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Show A Believing People: Literature of the Latter-day Saints. Edited by RICHARD H. CRA-CROFT and NEAL E. LAMBERT. (Provo: Brigham Young University Press, 1974. xvi + 495 pp. Cloth, $10.95; paper, $7.95.) A Believing People is an anthology of literature (with a small "1") from the origins of the Mormon church to the present. There are sections on history; biography and autobiography; letters; journals and diaries; discourses; the essay; poetry; fiction; the novel; and drama. The collection was prepared specifically for a class in Mormon literature which the compilers teach at Brigham Young University^ although they express the hope that it will have a wider appeal. There has been a vigorous dialogue in recent years about the existence or lack of a genuine Mormon literature. William Mulder, Karl Keller, Eugene England, myself, Arthur Henry King, and the editors of this anthology, among others, have attempted to define Mormon literature and to find it. Until Cracroft and Lambert put this substantial collection of material between the covers of one book it was, perhaps, difficult to accurately see Mormon literature. One coidd simply cite all of the examples of bad literature or exaggerate the wrorth of the few good pieces of writing to defend a particular thesis. With almost five hundred pages before us we can clearly see that on the whole the literature of the Mormons is neither as good as its defenders have said nor as bad as its detractors have contended. All anthologies are subject to criticism on the basis of what they include or exclude since they cannot hope to be all things to all people. Nevertheless, one wonders what logic prompted Cracroft and Lambert to: include Thomas L. Kane's remembrance of the Mormons and omit such other non-Mormons as Bernard DeVoto and Wallace Stegner; devote so little space to letters (only five authors are represented and only twelve pages devoted to what might have been one of the richest sections of the book) ; include so many hymn texts (which look naked stripped of rheir musical setting) and the two children's poems ("Give, Said the Little Stream" and "I Am A Child of God") and omit such poets as Sarah Elizabeth Carmichael, Bruce Jorgensen, Ronald Wilcox^ or Stephen Gould (to name only those who come readily to mind) ; include two selections from Nephi Anderson's fiction and none of Samuel Taylor, Paul Bailey, Richard Scowcroft, or Roclello Hunter (again, to name only those who are readily remembered) ; neglect non-American Mormon writers (are there no Mormons outside the United States who have written literature worthy of consideration in such an anthology?) ; and devote so little space to one of the best pieces of Mormon fiction, Maurine Whipple's The Giant Joshua, while devoting so much to a rather undistinguished drama, Martin Kelly's And They Shall Be Gathered. Another criticism of the text is that it seems written too directly to the BYU community. For example, five of the 422 Utah Historical Quarterly seven selections under essays are by BYU faculty, and too much of the poetry seems to have been selected because the authors were connected with BYU. But if A Believing People has weaknesses, it also has strengths: it gives one the historical perspective for the unfolding of Mormon letters; it makes a good deal of worthwhile (if not always notable) writing easily available; it has a wide variety of literary specimens; and, especially, it includes a few pieces of Literature (with a capital "L") that makes us rejoice that, as Dylan Thomas says? there are wild men (and women) who catch and sing the sun in flight. Without naming them all, I would say that the anthology is worth the price of admission for at least these pieces: Clinton Larson's "A Letter from Israel Whiton, 1851"; Emma Lou Thayne's "Sunday School Picture"; David L. Wright's "A Gathering of Saints"; Linda Sillitoe's "Trip Toward Prayer"; and Thomas Asplund's "The Heart of My Father." It is unlikely that A Believing People will have an appeal beyond the believers, simply because, as valuable a collection as it is, there is an obvious bias in it toward a literature that reinforces belief rather than one which explores being. Cracroft and Lambert say in their introduction that a literary criticism which fails to take into account the fact that Mormons believe they constitute the only true church "is not only unfair, it is futile." One wonders what this has to do with literature. The anthology demonstrates that some authors whose writing is informed by this central Mormon ideal wrote sentimental, singularly uninspired literature, and true belief and special pleading do not make it otherwise. Others, writing from the same perspective, have produced literature that doesn't need special pleading, that endures because it speaks truly or sings beautifully. In evaluating the moralistic fiction written among the Mormons in the nineteenth century (and apparently to justify the inclusion of examples of it in their text) Cracroft and Lambert remark, "Modern Mormons, more sophisticated in their tastes^ reject the stories wrhile continuing to applaud the morality of tales wherein the love of young Mormons, strained by a temporary straying from the faith by one of the pair, is rewarded with happiness when the erring one realizes that he or she had been misled by a wicked world." I contend that if modern Mormons really are sophisticated they will also reject the simplistic and sentimental morality that lies behind these stories. The "She-Came-to-Realize" school of fiction, as Samuel W. Taylor has called it, produces neither good literature nor good morals. Among the best literature in this volume is personal literature - diaries, journals, letters, etc. Selections from Parley P. Pratt's autobiography, the last will and testament of Brigham Young, the journal of Hosea Stout the remi-niscence of Mary Goble Pay - all have an honesty, clarity., and poignance beyond much of the poetry and fiction, perhaps because they are based on real experience. And as a resource for belles lettres they represent a rich storehouse that contemporary Mormon writers have scarcely touched. (An example as to how such material can be successfully exploited is Eileen G. Kump's story, "The Willows.") For almost a hundred years Mormons have spoken enthusiastically about the beginnings of a literature. I suspect that one of the reasons for the retarded flowering of Mormon literature has been our failure to realize that such a literature grows out of an honest as well as an imaginative examination of life. There is little evidence in A Believing People of the conflicts within Mormonism or of the real life struggles of the Book Reviews and Notices 423 Saints - their failures and doubts and despair as well as their successes and faith and joy. With some notable exceptions, this literature, to borrow a phrase from Faulkner's Nobel acceptance speech, "grieves on no universal bones." Nevertheless, as noted before, Cracroft and Lambert have performed a valuable service in bringing so much Mormon literature within easy grasp, and, hopefully, as young Latter-day Saints at BYU discover this literature, they will see both how poor and how rich it is and will participate in the realization of Orson Whitney's vision of Mormon literature (as expressed in his 1888 essay on "Home Literature") : "In God's name and by his help we will build up a literature whose top shall touch heaven, though its foundations may now be on earth." ROBERT A. REES Director Department of Humanities and Communications UCLA Extension Los Angeles Conflict and Compromise: The Mormons in Mid-Nineteenth-Century American Politics. By J. KEITH MELVILLE. (Provo: Political Science Department, Brigham Young University, 1974. viii 4-121 pp. Paper, $3.95.) Conflict and Compromise is a brief, well-organized, and readable account of Mormon political activity from, but not including, the exodus from Nauvoo to President Fillmore's "second set" of Utah territorial appointments in the spring of 1852. It is a general account, not intended to be a definitive work. The book is organized into three parts. Part one concerns frontier politics in Iowa. This oft-forgotten era of Mormon political history has long been ignored; Dr. Melville's organization of key issues and personalities is a contribution filling a gap left too long in the political tradition and history of the Mormon people. Of particular interest is the relationship between Orson Hyde and Almon W. Babbitt. As good research always does, it raises other issues that beg for further study. The controversy between Hyde and Babbitt is the spice of interest in this chapter5 and Babbitt's role in early Mormon politics needs further work. The second part - nearly half of the book - concerns itself with Utah and tfhe attempt of the Mormon leadership to gain statehood during the Compromise of 1850. The reviewer found this chapter to be the most interesting. It is well written and well enough organized to be read by the historian or layman with interest. The relationship of John C. Calhoun, Daniel Webster, and Henry Clay and their political ideas vis-a-vis Deseret's statehood were of great interest. But the key personality of the chapter is clearly John M. Bernhisel. Professor Melville is obviously impressed with Bemhisel's efforts in Washington as a lobbyist, and an excellent account of his work results. Two unanswered questions emerge in this chapter. Perhaps there is no answer, but academia requires someone to make; the attempt. The relationship of the Council of Fifty to political and ecclesiastical decisions with regard to the kingdom of God on earth needs some explanation. The chapter also skirts the issue of whether Mormons were really loyal to the United States government. How central was Mormon loyalty to "Mormons and Gentiles" in political United States during mid-nineteenth century? 