Completing his Ph.D. at Brown University in 1974, he focused on the economics and history associated with the Great Depression and the administration of Franklin D. Roosevelt.
The series explores the dynamic relationship between the natural and political forces sculpting Utah, and includes an examination of the history and contributions of minority communities and cultures within the state.
Though there must be discourse among the scholars--fierce debates and exchanges on arcane topics in professional meetings and journals--the product, to justify our endeavor, must ultimately be accessible to all" (May, A People's History of Utah, p. ix).
He produced a second video series Utah Remembers (Salt Lake City, KJZZ-TV channel 14, 1996), which consists of seven 45-minute programs.
[1] During the summer of 2001, May crossed the North Sea and the Atlantic on the Norwegian built Christian Radich, a full-rigged sailing vessel.
Seeking to complement the history of the Mormon land migration by wagon and handcart, May focused on the voyage as an element that prepared European converts to forge an LDS community identity.
His final book, Three Frontiers: Family, Land, and Society in the American West: 1850-1900 (Cambridge University Press, 1994), employs quantitative methods and personal histories to explore three agricultural communities.