Utah Historians and the Reconstruction of Western History

Rating:
Summary: Catholics in Zion
Review: "Utah Historians" is a study by a Catholic (imagine!) scholar of five writers whose careers revolutionized the practice of Utah and Mormon history. Indeed, the quirky, craggy faces of Bernard DeVoto, Dale L. Morgan, Juanita Brooks, Wallace Stegner, and Fawn McKay Brodie on the book's cover are a Mount Rushmore of native brilliance, sculpted from salt flats and starvation.

First, a word on what "Utah Historians" might represent. There is always the question of what roles a minority, whether religious, ethnic, or otherwise, will adopt within a community overwhelmingly dominated by another group. In Hollywood, which was invented by the Jews, Catholics found niches as censors and gossip columnists. In the State of Utah (a concept debunked by Federal Judge Willis Ritter as "a figment of your imagination"), invented, owned, and operated by Mormons, Catholic historians have made disproportionate and invaluable contributions to the annals. Aside from the afore-mentioned DeVoto, Utah's first Pulitzer winner, these have included Fr. Robert Joseph Dwyer, a skilled editor who vouchsafed several landmark volumes of Utah Historical Quarterly; Polly Aird, an expert on mass movements to and from Utah; and the author at hand, Gary Topping, archivist for the Diocese of Salt Lake City. Topping implies this contribution is possible because of the Catholic sense of irony, which (let's face it) is foreign to Mormon thought.

Although Topping respects and reveres his five subjects, he is sufficiently conversant with and perceptive of not only their writings but also their sources to know in each case when they were fudging and how, when, and why they did so. For example, while Topping admires Brooks's tenacity and skills of persuasion in tracking down original documents, he can demonstrate instances in which she "altered," "invented," or even "falsified" certain factual materials when it suited her. It is staggering to contemplate the erudition by which Topping saw right through his subjects, as it were. As was also said of Brooks and The Mountain Meadows Massacre, this may be a book that Topping was born to write, as it must needs be written with a clear head, absent a vested interest in whether Joseph Smith and Brigham Young spoke as God's mouthpiece.

In his final pages, Topping laments that despite the appearance of new source material, no Joseph Smith biography subsequent to Brodie's 1946 No Man Knows My History has "put forth a compelling alternative interpretation." He supposes this is because "no non-Mormon scholar has been willing to master the materials, while Mormon scholars are aware of the fate of [writers] who were rebuked by [their] Church and may be afraid to propose a bold interpretation that could challenge Brodie's." The solution would seem to reside in Topping himself, who has obviously mastered the materials and who, as a friend of the Mormons a la Wallace Stegner, is inclined to write with fairness.

Rating:
Summary: Catholics in Zion
Review: "Utah Historians" is a study by a Catholic (imagine!) scholar of five writers whose careers revolutionized the practice of Utah and Mormon history. Indeed, the quirky, craggy faces of Bernard DeVoto, Dale L. Morgan, Juanita Brooks, Wallace Stegner, and Fawn McKay Brodie on the book's cover are a Mount Rushmore of native brilliance, sculpted from salt flats and starvation.

First, a word on what "Utah Historians" might represent. There is always the question of what roles a minority, whether religious, ethnic, or otherwise, will adopt within a community overwhelmingly dominated by another group. In Hollywood, which was invented by the Jews, Catholics found niches as censors and gossip columnists. In the State of Utah (a concept debunked by Federal Judge Willis Ritter as "a figment of your imagination"), invented, owned, and operated by Mormons, Catholic historians have made disproportionate and invaluable contributions to the annals. Aside from the afore-mentioned DeVoto, Utah's first Pulitzer winner, these have included Fr. Robert Joseph Dwyer, a skilled editor who vouchsafed several landmark volumes of Utah Historical Quarterly; Polly Aird, an expert on mass movements to and from Utah; and the author at hand, Gary Topping, archivist for the Diocese of Salt Lake City. Topping implies this contribution is possible because of the Catholic sense of irony, which (let's face it) is foreign to Mormon thought.

Although Topping respects and reveres his five subjects, he is sufficiently conversant with and perceptive of not only their writings but also their sources to know in each case when they were fudging and how, when, and why they did so. For example, while Topping admires Brooks's tenacity and skills of persuasion in tracking down original documents, he can demonstrate instances in which she "altered," "invented," or even "falsified" certain factual materials when it suited her. It is staggering to contemplate the erudition by which Topping saw right through his subjects, as it were. As was also said of Brooks and The Mountain Meadows Massacre, this may be a book that Topping was born to write, as it must needs be written with a clear head, absent a vested interest in whether Joseph Smith and Brigham Young spoke as God's mouthpiece.

In his final pages, Topping laments that despite the appearance of new source material, no Joseph Smith biography subsequent to Brodie's 1946 No Man Knows My History has "put forth a compelling alternative interpretation." He supposes this is because "no non-Mormon scholar has been willing to master the materials, while Mormon scholars are aware of the fate of [writers] who were rebuked by [their] Church and may be afraid to propose a bold interpretation that could challenge Brodie's." The solution would seem to reside in Topping himself, who has obviously mastered the materials and who, as a friend of the Mormons a la Wallace Stegner, is inclined to write with fairness.

Rating:
Summary: Fascinating exploration of Utah historians
Review: Not being a history buff, I stumbled on this book while healing a broken bone and with nothing I could do but read. I found it to be a fascinating adventure. I would never have believed that I'd enjoy a history book so much - it's as much a study of the human mind as of historical events. Mr. Topping is brilliant and a fine fine writer.