424 Utah Historical Quarterly The third part of the book relates the problems of the genesis of government in Utah. It is difficult to try to tell a controversial story with brevity, but for a short version, this author has done as well as anyone. The most exciting part of this chapter is the documentation of the famous verbal clash and further exchanges of communication between Brigham Young and Judge Brocchus at the conference in September of 1851. Much more had to have gone on before this heated, vitriolic affair, but once again, this is a brief account of antagonism between these two men and the problems of "Mormons vs. the Teds.' " Some readers may notice a pro- Mormon bias in the occasional use of Mormon phraseology and nonpolitical statements that are unrelated to the research, but Conflict and Compromise is nevertheless a scholarly and readable brief account of Mormon politics. Its strength and weakness is its brevity. The book is recommended to scholars and laymen who want a quick overview of some of the major issues and personalities concerned with the trying problems of a controversial era. RAYMOND G. BRISCOE Associate Professor of Behavioral Science Westminster College The Alta Club, 1883-1974. By O. N. MALMQUIST. 1974. xi 4- 151 pp. $7.95.) Salt Lake City: The Alta Club, In his preface the author states it was not his intent to write a book that was a "recital of events relating to the operation of the club" but one that emphasized the nature of the society that produced the Alta Club. In achieving his objective, O. N. Malmquist drew upon his extensive background of political reporting and his writing of The First 100 Years: A History of the Salt Lake Tribune, wherein he wrote with great skill of the political and social division in Utah between the Mormons and non- Mormons. And although the Alta Club membership initially reflected this same division, Malmquist claims that "the club served as one of the instruments of accommodation" that eventually brought a reconciliation between the contending factions in Utah society. The author notes that at its founding, the club membership was drawn primarily from those men involved in some way with Utah's mining industry. It was they who, in 1883, got together to organize a gentlemen's social club along the lines of those "transplanted from Britain to the older American cities." Of the eighty-one charter members, none was a practicing Mormon. Eventually, as in politics, an accommodation did take place, and in 1885 the first Mormon (millionaire merchant William Jennings) was admitted. By the turn of the century, about a dozen Mormons were members, including a son and grandson of Brigham Young. Today of the approximately four hundred twenty-five resident members, 40 percent belong to the Mormon church. Whether or not this is a fixed maximum ratio, as rumored, Malmquist does not say. This is a small book but an interesting, wrell-written one. The author achieves his intent in presenting a picture of a Salt Lake City society that gave birth to the city's first, and now oldest, social club. Interesting vignettes are provided of some of the founders of the club, and the author makes a good case for his belief that the Alta Club became a "melting pot" for the many social, business, political, and religious factions that exist in Salt Lake. Anti- Semitism was never practised in the Book Reviews and Notices 425 club -• several prominent Jews were among the early members. Malmquist is careful, however, to point out that while the first members were primarily associated with the mining industry, and now the medical and legal professions, the club as such has never taken an official position on political or social issues. This does not deny that individual members carry considerable "political clout"-attested to by the fact that six Utah governors and seven Utah senators were members. The common impression that the Alta Club originated in the mining town of Alta is dispelled by Malmquist as is the impression that the club was the epitome of wealth and prosperity. In the 1930s the club almost went under or merged with a rival social club. One of the devices that helped pull it through the Great Depression was a slot machine (two. in fact), liberally contributed to by one of the stalwarts of the Mormon church. These and many other fascinating insights into Salt Lake City society are provided by Malmquist in an interesting and entertaining manner. A photographic section provides a bit of nostalgia of the club as it once was and of the street where it and many of its founding members lived in luxury. The Alta Club is worthy of gracing the shelves of any reader who enjoys Utah history. EVERETT L. COOLEY Curator of Special Collections University of Utah Library Nauvoo: The City of Joseph. By DAVID E. MILLER and DELLA S. MILLER. (Santa Barbara and Salt Lake City: Peregrine Smith, Inc., 1974. xiii + 264 pp. $10.00.) Nauvoo: The City of Joseph