The field of Hispanic history is entering an expanding and exciting era. A number of vibrant scholars have heeded Alex Saragoza's advice in his 1990 essay "Recent Chicano Historiography: An Interpreteative Essay" (Aztlan, Spring 1988-90, 1-77) to expand the historiography of the Hispanic experience in the United States. Jorge Iber's monograph is a successful attempt to accomplish such a goal. Iber's work explores the successes and obstacles that have confronted Mexican Americans in a state and region that has previously been neglected in the annals of the Hispanic experience. In the course of his study, he reveals the various divergent textures that constitute Utah's Hispanic population, dispelling the notions of Mexican Americans as a monolithic community of working class Catholics who all think, work, vote, and practice religion in a like manner. Iber's book is not strictly revisionist history; he does not discount or contridict the efforts of previous chroniclers of Mexican American history. Rather, he has added another layer to the expanding literature in the field. Spanish surnamed people do not exclusively reside in the Southwest or California and they are not all working class laborers. They are business owners and professionals and they are dispersed throughout the country. Iber has found that Utah's Hispanic population differs in many areas from Hispanics in other regions. They have developed unique communities, with the overarching difference due to the dominant presence of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Utah. In order to accomplish his goal (a goal he reaches successfully), Iber begins with an exploration of the founding of Utah's Hispanic community. He examines the birth of Utah's Mexican American community in the early twentieth century and continues with the changes within the community brought about by the Great Depression, World War II, and post-war America. He is particularly successful in demonstrating how the community was changed by the experiences of the period and the formation of a different attitude among Mexican Americans within the Beehive state. The crucible of economic distress and war, combined with the emergence of the second and third generations of immigrants, led to the development of a unique Mexican American culture within Utah's Hispanics, one that combined the traditional Mexican culture with American values and attitudes. Iber's discussion of the development of a unique Mexican American community in Utah, as well as his inclusion of class differences within the community is one of the key facets of his thesis of differing textures contained with Utah's Hispanic population. While Iber also explores the increased activism and emergence of militancy within the state (somewhat muted, given the small numbers of Hispanics in Utah), it is his discussion of religion throughout the monograph that forms the central core of the work. The LDS Church is without a doubt the most dominant institution in the state. Utah's Hispanics, however, for the most part brought their Catholic faith with them as they moved into the state. Catholic liturgy and the practice of the religion was often a tool of resitence against Anglo domination and a key facet of Hispanic ethnic identity. This unique identity was challenged in Utah. Since Hispanics were a small minority and the evangelical zeal of the Mormon Church was a strong entity within Utah, many of the state's Mexican Americans converted to the LDS Church. Conversion often meant the formation of a different history and societal develoment for Mormon Hispanics, another textural difference within Utah's Mexican American community. Acceptance of the Mormon faith often meant advancement for Mexican Americans in Utah; business, political, and social openings that were in many cases closed to those who retained their Catholic ties. Iber's treatment of the state's Hispanic business community is a notable portion of the book, one that is often forgotten in some scholarly studies. Hispanics in the Mormon Zion is a welcome and vital contribution to the growing understanding of Hispanic history. Iber's study of Utah's Mexican Americans represents the maturity of the field and a positive expectation of further studies of Hispanics in regions not often associated with this ethnic group. Perhaps the only addition to the work could be a more in depth discussion of the role Hispanic's play in Utah politics, but this is a mere minor quibble with a worthwhile and well-done book.

This book is a must have for anyone seeking a better understanding of the history of Mexican Americans and their role in American history. Dr. Iber, thank you for this wonderful book about my ancestors!

My goal in this work is to present scholars and students of Mexican American history with an introduction to a neglected community. The Spanish-speaking people in Utah have both suffered and benefited from life in one of the 'whitest' states in the US. This work examines a wide range of topics such as working conditions in Utah mines and beet fields, family and religious life, the role of the LDS and Catholic churches in community life, and both the promises and problems that exist among this growing segment (now up to 120,000 or roughly 6%) of the state's inhabitants. It adds yet another piece to the mosaic which is the Hispanic/Latino history of the US.