My friend Anne, an intrepid reader and traveller and fellow-gatherer of information, introduced me to the concept of reading books set in or about the area to which you are traveling. I think it’s a brilliant idea. Some of the joy of travel for me is the anticipation, and reading books set in my destination whets my appetite. Solving the puzzle of travel (how to get where you want to go as inexpensively and/or as efficiently as possible, or even just how to see and do all you want to see and do in a constrained time frame) is equally fun and challenging for me; to that end, immersing myself in non-fiction and travel guides is part of the process. Last but not least, I am avid, but amateur and frankly forgetful, history- and geography- lover….reading books “set in place” before, during and after my trip cements some of the information for me.
My recommendations for books to read set in Wyoming and Utah are as follows:
- Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer explores how fundamentalist Mormonism grew as an offshoot of Mormonism, emphasizing/exploiting the call to violence and personal vengeance that imbued the early founders’ call to faith. Krakauer goes back and forth between the early founders, Joseph Smith and Brigham Young, and a horrifying murder in the 1980’s by the fundamentalist Lafferty Brothers. The New York Times has a review of the book.
- The 19th Wife, by David Ebershoff, is a mystery that unfolds with regard to a fictional murder in Mesaland, UT, the home of the First Latter Day Saints, a fundamentalist sect that practices polygamy. It parallels a book written by Brigham Young’s 19th wife, who successfully divorced him and was at least partly responsible for convincing President Grant to sign a bill outlawing polygamy. Ebershoff’s website has more information about the book.
- Beyond the Hundredth Meridian by Wallace Stegner is a biography of John Wesley Powell, who first descended the Green and Colorado Rivers in 1869 and is credited with mapping the formerly uncharted Grand Canyon and contiguous areas. The New York Review of Books has a review of the book.
- Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner; I read this a very long time ago, and it didn’t resonate with me the way that Crossing to Safety did. The book’s protagonist is a historian, a divorced amputee who uses a wheelchair, writing about his frontier-traveling grandparents.
- The God of Animals by Aryn Kyle (ok, really set in western CO but it COULD be WY); raw, throbbing and brutal – yet redemptive – coming-of-age story set on a horse farm in western Colorado. The protagonist is a middle-school age girl who grabs your heart, despite her awkward (and at times awful) choices. See Aryn Kyle’s website for more information on this book and others.
Travel guides I used as a resource for this trip:
- Moon Handboooks, Idaho
- Moon Handbooks, Yellowstone and Grand Teton
- Fodor’s Compass American Guides, Idaho (I love these guide books; although not traditional travel books, this series does a beautiful job of describing the geography, history and general landmarks of regions of the US.)
- National Geographic’s Guide to the National Parks of the United States
Additional online resources: