"Even my Dad had a hard time finding a place when he and my mother were first married...Momma was pregnant with Berenice, and he went to a woman who had a house. He asked if they could rent a place. She said, no, she couldn't rent to Jews. Dad said, 'Well, now I know why Jesus was born in a manger.'" --Ruth Matz McCrimmon, A Homeland in the West Rather than a history of Utah Jews, this is a book of Utah Jewish histories. A Homeland in the West collects the stories and the voices of men and women drawn west by choice or by chance, people who made their way and earned their living in a culture often alien, occasionally hostile, sometimes welcoming. These are the stories of immigrants and explorers, artists and merchants, senators and soldiers. Culled from countless hours of oral histories comprising more than ninety current and archived interviews, Eileen Hallet Stone has gathered reminiscences that tell a tale of life in Utah from a seldom-heard perspective. These singular threads--supplemented with stirring photographs, traditional recipes, and a Yiddish glossary--weave a rich and varied tapestry of Utah's enduring Jewish heritage. Every page is a testament to the individuals who help create the state's collective history. Meet: * Solomon Nunes Carvalho, who was invited by Colonel John C. Frémont to join his final, near-fatal expedition across the Rocky Mountains in search of a viable route for the country's first transcontinental railroad. * The Auerbach brothers, who opened their first store in Salt Lake City in 1864 and who, by 1883 saw it become a mercantile enterprise worth half a million dollars in sales and real estate. * Simon Bamberger, who was elected governor in 1916--the first Democrat, first non-Mormon, and only Jew to hold the office. * Anna Rich Marks who made a fortune in real estate and mining and who at one point held the representatives of the Denver and Rio Grand Railroad at gunpoint--demanding they pay her price to cross her land. * Joel Shapiro, who, as a soldier during World War II, found himself in the detachment from his unit assigned to join the liberation of the Dachau concentration camp. With their own voices, in their own words, A Homeland in the West speaks to the dichotomy of living as 'gentiles' in Mormon 'Zion,' testifying to the ways in which memory and tradition, lifestyles and legacies layer together to form the whole of a person, the whole of a community.

“A riveting tale told through personal accounts and sketches along the way—ultimately, a story of success against great odds. I enjoyed it enormously.” —Tom Brokaw The first book to tell the full story of how a traveling road show of artists wielding imagination, paint, and bravado saved thousands of American lives—now updated with new material. In the summer of 1944, a handpicked group of young GIs—artists, designers, architects, and sound engineers, including such future luminaries as Bill Blass, Ellsworth Kelly, Arthur Singer, Victor Dowd, Art Kane, and Jack Masey—landed in France to conduct a secret mission. From Normandy to the Rhine, the 1,100 men of the 23rd Headquarters Special Troops, known as the Ghost Army, conjured up phony convoys, phantom divisions, and make-believe headquarters to fool the enemy about the strength and location of American units. Every move they made was top secret, and their story was hushed up for decades after the war's end. Hundreds of color and black-and-white photographs, along with maps, official memos, and letters, accompany Rick Beyer and Elizabeth Sayles’s meticulous research and interviews with many of the soldiers, weaving a compelling narrative of how an unlikely team carried out amazing battlefield deceptions that saved thousands of American lives and helped open the way for the final drive to Germany. The stunning art created between missions also offers a glimpse of life behind the lines during World War II. This updated edition includes: A new afterword by co-author Rick Beyer Never-before-seen additional images The successful campaign to have the unit awarded a Congressional Gold Medal History and WWII enthusiasts will find The Ghost Army of World War II an essential addition to their library.

The twentieth could easily be Utah’s most interesting, complex century, yet popular ideas of what is history seem mired in the nineteenth. One reason may be the lack of readily available writing on more recent Utah history. This collection of essays shifts historical focus forward to the twentieth, which began and ended with questions of Utah’s fit with the rest of the nation. In between was an extended period of getting acquainted in an uneasy but necessary marriage, which was complicated by the push of economic development and pull of traditional culture, demand for natural resources from a fragile and scenic environment, and questions of who governs and how, who gets a vote, and who controls what is done on and to the contested public lands. 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, with boosters eager for growth; and reflexive patriotism somehow bonded to ingrained distrust of federal government.

The first complete history of Utah in encyclopedic form, with entries from Anasazi to ZCMI!

The war memories for each were not easy to tell or write, for some had repressed them long ago. We have been able to live the American Dream through dedicated soldiers as the 250th Field Artillerymen. They spent many nights together away from home with ties that would bind them together that has never loosened over the years. Their stories are inspiring ones of faith, courage, patriotism and some told with humor, which helped to put their experience into perspective - somewhat! During this time, our people here at home were doing their part in everyway they could. Everyone listened to the radio for further news. The good news finally came - from "Day of Infamy" to "VE-VJ Day!" As a light weight 105mm howitzer battalion they would become known for their firing power. They made history and are leaving a legacy to be most proud. They proved they still can answer to the call of duty. I am proud to say, never once did I not enjoy my work with each of these men. Let's just say - we have a deeper friendship than when we began this project together. I became their ears and wrote the word for many of them. I scribbled making notes as they talked and then, when hunched over my keyboard to translate from them working into the early morning hours. I pray I conveyed each story as each of them would have. As I wrote, I got the sense what the American flag meant to each - it symbolized a Tradition of Caring. I wrote with a lump in my throat and a tear in my eyes and, yes, a little snicker.