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Book Notices
Social Violence in the Prehispanic American Southwest.
Edited by Deborah L.Nichols and Patricia L. Crown, (Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 2008.273 pp. Cloth, $60.00.)
To paraphrase George Armelagos in one of the essays in this volume, the prehistoric Southwest has been viewed both as a peaceful place and as a cannibalistic hell. Lately, popular archaeological news has focused on the latter; with sensational stories of dismembered bodies discovered in the Four Corners region.This volume is a long-needed, reasoned scientific study of the evidence for and possible causes of violence in the Southwest between A.D. 1000 and 1300. Intended for an academic audience, the essays examine what is in fact diverse evidence for a wide variety of violent acts. These acts probably had many causes—witchcraft, slavery, terrorism, and warfare due to scarce resources—rather than any single, sensational explanation. The volume contributes to a more detailed and nuanced understanding of the Ancestral Puebloan world and sites such as Hovenweep, Mesa Verde, and Chaco Canyon.
The Trans-Mississippi West, 1804-1912:A Guide to Federal Records for theterritorial Period Part IV, A Guide to Records of the Department of the Interior for the Territorial Period, Section 3, Records of the General Land Office.
An indispensable guide for researchers and others interested in textual, cartographic, and photographic records (Group 49) of the General Land Office, the federal agency for surveying, managing, and disposing of the public domain during the territorial period, 1804-1912. The guide provides historians of the nation’s westward expansion and family historians “the nature of available Federal records” and their locations in Washington, D. C., or in regional offices of the National Archives. Sample records of special interest pertaining to Utah are land entry records for 1869-1908; abstracts of mineral applications including coal land abstracts; abstracts of military bounty warrants; cartographic records including maps of Big Cottonwood Canyon Mining Distr ict, Deep Creek Indian Reservation, Payson Forest Reserve; canal and reservoir files, 1891-1929; reclamation files; townsite and reservation files.
Best of Covered Wagon Women.
Edited by Kenneth L. Holmes. (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2008. 304 pp. Paper, $19.95.)
The eight accounts of women travelers on western overland trails are taken from an eleven volume Covered Wagon Women series originally published by the Arthur H. Clark Company. Selections include Keturah Belknap en route to Oregon in 1847; Margaret A. Frink to California in 1850; Amelia Hadley to Oregon in 1851; Twin sisters Cecelia Adams and Parthenia Blank to Oregon in 1852; Amelia Knight from Iowa to the Columbia River in 1853; Ellen Tootle, bound for the Colorado mines in 1862; Elizabeth Elliott on the Oregon Trail in 1863; and Mary Ringo to California in 1864.
The Billy the Kid Reader.
By Frederick Nolan. (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2007. 400 pp. Cloth, $29.95.)
Although “Billy the Kid” is a household name, the most difficult task for historians in researching Kid has been separating the myth from the fact, as Kid’s legendary status has led to gross exaggeration and fabrication regarding his actual exploits. In response to this problem, author Frederick Nolan attempts to synthesize information available on Kid into a definitive work that can be used by scholars and novices alike to understand the life of the legendary bandit. Widely regarded as the eminent authority on Billy the Kid, Nolan delivers a biography that is both engaging and informative, appealing to all students of one of the West’s most famous outlaws.
The Diaries of John Gregory Bourke:Volume Three, June 1-1878-June 22, 1880.
Edited and annotated by Charles M. Robinson III. (Denton: University of North TexasPress, 2007. ix + 555 pp. Cloth, $55.00.)
The third volume in a projected eight volume series of the 124 manuscript volumes of the John Gregory Bourke diaries that he kept from 1872 until his death in 1896, this book covers two important years that include the Bannock Uprising of 1878 in Idaho and the White River Ute Uprising in western Colorado in 1879.The diary includes an account of the recovery and burial of the body of Major Thomas Tipton Thornburg and his men.
In Search of a Lost Race:The Illustrated American Exploring Expedition of 1892.
Compiled by James H. Knipmeyer. (Philadelphia: Exlibris Corporation, 2006. 160 pp.Cloth, $30.99, paper $20.99.)
This book is a collection of fourteen articles published in 1892 in the New York City periodical The Illustrated American. The articles were written by members of a scientific expedition led by Warren K. Moorehead, an archeologist who had worked at the Smithsonian Institution, sent to the Four Corners Region to study the “Cliff Dwellers’ country” of Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico. The articles were written while the expedition was in the region during the late spring and summer of 1892, and shortly after its return. The articles report on the expedition activities in Hovenweep, on the San Juan River, Bluff, Comb Wash, Butler Wash, Allen Canyon, and other Utah locations. Each article is followed by commentary by James Knipmeyer and includes useful photographs by Mike S. Ford of many sites noted in the articles.
Josephine Foard and the Glazed Pottery of Laguna Pueblo.
By Dwight P. Lanmon, Lorraine Welling Lanmon, and Dominique Coulet du Gard. (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2007. xx + 245 pp. Cloth, $39.95.)
Surprised to find early twentieth century Indian pottery with glazed interiors, American art aficionados Dwight P. and Lorraine Welling Lanmon became intrigued by the story of Josephine Foard, the woman responsible for this Anglo technique appearing in Southwest Indian pottery. Foard traveled West in 1899 as “an artist, potter, and entrepreneur,” hoping to volunteer her advanced pottery-making techniques to Indians living in the area.The biography details Foard’s work among the Indians in Laguna Pueblo, New Mexico, and includes Foard’s letters to family and friends, further shedding light on her more than ten year exper ience among the Indians. As the Lanmon’s discovered at multiple art exhibits throughout the country, Foard’s influence on Western pottery is extensive, and stands as the legacy for this ambitious woman.
Insights Gained from Events Remembered: Personal Encounters with a Meaningful Moment.
By Paul W. Hodson. (Midvale, UT: self published, 2008. 70 pp., Paper, $15.00.)
Paul W. Hodson’s long association with the University of Utah as an administrator and later vice-president provided encounters between the university and leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In this short book of interesting anecdotes the author provides insight into the personal relationships that usually resulted in expressions of mutual respect between the two institutions.