is neither a biography of a city nor of its most illustrious citizen, Joseph Smith; however, the title fits well the Millers' theme for the book; namely, that Joseph the Mormon prophet impacted the new community, then home and headquarters of the Mormon church, more than any other figure. Their book, in fact, is an outline of the city's growth under the Mormon aegis. More than that it is an account of the institutional development of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the setting of the city on the Mississippi River where a dedicated religious minority sought expression as a part of the greater American frontier majority. Carefully, the Millers narrate the early history of Mormonism, the Missouri phase being especially succinct. This effort is followed by a precise review of the land acquisitions of the acreage that became Nauvoo. This effort reflects the quality research of Dr. Miller, the interests of the National "Park Service, and the particular needs of Nauvoo Restoration Incorporated whic'a, in fact, generated the research for the book. In this effort the work provides a unique contribution. The Millers follow with a description of the city's development, maintaining that the Nauvoo period was also one of unparalleled consequence as far as Mormon theology and practice was concerned. They cite as examples the principles and practices of baptism for the dead, plural and celestial marriage, publication of the "First Vision," Pearl of Great Price, the Articles of Faith, History of the Church, establishment of the Council of Fifty, Joseph Smith's running for the presidency of the United States, and others. With deft understanding Dr. Miller reviews the Nauvoo Charter and its incompatibility with the American Constitution, especially the concept of separation of powers. Here we are given a 426 Utah Historical Quarterly good look at an attempt for minority survival in a nation of majority rule. The Millers are generous but not uncritical of Mormon maneuvers. In tracing the martyrdom of Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum, Miller places particular blame on Mormon politics, on the Warsaw Signal, and on Governor Ford. In keeping with their theme of the City of Joseph, the Millers suggest that Mormon reaction to their leaders' deaths reflected the dominion of Joseph the prophet. The book concludes with Brigham Young's ascension to leadership and the final exodus to Utah in 1846-47. The Millers write from a position of sympathy and familiarity with Mormon history and theology. It appears on occasion that they are tempted to extrapolate from the present "good Mormon" concept to a similar one for Mormons of the Nauvoo period. Yet, as their book clearly illustrates, the 1840- 45 years were some of Mormonism's most dynamic ones. The book is not definitive nor particularly interpretive, but it is good narrative history especially useful to laymen and/or travelers to Nauvoo who wish to visit the sites restored by Nauvoo Restoration Incorporated, which histories are treated in detail in the book. One may also criticize the extensive quotes included in the book which provide rare nuances of understanding not better handled by Dr. Miller's capable pen. Finally the book is attractive and well bound, with good chronology, an outline and an index. The word appraise (p. 32) should be apprise, and a typo (p. 172) should be corrected in future printings. MELVIN T. SMITH Director Utah State Historical Society The Arizona of Joseph Pratt Allyn; Letters from a Pioneer Judge: Observations and Travels, 1863-1866. Edited by JOHN NICOLSON. (Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1974. xviii + 284 pp. $8.50.) Joseph Pratt Allyn was a careful and thoughtful observer of the Arizona scene of the mid-1860s. As an outsider from Connecticut, carrying an appointment as associate justice of the Supreme Court in the new territorial government, he came with fresh eyes and in an official capacity which allowed him to travel extensively. He met many of the early pioneers who were instrumental in forming Arizona, and he recorded them with insight understanding, and some humor. Best of all, Allyn wrote beautifully. This volume is made up of a series of letters, divided into twenty-seven installments which were published in the Hartford Evening Press between March 7, 1864, and August 21, 1865. Obviously written for an eastern readership, they are full of detail, vivid impressions, and an enthusiasm for the economic potential of what was still largely a wilderness. During his travels he visited nearly all of Arizona's then populated areas and mining centers, traveled the Colorado by steamboat, and faced the hardships of mountain and desert travel. Though not a well man, young Allyn seemed to feel a boundless joy in all he did and saw. Allyn's narrative is well supported by his editor, Dr. John Nicolson, an associate professor of history at Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff. His