Utah in the Twentieth Century

The twentieth century could easily be Utah’s most interesting and complex. Utah in the Twentieth Century chronicles the social and cultural transitions of the time, offering a well-rounded perspective on the development and change the Beehive State went through during this period.

It was an era complicated by the push of economic development and pull of traditional culture, demand for natural resources from a fragile and scenic environment, questions of who governs and how, who gets a vote, and who controls what on contested public lands, during which outside trade and a tourist economy increasingly challenged and fed an insular society. Activists left and right declaimed constitutional liberties while Utah’s Native Americans become the last enfranchised in the nation. Proud contributions to national wars contrasted with denial of deep dependence on federal money; the skepticism of provocative writers, boosters eager for growth; and reflexive patriotism somehow bonded to ingrained distrust of federal government.

A valuable resource for students and teachers, this work is also fruitful reading for anyone who desires to know more about key themes of Utah’s history in the twentieth century.

Brian Q. Cannon is professor and department chair of the history department, former director of the Charles Redd Center for Western Studies at Brigham Young University, and author of Remaking the Agrarian Dream: New Deal Rural Resettlement in the Mountain West

Jessie Embry retired as the associate director of the Charles Redd Center for Western Studies at Brigham Young University. She is an editor of the Journal of Mormon History and the author or editor of twenty-one books on Mormon and western history.