Peterson and Cannon, “The Awkward State of Utah: Coming of Age in the Nation, 1896-1945” (reviewed by John E. Baucom)

Review
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Title: The Awkward State of Utah: Coming of Age in the Nation, 1896-1945
Author: Charles S. Peterson and Brian Q. Cannon
Publisher: University of Utah Press
Genre: History
Year Published: 2015
Number of Pages: 344
Binding: Paperback
ISBN10: 1607814218
ISBN13: 978-1607814214
Price: $29.95

Reviewed by John E. Baucom for the Association for Mormon Letters:

In the Acknowledgments Charles Peterson and Brian Q. Cannon note that they began the early form of what would eventually become *The Awkward State of Utah* in 1994—hoping to complete the work by 1999. Life, of course, gets busy and they shelved their project until 2011, when they again began chipping away at it. With another four years of added and updated scholarship, Peterson and Cannon completed *The Awkward State of Utah* in 2015. And any reader will be impressed that the authors completed this volume in such little time. *The Awkward State of Utah* is a thorough, intelligent, and readable survey of Utah history.

Peterson’s and Cannon’s work addresses the incorporation and transformation of the state of Utah during its “sometimes awkward years of adolescence and maturation”—between the state’s induction into the Union and World War II. For nearly a half-century—from 1847-1896—the residence of Utah petitioned for statehood hoping to diminish federal oversight and increase the territory’s autonomy through self-governance. Once statehood was achieved in 1896, no one could have imagined that a mere fifty years later Utah would be economically “connected at the hip to the federal government,” and “heavily dependent on federal investment.” To illuminate this transition, Peterson and Cannon comprehensively explain Utah’s first fifty years of statehood as a unique era of “modernization, incorporation, and globalization”—which for better or for worse shaped all walks of life within Utah’s borders.

For example, *The Awkward State of Utah* addresses the role of African Americans like Julius Taylor and W.W. Taylor in early Utah politics. It also includes the reduction and opening of the Uintah and Ouray Indian Reservation for white mining and farming. In fact, Utah’s Indian Nations rightfully have an entire chapter dedicated to how “statehood had brought continuing defeat, dependency, and marginal existence at what might be called the whiplash end of American pluralism.”

This volume further tackles the importance of labor in Utah history, along with the wave of Greeks, Italians, and Mexican immigrants that accompanied it. Local, state, and federal impulses of conservationism are also discussed through Utah’s cattle ranching, farming, and National Parks. The state’s water and the rise of the Central Utah Project are also included — initiatives that would influence the development of leisure and recreation at Strawberry Reservoir, Flaming Gorge, and Lake Powell. More than anything, the New Deal and the lasting economic boost from World War II, in conjunction with defense spending, pulled Utah closer to Washington D.C. The authors write that by the end of World War II, “Utah had become more heterogeneous, urbanized, and economically stratified, and the state’s economic and social linkages to the nation and world had multiplied.”

*The Awkward State of Utah* is great for anyone interested in the history of Utah after statehood. This volume would be handy in both undergraduate and graduate level courses. Chapters and sub-chapters can stand alone to provide the reader with specific insight or could be assigned as selected readings. Furthermore, the endnotes and bibliography offer a more in-depth map for individual interests and future investigation.

For the sake of critique, there should have been a chapter dedicated to the role or economic impact of women during early statehood. Yes, the authors were terrific at weaving in Utah’s prominent women and women’s issues into the book’s general narrative. And they certainly did it better than other sweeping histories of the era. However, the beginning of the twentieth century to the end of World War II has been defined by the surge of women’s movements and organizations—not to mention suffrage. It was simply surprising not to see women in the table of contents, especially because early Utah statehood has such a rich, unique, and often perceived as “awkward” history of women that would further solidify their overall argument.

To be clear, I’m certainly not asking for more pages. And to be fair, The *Awkward State of Utah* is more an economic or political history than it is cultural. In short, Peterson and Cannon are successful at highlighting individual elements that help explain how Utah underwent the critical transition of modernization, national incorporation, and globalization.