October 2004

The Reading Room - Publications by Members of the U of U Community

Frederick Quinn, adjunct professor of political science at the University of Utah, has a new book forthcoming in November 2004, Building the "Goodly Fellowship of Faith": A History of the Episcopal Church in Utah, 1867-1996.

As this critical historical analysis shows, Utah Episcopalians, despite small numbers, have had a remarkably eventful and significant history, which includes complex relations with Mormons and Native Americans, early experience with women and homosexuals in the ministry, and a fascinating series of bishops. Among the latter were Daniel Tuttle, a leading figure in Episcopal history; Christian socialist and Social Gospel proponent Frank Spencer Spalding; and Paul Jones, forced to resign because of his pacifism during WWI.

Quinn is an Episcopal priest, historian, and professor of history at Utah State University, in addition to teaching political science at the U. His previous books include Democracy at Dawn, Notes From Poland and Points East, a TLS International Book of the Year, and African Saints, Martyrs, and Holy People, a Black Catholic Congress Book of the Month.

A former chaplain at Washington National Cathedral, Quinn holds a doctorate in history from the University of California at Los Angeles. He is married to the Right Reverend Carolyn Tanner Irish.

Nancy J. Taniguchi MA’81 PhD’85 has a new book out this month, Castle Valley, America: Hard Land, Hard-won Home (Utah State University Press).

This is American history told through the stories of an atypical region in Utah. Castle Valley is roughly conterminous with two counties, Carbon and Emery, which together formed a rural, industrial enclave in a mostly desert environment behind the mountain range that borders Utah's principal corridor of settlement. In Castle Valley, coal mining and the railroad attracted diverse, multiethnic communities and a fair share of historic characters, from Butch Cassidy, who stole its largest payroll, to Mother Jones, who helped organize its workers against its mining companies. Among the last major segments of the state to be settled, the region was also generally poor, stretching the capabilities of people to scratch a living from a harsh landscape.

The people of Castle Valley experienced complex, unusual combinations of both social cohesion and conflict, but they struggled through poverty, labor disputes, major mining disasters, and other challenges to build communities whose stories reflected the historical course of the nation as a whole.

Taniguchi, who lived for 13 years in Castle Valley and was previously on the faculty of the College of Eastern Utah in Price, is professor of history at California State University, Stanislaus. She is the author of numerous published articles in mining, legal, women’s, western, and Utah history and of one book, Necessary Fraud: Progressive Reform and Utah Coal.

In this collection of essays, prominent folklorists look at varied modern uses and contexts of proverbs and proverbial speech, some traditional and conventional, others new and unexpected. After the editors’ introduction discussing the history and status of attempts to define proverbs, describing their contemporary circulation, and acknowledging the especially important work of paremiologist Wolfgang Meider, contributions examine the continuing pervasiveness and idiomatic relevance of proverbs in modern culture.

Lau is the author of New Age Capitalism: Making Money East of Eden. Folklorist Peter Tokofsky has published articles on a number of topics, notably on aspects of carnival. Stephen Winick is the director of the Delaware Valley Folklore Center and has written a dissertation and published other work on proverbs.

E. Keith Howick BS'62 MS'64 JD'65 has just published Challenged by the Restoration, a series of five educational activity books that aid the study of the Bible, LDS scriptures and LDS church history. Each book may be used for personal and group study and contains questions and games that draw directly from their source material. The series includes: Challenged by the Old Testament; Challenged by the New Testament; Challenged by the Doctrine and Covenants; Challenged by Church History; and Challenged by the Book of Mormon (2nd Ed.).

Howick is now the author of 11 books, including the Index to the History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and The Life of Jesus the Messiah series.

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by the University of Utah Alumni Association
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