Being Different
Being Different: Stories of Utah Minorities
edited by Stanford J. Layton
Ethnic studies can be full of surprises, pathos, and nostalgia, in Utah as elsewhere. In this anthology, fourteen gifted historians consider such issues as the collision of white settlers and Shoshones in northern Utah, and the initial trouble with Salt Lake City residents when all-Black troops were garrisoned at Forts Douglas and Duchesne.
The Mormon immigration was primarily of Yankee and British stock. Less advertised is the fact that it also included a sizable number of Scandinavians who lent a distinctive, Old World flavor to the Sanpete area, and by Polynesians who adapted their unique culture to the harsh realities of Skull Valley.
Peoples of other religions and nationalities followed with similarly colorful, energetic cultural contributions: the Italians and Greeks of Carbon and Emery Counties, and the first Mexicans in and around Salt Lake City. There were short-lived colonizing efforts by Jewish settlers in central Utah, and Japanese in Wasatch County.
In writing about and memorializing significant events surrounding immigrants’ lives and the day-to-day perseverance of pioneers of all nationalities, the fourteen contributors to this anthology offer fascinating details and unforgettable stories.
ebook: $9.99
Stanford J. Layton, former managing editor of the Utah Historical Quarterly, is a visiting professor of history at Weber State University. He is the author of To No Privileged Class: The Rationalization of Homesteading and Rural Life in the Early Twentieth Century, a contributor to the Utah History Encyclopedia and Worth Their Salt: Notable but Often Unnoted Women of Utah, and editor of the Favorite Readings from the Utah Historical Quarterly series.
History
ISBN: 978-1-56085-341-1
