Booknotes: At Sword's Point, Part 2

New Arrival:
• At Sword's Point, Part 2: A Documentary History of the Utah War, 1858–1859
edited by William P. MacKinnon (Arthur H. Clark, 2016).

The Arthur H. Clark Company, an imprint of University of Oklahoma Press, is perhaps the premier publisher of Western Americana. At Sword's Point, Part 2 is volume 11 of their landmark Kingdom in the West: The Mormons and the American Frontier series. A massive, annotated documentary history with expert commentary by MacKinnon, the two books on the Utah War of 1858-59 are invaluable resources on the subject. Click on the link above to view the breadth of the volume from its table of contents.

From the description: "Drawing on author-editor William P. MacKinnon’s half-century of research and a wealth of carefully selected new material, At Sword’s Point presents the first full history of the conflict through the voices of participants—leaders, soldiers, and civilians from both sides. MacKinnon’s lively narrative, continued in this second volume, links and explains these firsthand accounts to produce the most detailed, in-depth, and balanced view of the war to date.

At Sword’s Point, Part 2 carries the story of the Utah War from the end of 1857 to the conclusion of hostilities in June 1858, when Brigham Young was replaced as territorial governor and almost one-third of the U.S. Army occupied Utah. Through the testimony of Mormon and federal leaders, combatants, emissaries, and onlookers, this second volume describes the war’s final months and uneasy resolution."