Book Notices

Cedar City. Images of America Series.

By Jennifer Hunter. (Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing, 2012. 127 pp. Paper, $21.99.)

On November 11, 1851, a band of thirty-six men arrived in the middle of a blinding snowstorm to begin the settlement of Cedar City. Before the year was out, log cabins were under construction, including one by George Wood, now located in the Frontier Homestead State Park. From its tentative beginning as a Mormon pioneer settlement, to its designation as Utah’s “Festival City,” nearly a century and a half of history can be found in the pages of this book by Cedar City resident Jennifer Hunter. Organized topically, the eight chapters examine first settlers and heroes; religion and education; mining, agriculture, and industry; historic downtown and Main Street; planes, trains, and automobiles; films and tourism; Utah Shakespeare Festival; and Utah Summer Games and Festival City USA.

Salt Lake City’s Historic Architecture. Images of America Series.

By Allan DaleRoberts. (Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing, 2012. 127 pp. Paper, $21.99.)

The rich architectural history of Salt Lake City provides the subject of this volume by Allen D. Roberts, an award-winning author and architect. The book covers nearly a hundred years of Salt Lake City history, from 1850 to the 1930s. The nine chapters are organized by types of buildings, including civic and public architecture; religious architecture; commercial and office architecture; industrial buildings; hotels and apartments; educational architecture; clubs and societies; theaters, depots, hospitals, and miscellaneous buildings; and single family residences.

Ogden’s Trolley District. Images of America Series.

By Shalae Larsen and Sue Wilkerson.(Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing, 2012. 127 pp. Paper, $21.99.)

The trolley served as a bridge between the horse-and-buggy era of the nineteenth century and the automobile age of the twentieth century. It facilitated the construction of homes outside the city center and stimulated business and activity in the heart of the city. Beginning with a mule-drawn trolley in 1883, the system evolved and became a valued part of Ogden for more than fifty years until its discontinuation in 1935. The Trolley District, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, stretches from Twentieth Street south to Thirtieth Street and from Harrison Boulevard west to Adams Avenue. Two residents of that district, Shalae Larsen and Sue Wilkerson, have compiled an impressive photographic history that reflects the colorful past and rich architecture of the Ogden Trolley District.

West Valley City.

By Mike Winder. (Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing, 2012. 127 pp. Paper, $21.99.)

Although West Valley City was not incorporated until 1980, its origins go back to 1848, when newly arrived Mormon settlers took up land “Over Jordan” on the west side of the Salt Lake Valley and on the west side of the Jordan River. Working with the West Valley City Historical Society, the city’s mayor and veteran author, Mike Winder, has organized a book that follows a chronological order with half of the pages covering the period just prior to incorporation to the present. The book contains more than two hundred photographs and captions. It will go far to help the residents of Utah’s second largest city develop a sense of place and historical connectedness.

Legendary Locals of Ogden.

By Sarah Langsdon and Melissa Johnson.(Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing, 2012. 127 pp. Paper, $21.99.)

As a companion series to the popular Arcadia Images of America Series that focuses on places, institutions, and events, Legendary Locals of Ogden is a most appropriate volume to launch the series in Utah. Sarah Langsdon and Melissa Johnson, staff at Weber State University’s Stewart Library Special Collections, have utilized the university’s collection of photographs relating to Ogden’s history—photographs that include everyone from prostitutes to presidents. Legendary Locals of Ogden is organized into nine chapters about pioneers, business men and women, public servants, teachers, the military, women’s organizations, culture and recreation, local and national leaders, and the famous and infamous.

Bitter Water: Diné Oral Histories of the Navajo–Hopi Land Dispute.

Edited and translated by Malcolm D. Benally. (Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 2011. 103 pp.Paper, $19.95.)

This slim book makes a strong case for the use of video in conducting oral history interviews. The four Navajo (Diné) women whose narratives it presents are residents of northern central Arizona, an area encompassed by the Navajo reservation that is also the historic home of the Hopi. Each of the four chapters begins with the Navajo transcript of the interview followed by the English translation. A fifth chapter, entitled “Sheep Is Life,” offers valuable insights into the importance of sheep in the culture and economic life of the Navajo. A useful chronology outlines important events in the controversy, from the passage by the United States Congress of the Navajo–Hopi Land Settlement Act in 1974 to the sending of relocation notices in October 2005.