In Old Nauvoo: Everyday Life in the City of Joseph

In Old Nauvoo describes daily life in Nauvoo, Illinois during its Mormon period. George W. Givens uses the reports of foreign travelers and regional histories to describe conditions in contemporary river towns and frontier cities. To describe specific features of Nauvoo life, he relies (almost exclusively) on the Autobiography of William Foote, the newspaper The Nauvoo Neighbor, and excerpts from more general histories of Nauvoo. This work avoids the political and religious histories of Nauvoo and the Mormons, though it assumes some knowledge of each as prerequisites. Organized topically, it instead focuses on details such as the role and techniques of dentists, the locations of riverboat landings, or the organization of the Nauvoo Legion. Although the book alludes to the Mormon exodus, it follows neither the Mormons nor the city of Nauvoo past 1846. It would have been nice to have quotations from a wider sample of Nauvoo residents, but I still learned much. (Among the surprises: the Mormons established their own lumber camp in Wisconsin to provide wood to Nauvoo; a barter economy prevailed throughout 1840s; Nauvoo had a number of private schools and a subscription library.) The writing style is pleasant and interesting.