Schooling and Society: Studies in the History of Education - Lawrence Stone - Hardcover Book

Is your grandma the very polite type that will mention that something is controversial, but won't go into any detail because it wouldn't be proper to gossip? That's a lot of this book. Like the Swiss pioneers were apparently treated very poorly by the other LDS pioneers, but it doesn't say anything about why. The first edition did come out before Warren Jeffs became prophet, so I do give them some leeway on only referring to Short Creek as a "unique religious community." The second edition does go more into the gender violence perpetrated under the Jeffs regime. The Mountain Meadows Massacre was mentioned several times as one of the most important events in county history, but dedicated more space to things like the history of retail in the county and the transfer of Dixie College to state ownership.

I was kinda shocked at how they treated the Downwinders from the Nevada Test Site. "These residents of Washington County have come to believe they are victims of one of the deadliest cover-ups in the nation's history." Um they ARE victims.

The two authors are very closely tied to St George, so there is heavy, HEAVY emphasis on the city. One is a former mayor of St George, while the other is a former president of Dixie State. As this book was funded by the state of Utah with cooperation from the county governments, it is a very rosy depiction of the history of the county. I know the history of southwest Utah is full of LDS history, but this book is pro-colonialism and pro-white savior of the natives. It was also written in 1995, and a lot has changed since then.