The next attempt as synthesis came in connection with the KUED-TV educational television series on Utah history written by and featuring Dean L. May. The series was successful and the text was published as a companion volume under the title, Utah: A People's History (1987). Popular and personal, the work gave due attention to all the people who came to Utah, emphasized the territorial period, and gave brief attention to the twentieth century.

The next effort in a one-volume treatment was Wayne K. Hinton's Utah: Unusual beginning to Unique Present (1988) - an oversize coffee table book, filled with pictures, many in color, the popular and well-written text briefly covered most periods and subjects.

Basic reference works of outstanding quality have been produced recently. Davis Bitton published a Guide to Mormon Diaries & Autobiographies (1977) which described and indexed by subject some 2,894 personal records. In 1978 A Mormon Bibliography, 1830-1930 was published; it was edited by Chad J. Flake and based on the beginning work of Dale L. Morgan. The Atlas of Utah was edited by Wayne L. Wahlquist, was published in 1981; it is a truly beautiful book. And in 1982, the 1941 edition of Utah, A Guide to the State was revised and enlarged by Ward J. Roylance. These are essential books for the shelf of any student of Utah history.