Brenden W. Rensink

Historian of the North American West, Borderlands, Indigenous Peoples, and Environment

Recent Utah History

Blog

Someone asked for recommendations of good recent Utah History books and rather than just messaging them my list, I figured I might as well post it here for everyone – amazon links embedded.

Over the past few years I have read a LOT of Utah History while serving on award committees for the Utah State Historical Society and the Mormon History Association. Needless to say, these come highly recommended.

Brent Rogers
Unpopular Sovereignty: Mormons and the Federal Management of Early Utah Territory
University of Nebraska Press, 2017

Sandra G. Jones
Being and Becoming Ute: The Story of an American Indian People
University of Utah Press, 2019

Darren Parry
The Bear River Massacre: A Shoshone History
By Common Consent Press, 2019

James Swensen
In a Rugged Land: Ansel Adams, Dorothea Lange, and the Three Mormon Towns Collaboration, 1953-1954
University of Utah Press, 2018

Thomas G. Alexander
Brigham Young and the Expansion of the Mormon Faith
University of Oklahoma Press, 2019

Kenneth W. Baldridge
The Civilian Conservation Corps in Utah, 1933-1942: Remembering Nine Years of Achievement 
University of Utah Press, 2019

Kristen Rogers-Iverson
Interwoven: Junipers and the Web of Being
University of Utah Press, 2018

David Walker
Railroading Religion: Mormons, Tourists, and the Corporate Spirit of the West
University of North Carolina Press, 2019