The following titles are available in sets of approximately fifteen copies; sometimes more. Those with an asterisk * have a study guide to accompany the title. Please call (801) 359-9670 to check availability. We invite you to select books from the following themes. (Some titles may be found in more than one category.)

Stories from the American West

Dancing at the Rascal Fair – (Ivan Doig, 1987) From its opening on the quays of a Scottish port in 1889, to its close on a windswept Montana homestead three decades later, this story is a passionate and authentic chronicle of an American experience.

The Devil’s Highway - (Luis Alberto Urrea, 2004) Luis Alberto Urrea tells the true story of a group of men who illegally crossed the border from Mexico and attempted to enter America through one of the most inhospitable stretches of Arizona desert known as The Devil's Highway. Urrea not only chronicles their descent into hell on earth, but the economic and cultural forces that drove them to attempt such a risky trek in search of a better life.  Caught as pawns between governments and tempted by smugglers who seek only to profit from others' despair, these men were willing to take that risk, with disastrous consequences.

The Grapes of Wrath– (John Steinbeck, 1939) An American classic looks at the effects of economic and political forces on families and small communities.  It is also one of the few works of fiction that explores how people organize independent familial and community associations to build the good society.

Great and Peculiar Beauty – (Thomas Lyon / T.T. Williams, 1995) Personal stories and essays of individuals from a range of perspectives and interests, celebrate Utah’s centennial.

* Land of the Burnt Thigh – (Edith Eudora Kohl, 1938) Thousands of single women settled the American West hoping to gain for themselves a piece of land, and the money and satisfaction that came with it. First published in 1938, this is a lively account of two sister homesteaders on the South Dakota frontier in 1907.

The Milagro Beanfield War: Volume One of the Mexican Trilogy – (John Nichols, 1866) Joe’s gardens shriveled in drought because over thirty-five years before some complicated and political maneuvering had relocated the water from the Milagro’s Indian Creek to some big-time farmers in other parts of the state. One day he decides to irrigate the little field in front of his old house to grow some beans, catalyzing tensions which had been building for years.

New Genesis: A Mormon Reader on Land and Community – (Terry Tempest Williams, William B. Smart, 1998) Members of the LDS faith relate personal experiences with the natural world, drawing on scripture and Mormon tradition to develop and environmental ethic and to practice, in the words of Terry Tempest Williams, the “extraordinary acts of faith we can exercise on behalf of life.”

* O Pioneers! – (Willa Cather, 1986) Cather brings to life the sights, sounds, and scents of the windy Nebraska prairie as she tells the story of Alexandra inheriting her father’s failing farm, raising one brother alone, and being torn by the emergence of an unexpected passion.

* The Professor’s House (Willa Cather, 1925) A prize-winning historian and professor feels trapped in his life and tries to authenticate himself by editing a former student’s western journal.

Reopening the American West -(Hal K. Rothman, 1998) Take a good look at the American West and you'll see that the frontier is undergoing constant changes. This book re-examines the relationship between people and the environment in the American West over five hundred years, from the legacy of Coronado's search for the Cities of Gold to the social costs of tourism and gaming inflicted by modern adventurers.

* Snow Falling on Cedars - (David Guterson, 1995) In 1954 a local fisherman of San Piedro Island, north of Puget Sound is found suspiciously drowned. A Japanese American is charged with his murder and with it brings the memories of a community Japanese residents sent into exile during WWII while its neighbors watched. Great at creating suspense, and a desire to change.

Sum of Our Past: Revisiting Pioneer Women - (Judy Shell Busk, 2004) Pioneer women were as varied as women are today-strong but now without uncertainties and idiosyncrasies. Busk examines how pioneer women dealt with personal issues such as depression, isolation, family planning, and ambition beyond the domestic sphere.

* Who Owns the West? – (William Kittredge) Kittredge offers no easy answers, but a sustained meditation on what it means to be a Westerner today. Three essays compose a celebration of the new West and an elegy for a West that is fading.

* Women’s Diaries of the Westward Journey – (Lillian Schlissel, 1982) More than a quarter million Americans crossed the continental U.S. between 1840 and 1870.  Men of the frontier have become an integral part of history and folklore, but pioneering was a family matter, and the experiences of American women are central to an accurate picture of what life was like on the frontier. These chronicles of women show an absorbing and informative aspect of the westward saga.

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