introduction traces Allyn's family background, his early life in Connecticut, his travels abroad, and his political efforts which led to his court appointment by President Lincoln. The introduction Book Reviews and Notices 427 also traces Allyn's trip west based on letters by the judge sent to Evening Press, followed by a brief but well-defined description of Arizona at the time of Allyn's arrival late in 1863. The editor's footnotes contain a wealth of information and reflect his thorough use of known as well as more obscure sources. Unfortunately, his research fails in a few cases where he has not consulted more recent periodical literature, but the mistakes do not seriously mar the story he tells. Allyn chose not to discuss his judicial or political activities in his letters to the paper, and this is unfortunate for Arizona historians. From Dr. Nicolson's sixteen pages in the introduction, we learn something about Allyn's work as as frontier judge, a duty he handled with apparent competence, but there is less about his political life. We know from the local press that he was outspoken, strong-minded and politically ambitious, but we can only be tantalized by his early, bitter animosity toward Richard C. McCormick, first secretary, second governor, and delegate to Congress from Arizona. The Allyn-McCor-mic< rivalry forms the heart of the political scene in the first few years of territorial Arizona, but this volume adds little to our knowledge of the reasons for, or the details of, the controversy. In all, this publication is a valuable and highly readable account of life in Ari2ona during the formulative two years in the territory's early history. The volume ranks with the recollections of Martha Summerhayes, the reporting of J. Ross Browne, and the Hesperian Letters of the 1850s. It should become a standard source for students. Even more, it is good reading and brings one close to the times about which it is written. SIDNEY B. BRINCKERHOFF Director Arizona Historical Society - Tucson Voices from the Wilderness: The Frontiersman s Own Story. Edited by THOMAS FRONCEK. (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1974. xv + 360 pp. $9.95.) This book is a collection of excerpts from accounts written or dictated by frontiersmen. In a few instances the excerpts come from accounts written about frontiersmen by close contemporaries. The editor has prefaced each excerpt with a brief biographical statement, and he has provided, by way of introduction, an essay on the general significance of the frontier authors included here. These accounts allow the reader to see at firsthand how frontiersmen from 1750 to 1880 interpreted their own experience in the wilderness. Together they give a cross section of exploration, trail making, trapping, hunting, trading, Indian warfare, and thin-edged escapes from human and natural perils. For example, James Smith, who observed Braddock's defeat and lived in Indian captivity, writes about his acquisition of the techniques of Indian warfare and about his part in teaching these techniques to his fellow Americans. Daniel Boone, through the pen of John Filson, recounts the first serious invasion of settlers beyond the Appalachian ridge. Jedediah Smith narrates his epic exploration of the trail between the Rocky Mountains and California. With a touch of bravado, James Beckwourth tells of his regression to the savage ways of the Indian tribes into which he was adopted. James Clyman writes of the terrors and privations of his journey without companions or 428 Utah Historical Quarterly weapons through hundreds of miles of wilderness. This will be a useful book for the historian needing a sampling rather than an exhaustive compilation of frontier narratives. It will be interesting, even exciting, for the lay reader as well. These accounts have the ring of authenticity that comes from firsthand observation. The suspense of violent conflict, the pleasures of new lands and strange peoples, the heroic endurance and will to survive that fiction and popular history have associated with the frontier all find reflection in the accounts selected for this book. Beyond these values, however, this collection may not prove useful. It is a limited kind of historiography. It is limited in part by the boundaries which the editor imposes upon himself in his selections. According to the editor, the figures he has included in his collection have in common the fact that they penetrated wilderness without changing it into something other than wilderness. Other frontier figures-rivermen, naturalists, cowboys, pioneer farmers - are excluded as "newcomers" whose "dream depended not on living with the wild but on conquering it." This distinction seems scarcely accurate. The accounts included in the collection reveal a great deal of exploitation and alteration of the wilderness, while many accounts of the excluded "newcomers"-Parkman's The Oregon Trail, John Muir's The