“Mac McCloud’s Five Points,” by William Wyckoff (University of New Mexico)
For nearly 40 years, beginning in 1938, Burnis “Mac” McCloud photographed Denver’s Five Points. The area was the center of Denver’s Black community before the city was integrated. Five Points was a self-contained community that included jazz clubs, social clubs, restaurants, barber shops, dry cleaners, gas stations and other locally owned businesses. There were beauty contests, debutante balls, Tom Thumb “weddings,” scout troops and bowling leagues.
McCloud photographed them all, and many of those pictures are included in this book. Starting with a brief biography by Montana State University professor William Wyckoff, the book shows a vibrant community of tree-shaded streets and exciting nightlife. Residents might work anywhere in the city, but they came home to Five Points. McCloud also photographed Black celebrities who visited or performed in Five Points, including Martin Luther King Jr., Dinah Washington, Ella Fitzgerald and Hank Aaron.
These photos show Five Points at its peak, when it was known as Denver’s Harlem.
“The Crossing: El Paso, the Southwest, and America’s Forgotten Origin Story,” by Richard Parker (Mariner Books)
At the end of “The Crossing,” Parker writes, “El Paso was more than a model multiethnic society. It was one of the first battlegrounds for American democracy, justice, and equality.” Parker makes the case in this monumental work that points out El Paso was established before the Pilgrims landed. Founded in conquest, El Paso became a leader among American cities in civil rights.
Parker’s rich account includes not just El Paso but the entire American Southwest. He writes about the treachery of the Spanish as they conquered Indians, and the “trickery of the United States in pursuit of territorial gain.” Early Spanish explorers put together expeditions that traveled through the entire Southwest, seeking land and riches. They founded settlements, and they exploited Indians to the point that the tribes and Pueblos revolted and drove the Spanish out of their land, in 1620. The Spanish eventually returned, and they made El Paso an important city, one that sprawled across the eventual boundary between the U.S. and Mexico. It was the point of entry for many immigrants. In 1909, it took in at least 600,000 migrants (compared to 1 million at Ellis Island.) It had a history of lawlessness, and a bartender once warned a visitor who’d tried to stop a deadly fight, “My young friend, when you see something of that kind going on in El Paso, don’t interfere. It is not considered good manners here.”
Especially deadly was Mexican hero Poncho Villa, who, despite popular belief, never attacked the U.S., Parker points out. In fact, Villa was pro-America and tried to recruit gringo officers. Despite his image as a Mexican heavy, Villa was a teetotaler who was addicted to ice cream. Parker writes about the famous and infamous who visited El Paso and the Hispanic southwest. President Eisenhower discovered avocado salad in El Paso. Presidents Kennedy, Bush, Obama and others made promises to the city that they failed to keep. Parker is especially critical of Donald Trump, claiming, “Trump didn’t invent anti-Hispanic hatred, but he weaponized it more effectively than any American politician in history.”
“Ports to Posts: Latter-Day Saint Gathering in the Nineteenth Century,” by Fred E. Woods ( Bison Books)
In 1837, Joseph Smith, founder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, told elder Heber Kimball, “Let my servant Heber go to England and proclaim my gospel.” The result was a brilliant missionary network that converted thousands of Europeans. Not only did the converts join the church but they also embraced the idea of gathering in Zion. That meant an exodus of tens of thousands to Salt Lake City.
They left on church-chartered ships that landed first in New Orleans (where the immigrants were horrified to see slaves) and in New York City. Converts went by rail or boat to LDS centers, where they joined wagon or handcart companies for travel over the Mormon Trail. The entire trip from Liverpool to Salt Lake cost about 10 pounds.
In “Ports to Posts,” Woods, Brigham University professor of religious education, quotes extensively from 1,300 journals, letters and other first-person documents he consulted for this comprehensive story of the Mormon migration.
Wood concentrates on the logistics of the trips, but the book is peppered with personal accounts. One convert tells how he rebuked the wind and waves in God’s name to save the ship. In less than an hour, all was calm.
Woods writes little about the Willie and Martin handcart companies, the most dramatic event on the migration trail, where so many died from starvation and freezing temperatures. Still, his 25 years of research results in a first-rate contribution to history, one with more first-person accounts than any other book on the Mormon migration.
“The Memory Ward,” by Jon Bassoff (Blackstone Publishing)
Something’s off in Bethlam, Nev.. Mailman Hank Davies discovers that envelopes in his bag contain only blank paper. A housewife cuts her throat, but appears later to be fully healed. Then a strange woman appears at Hank’s window one dark night and tells him, “The truth is on the wall.” Wally peels back the wallpaper in his bedroom and discovers pages in his own handwriting that reveal a frightening story.
The pages tell of mailman Wally Daily, who walks the same Bethlam route. Like Hank, Wally has good memories of a happy childhood, with loving parents. But Wally is troubled by life in Bethlam. He resents Dr. Hoover, who cares for his father, who has dementia, but is obsessed with Wally’s memory. Wally remembers nothing about a recent accident but plenty about his youth.
As Wally walks his delivery route, he feels people watching him. Sometimes, they say strange things. He doesn’t understand why Dr. Hoover wants him to repeat stories of his boyhood. Then a Bethlam woman comes to Wally with a story of horror, and Wally wonders who he is and why he is in Bethlam. And whether he is sinking into madness.
“The Memory Ward,” written by Longmont high school English teacher Bassoff, is a chilling tale.