Swetnam,
Susan H. Books, Bluster & Bounty: Local Politics and Intermountain
West Carnegie Library Building Grants 1898-1920. Logan, Utah: Utah
State University Press, 2012. 027.478 Swetn ISBN
978-0-87421-842-8
Books, Bluster, and Bounty examines a
cross-section of Carnegie library applications to determine how local support
was mustered for cultural institutions in the late nineteenth and early
twentieth century West. This comparative study considers the entire region
between the Rockies and the Cascades/Sierras, including all of Idaho, Utah,
Nevada, and Arizona; western Montana, Wyoming, and Colorado; eastern Oregon and
Washington; and small parts of California and New Mexico. The author's purpose
is to address not only the how of the process but also the variable why.
Although virtually all citizens and communities in the West who sought Carnegie
libraries expected tangible benefits for themselves that were only tangentially
related to books, what they specifically wanted varied in correlation with the
diverse nature of western communities. By looking at the detailed records of
the Carnegie library campaigns, the author is able to provide an alternative
lens through which to perceive and map the social-cultural makeup and town
building of western communities at the turn of the century.