Mountains of California, Teddy Blue's We Pointed Them North, for example -• show as much about the adaptation of Americans to wilderness. A more significant limitation of this book is its dearth of interpretation. Firsthand accounts are the raw material from which finished historiography is made. It is true that the editor's biographical prefaces and introductory essay furnish a degree of interpretation. The editor's thesis is that wilderness affected frontiersmen by forcing them to adapt to a primitive, Indian-like mode of life and by imposing upon them privations and dangers to which the frontiersman made a vigorous and heroic response that transformed them into the first truly distinct American character. Their image lingers on in the national mind, the editor says, as an object of reverence and fascination. The accounts included in this book sustain this thesis. However, the reader is likely to lose sight of the thesis during long pages featuring the details of travel, the routines of camp life, and the record of commercial transactions. Moreover, the thesis is superficially stated and generally leaves unexamined specific ways in which the frontier experience helped transform the European into an American. Recent advances in the social sciences could do much to tell us how this transformation took place. What we know about the unconscious mind, about people acting in groups, about the psychodynamics of people entering new environments can give new illumination to the history of the frontier. The present collection of accounts is limited because it does not give us a balanced mixture of basic historical fact and perceptive interpretation. Historiography should do more than give us exciting episodes or confirmation of our historical preconceptions. It should give us progressively more sophisticated interpretation of why and how historical facts occurred. It should do more than restate the old truth that wilderness had an immense influence on American character. It should delineate even more precisely how that influence was exerted. LEVI S. PETERSON Professor of English Weber State College Book Reviews and Notices 429 A Guide to America's Indians: Ceremonials, Reservations, and Museums. By ARNOLD MARQUIS. (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1974. xii 4 267 pp. Cloth, $9.95; paper, $4.95.) The author of this guide is "a playwright, producer, and director." His documentary on the plight of the American Indian, The Only Good Indian, won the UCLA award and is now in the National Archives, according to the book's dust jacket. Although he has worked many places in the world, he claims on the dust jacket "a lifelong interest in the American Indians" and thirty years firsthand acquaintance with places and tribes described in the guide. Most of the hundred and forty-five photographs used to illustrate the guide are credited to public agencies-Bureau of Indian Affairs, National Park Service, tourist bureaus of several states, etc., and they serve as a small sample of the sights which might be seen on the modern Indian reservations. In addition to the photographs the guide includes fourteen maps, also from official sources, showing aboriginal locations of tribes in a general way and present locations of reservations and towns with large Indian populations. The text consists of sixty-one short essays, without references, presenting the opinions of Arnold Marquis on as many different subjects. Since he cites about a hundred and fifty volumes in his bibliography, it is clear his little reports are very generalized and summary. Such brief statements may be more misleading than factual. For example, in his first essay "Who Are the Indians?" is found: "They were a composite of nomads from Asia and Europe, from the Near East, even from Africa. Basically they were Mongolian, with infusions of Caucasian. . . ." Except the information that the American Indians were basically Mongolian, evidence for the rest of the statement above is so questionable as to not warrant inclusion in a summary statement of the origin of the American Indians. The book emphasizes what might be observed of ancient culture in museums: pottery and stone work, as well as the continuing arts and crafts. Indian ceremonials and dances are touched upon, but Marquis fails to make clear which are religious and sacred at which polite, well-behaved visitors are allowed and which are contests and performances staged for the financial benefit of actors and producers designed to attract and accommodate as many tourists, Indian and white, as possible. I suppose this guide may be valuable for tourists who wish to visit American Indians wherever they live for a superficial observation of modern American Indian life. This supports Indians who have built motels, campgrounds, restaurants, and arts and crafts shops. In the Southwest region, for example, fifty campgrounds are established on Indian land with pure water and toilets provided