four Corners was well grounded" (xix)

The Personal Writings of Eliza Roxcy Snow

Edited by Maureen Ursenbach Beecher (Reprint;Logan: Utah State University Press,2000.xx + 316 pp.Paper, $19.95.)

"Personal texts," writes the editor,".. are the fictions we create in order to make our lives acceptable to ourselves and our imagined readers" (xviii). Snow's "A Sketch of My Life," first published in 1877 as a "set-off" to Fannie Stenhouse's vitriolic look at Mormondom, is one of the writings printed here The others are her Nauvoo journal and notebook of 1842—44 and her trail diary of 1846—47 Written by the woman who became Zion's "poetess, priestess, and presidentess," these are important and interesting texts.The book includes introductions, annotations, and a listing of names mentioned in the trail diary