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Show t U "I Faun McConkie Tanner Author Here Friday For Autographing Party An open house and autographing auto-graphing party will be held all day Friday, May 21 at The Times-Independent in honor of Faun McConkie Tanner, . whose new book "The Far Country: A Regional History of Moab and LaSal, Utah" has just been published. Mrs. Tanner, a Moab native and well-known to local long-time residents, will be on hand to autograph copies of her book, answer questions, renew old friendships and get acquainted with visitors. "The Far Country," which is being distributed locally by The Times-Independent, is a comprehensive 359-page work covering the Moab and area story including the geologic history of the land, its first dwellers, and up to present times. An experienced historian, Mrs. Tanner has taught in high schools in Utah and Arizona, as well as at Brigham Young University and Phoenix College, where she is presently present-ly professor of social science. She first began writing about "The Far Country" more than 40 years ago, and as her current work attests, she has been gathering and updating material ever since. Faun's first book, "A History of Moab, Utah," was published in 1936 by The Times-Independent, and although al-though only 500 of the books came off the press, the publication has had wide distribution, and has almost become a collector's item. Mrs. Tanner had been urged since that time to update the original volume, since Moab's fabled uranium boom and tourist industry development took place after publication of the original book. Mrs. Tanner has been gathering data for twenty years, and accumulated so much material that it became evident the book would have to be published by a firm specializing in book publishing. publish-ing. Olympus Publishing of Salt Lake City was the one selected for this book. Mrs. Tanner is a daughter of pioneer Moab banker, the late E. Russell McConkie, who managed Moab's only bank for nearly half a century; and Nora McConkie, both of whom encouraged her in her educational educa-tional and writing career. Her brother, Wayne McConkie, who recently retired as professor pro-fessor of geology at Dixie College, also helped with data gathering for the book. Friends of Mrs. Tanner, and persons simply wishing to meet her or have her autograph auto-graph a book, are encouraged to visit The Times-Independent office at 35 East Center Street after 10 a.m. Friday. Refreshments will be served all during the day. |