for a fee. The calendar of Indian events should not be accepted as valid for any group any year. Anyone making plans to attend a particular ceremony should write the tribe involved for exact dates and conditions of attendance. Fortunately, Arnold Marquis presents the addresses, including the zip code numbers, of nearly all the Indian groups in the United States. OMER C. STEWART Department of Anthropology University of Colorado Boulder 430 Utah Historical Quarterly Indians and Bureaucrats: Administering the Reservation Policy during the Civil War. By EDMUND JEFFERSON DANZIGER, JR. (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1974. xiv + 240 pp. $8.95.) This is a well-written, well-researched, fast-moving narrative description of problems faced by the Indians and field officials of the Indian Office (Bureau of Indian Affairs) during the Civil War period. The author describes the brief history of the reservation policy, begun during the 1850s, which required that Indians be gathered in colonies where they be "civilized," well out of the way of the oncoming whites. The Civil War diverted attention, resources, and personnel from the effective implementation of the policy. Against this background, the author describes the problems faced by representative tribes of Indians and Indian Office employees. Mr. Danziger divides his study into two parts: nomad Indians and reservation Indians. In the former section he describes in detail the problems surrounding the struggle for eastern Colorado which led to the eventual removal of the Cheyenne and Arapahoe. During the 1860s there were great tensions between the territorial administration and the impotent Indian Office. Complicating the situation was the dual role of the territorial governor who also served as ex officio superintendent of Indian affairs. Danziger sees the Sand Creek Massacre (Battle) of 1864 as perhaps the most tragic evidence of the Indian Office's inability to provide and protect their charges. Using the Indian Office's poor showing in Colorado as an example, the author goes on to complete the first section with an interwoven narrative describing the fate of other tribes in Montana, the Great Basin, and the Southwest. Included is a fine segment on the Apache and Navajo at Bosque Redondo (New Mexico) that describes the classic philosophical differences between civilian (New Mexico Indian superintendent Michael Steck) and military (Gen. James Carelton) approaches to handling the Indians. The second section of the book outlines the problems of relocating and providing for tribes on reservations. As the Cheyenne and Arapahoe are the focus of the first section, so the Santee Sioux are of the second. Also described are the problems involved with settling other tribes on reservations ranging from California (with its peculiar problems) to the border areas and the complications of providing for the Indians in time of war. Danziger concludes that the Civil War period was probably the most frustrating period the Indian Office experienced in the Trans-Mississippi West. The wrar and the Indian Office's endemic weakness together with its inability to attract good field personnel are some of the prime reasons given for a lack of progress during the Civil War period. The author's conclusions are well documented in the body of the book. Most of the documentation is based on the letters received by the Indian Office, the vital source in the National Archives for studying Indians and bureaucrats before 1881. In this book one learns what happened to each tribe mentioned - unfortunately the study is structured so that one finds out little about the bureaucrats themselves and the substantive reasons for their actions. The same is true of the Indians. This book amounts to a chronology of events with primary emphasis on an analysis of the outcome. The author states (a) there are ample studies of Indian ethnology, western political machinations, military campaigns, and the varied activities of the Lincoln adminis- Book Reviews and Notices 431 tration, and (b) much remains to be done on the Indian agent, his background, political and business activities, and tenure in office. That Danziger did not include these facets of the story is not a criticism -- merely a comment to guide those who may hope to find them in his book. ROBERT SVENNINGSEN Chief, Archives Branch Federal Archives and Records Center Denver, Colorado One Hundred Million Acres. By KIRKE KICKINGBIRD and KAREN DUCHENEAUX. Foreword by VINE DELORIA, JR. (New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, Inc., 1973. xxx 4- 240 pp. $6.95.) Few of the many books that have come out in recent years dealing with the American Indian have approached contemporary problems and even fewer have attempted to offer a solution other than that of good wishes. One Hundred Million Acres, authored by two former Bureau of Indian Affairs officials, one a Kiowa and the other a Sioux, does both in a manner