Kirjahaku

This is the first biography of Dale L. Morgan, preeminent historian of the Latter Day Saints, the fur trade, and the trails of the American West. The book explores how, despite personal struggles, Morgan remained committed to interpreting the past on the strength of documentary evidence, leaving a legacy to inspire contemporary historians. Connecting Morgan’s life with some of the broad cultural changes that shaped his experiences, this book engages with the methodological shifts that coincided with his career: the mid-twentieth-century collision of interpretations within Latter Day Saint history and the development of a descriptive, scholarly approach to that history. Morgan’s work signaled the start of new ways of understanding, studying, and retelling history, and he motivated a generation of historians from the 1930s to the 1970s to transform their historical approaches. Sounding board, mentor, and close friend to Nels Anderson, Leonard Arrington, Fawn Brodie, Juanita Brooks, Bernard DeVoto, and Wallace Stegner, Dale Morgan is the common factor linking this influential generation of mid-twentieth-century historians of western America.

This is the first biography of Dale L. Morgan, preeminent historian of the Latter Day Saints, the fur trade, and the trails of the American West. The book explores how, despite personal struggles, Morgan remained committed to interpreting the past on the strength of documentary evidence, leaving a legacy to inspire contemporary historians. Connecting Morgan’s life with some of the broad cultural changes that shaped his experiences, this book engages with the methodological shifts that coincided with his career: the mid-twentieth-century collision of interpretations within Latter Day Saint history and the development of a descriptive, scholarly approach to that history. Morgan’s work signaled the start of new ways of understanding, studying, and retelling history, and he motivated a generation of historians from the 1930s to the 1970s to transform their historical approaches. Sounding board, mentor, and close friend to Nels Anderson, Leonard Arrington, Fawn Brodie, Juanita Brooks, Bernard DeVoto, and Wallace Stegner, Dale Morgan is the common factor linking this influential generation of mid-twentieth-century historians of western America.

During the California Gold Rush, many of the miners and merchants who hoped to strike it rich in California left behind letters and journals that provide valuable insights into one of the great migrations in American history. Of all the journals and diaries left behind, William B. Lorton's is perhaps the most informative and complete. Although known to historians for decades, Lorton's journal has never been published. In this volume, LeRoy and Jean Johnson bring Lorton's writings to life with meticulous research and commentary that broadens the context of his narrative. Lorton's work is revealing and entertaining. It captures glimpses of a growing Salt Lake City, the hardships of Death Valley, and the extraordinary and mundane aspects of daily life on the road to gold. With resilience and a droll sense of humor, Lorton shares accounts of life-threatening stampedes, dangerous hailstorms, mysteriously moving rocks, and slithering sidewinders. The inclusion of images, maps, and the editors' detailed notes make this a volume that will entertain and inform.

During the California Gold Rush, many of the miners and merchants who hoped to strike it rich in California left behind letters and journals that provide valuable insights into one of the great migrations in American history. Of all the journals and diaries left behind, William B. Lorton's is perhaps the most informative and complete. Although known to historians for decades, Lorton's journal has never been published. In this volume, LeRoy and Jean Johnson bring Lorton's writings to life with meticulous research and commentary that broadens the context of his narrative. Lorton's work is revealing and entertaining. It captures glimpses of a growing Salt Lake City, the hardships of Death Valley, and the extraordinary and mundane aspects of daily life on the road to gold. With resilience and a droll sense of humor, Lorton shares accounts of life-threatening stampedes, dangerous hailstorms, mysteriously moving rocks, and slithering sidewinders. The inclusion of images, maps, and the editors' detailed notes make this a volume that will entertain and inform.