More Than Petticoats: Remarkable Utah Women

More Than Petticoats: Remarkable Utah Women
By Christy Karras
Globe Pequot Press, 2010. 157 pgs. Biography

Here is presented 13 short biographical sketches of women who have influenced Utah’s history. The author picked her subjects hoping to “go a little way toward putting Utah’s women into the larger context of the West.” These sketches contain limited personal information and spend more time discussing the impact their lives had on Utah’s politics, literature, and culture. Some women are already widely known such as Eliza R. Snow while others, like Jane Manning James, may be unfamiliar to readers.

This is a perfect book for book clubs! It’s a quick, easy read but is chuck-full of discussion points surrounding these fascinating women. I wasn’t blown away by the authors writing but the stories she tells still succeed in making in impression. I was a little surprised at the major role polygamy plays in a large number of the sketches. I can easily recommend this to anyone wanting to learn a little more about Utah’s history and a few of the amazing women who played a key role in getting us where we are.

CZ