entertaining, provocative, and practical. The authors have chosen a format that takes them through selective areas where a strong argument can be made that the United States holds lands that should be, and could be, turned over to' the various Indian tribes, thus providing them with an economic base while lowering federal administrative costs. The authors strongly imply that by these land transfers the federal government would not lose financially and might very well gain. They do especially well in illustrating a much-overlooked problem, that of fractionated heirship on the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation. The nearly five-page list of heirs on a 320- acre tract illustrates a major problem in land ownership, management, and leasing that anyone associated with reservations is aware of but that few have shown so graphically. This one example is worth the price of the book. But there is much more. Mr. Kickingbird and Miss Ducheneaux, writing in the style of sardonic wit popularized by Vine Deloria, Jr., offer a number of ways to solve tribal land problems. The fundamental point is that the United States should establish and guarantee a Native American land base of not less than 110 million acres that would be managed by the Indians themselves under freedom from taxation and with complete tribal control. These lands, removed from national parks and the like, would include full water rights and be subject to stiff safeguards in regard to their potential sale. In addition, the authors recommend that low-interest loan funds in the amount of $100 million be made available for the purchase of allotted lands and interest therein. Landless tribes need to be provided with land. The Indian Claims Commission should be made permanent for cases involving Indian lands. All of these are sensible suggestions, and the authors may well be correct in their assertion that the costs would not be as great as some might anticipate. They are realistic enough to realize that all of this will not come to pass immediately and that they are up against considerable forces that go beyond the federal bureaucracy and the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Various ecologically minded groups, such as the: Sierra Club, would violently oppose transferring lands out of the National Park Service. The authors are to be congratulated for recognizing that the basic problem of the American Indian is economic. They have the courage and the imagination to tackle it and to offer a 432 Utah Historical Quarterly potential solution. It is to be hoped that they will continue their investigations into other problem areas such as the plight of the urban Indian, education, and jurisdictional questions. J O S E P H H. CASH Duke Research Professor of History University of South Dakota Vermillion Mormon Democrat: The Religious and Political Memoirs of James Henry Moyle. Edited by GENE A. SESSIONS. (Salt Lake City: The James Moyle Genealogical and Historical Association, 1975. xxviii + 503 pp.) The papers of James Henry Moyle, now in the collections of the Historical Department of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have been tapped to compile this rich memoir of an unabashedly partisan Democrat. Moyle's memoranda are replete with choice speculation about the motives of such stalwart Republicans as Apostles Francis M. Lyman, John Henry Smith, and Reed Smoot. The larger question of church influence in Utah politics is examined as well. Moyle also relates tales of the kind so often excised from family papers by well-meaning but misguided descendants. Moyle was a warm, open person whose free acknowledgement of his political bias makes his observations on affairs of church and state a refreshing antidote to the many "public relations" versions of historical events and persons. The James Moyle family and Gene Sessions have rendered a service in presenting the whole man for the reader's view. Fresh Meat/Warm Weather. By JOYCE ELIASON. (New York: Harper and Row, 1974. 145 pp. $6.95.) The dust jacket describes the book as a novel, but Fresh Meat/Warm Weather might just as well be described as the autobiographical confessions of a sensitive and artistic personality reexamining her Utah background in the quest for self-identity. Though not strictly historical, the book will undoubtedly jar the memory of anyone who grew up in "those hills and little faraway Mormon towns with names like Moroni, Lehi, Nephi." Sure to be anathematized by many home-towners for her unblushing frankness, the author nevertheless writes with charm and strength. To the historical community her book will probably grow in interest and value with the passing of time. It is a powerful and revealing statement. California Catholicism: A Holy Year Tribute. By FRANCIS J. WEBER. (Los Angeles: Chancery Archives, Archdiocese of Los Angeles, 1975. xv + 208 pp.) Intended for a general audience, this book consists of 120 vignettes of per- |
