Brigham Young was a rough-hewn New York craftsman whose impoverished life was electrified by the Mormon faith. Turner provides a fully realized portrait of this spiritual prophet, viewed by followers as a protector and by opponents as a heretic. His pioneering faith made a deep imprint on tens of thousands of lives in the American Mountain West.

Traces the tragedy-marked 1856 journey of three thousand Mormons from Iowa to Utah, explaining how leader Brigham Young disregarded warnings and then convinced his followers that hardships and deaths were part of a higher plan.

Brigham Young was one of the most influential—and controversial—Mormon leaders in American history. An early follower of the new religion, he led the cross-continental migration of the Mormon people from Illinois to Utah, where he built a vast religious empire that was both revolutionary and authoritarian, radically different from yet informed by the existing culture of the U.S. With his powerful personality and sometimes paradoxical convictions, Young left an enduring stamp on both his church and the region, and his legacy remains active today. In a lively, concise narrative bolstered by primary documents, and supplemented by a robust companion website, David Mason tells the dynamic story of Brigham Young, and in the process, illuminates the history of the LDS Church, religion in America, and the development of the American west. This book will be a vital resource for anyone seeking to understand the complex, uniquely American origins of a church that now counts over 15 million members worldwide.

"Published by arrangement with Alfred A. Knopf"--T.p. verso.

Best Book Award • Mormon History Association A brilliant young historian excavates the brief life of a lost Mormon city, uncovering a “grand, underappreciated saga in American history” (Wall Street Journal). In Kingdom of Nauvoo, Benjamin E. Park draws on newly available sources to re-create the founding and destruction of the Mormon city of Nauvoo. On the banks of the Mississippi in Illinois, the early Mormons built a religious utopia, establishing their own army and writing their own constitution. For those offenses and others—including the introduction of polygamy, which was bitterly opposed by Emma Smith, the iron-willed first wife of Joseph Smith—the surrounding population violently ejected the Mormons, sending them on their flight to Utah. Throughout his absorbing chronicle, Park shows how the Mormons of Nauvoo were representative of their era, and in doing so elevates Mormon history into the American mainstream.

“From one of the brightest of the new generation of Mormon-studies scholars comes a crisp, engaging account of the religion’s history.”—The Wall Street Journal With Mormonism on the nation’s radar as never before, religious historian Matthew Bowman has written an essential book that pulls back the curtain on more than 180 years of Mormon history and doctrine. He recounts the church’s origins and explains how the Mormon vision has evolved—and with it the esteem in which Mormons have been held in the eyes of their countrymen. Admired on the one hand as hardworking paragons of family values, Mormons have also been derided as oddballs and persecuted as polygamists, heretics, and zealots. The place of Mormonism in public life continues to generate heated debate, yet the faith has never been more popular. One of the fastest-growing religions in the world, it retains an uneasy sense of its relationship with the main line of American culture. Mormons will surely play an even greater role in American civic life in the years ahead. The Mormon People comes as a vital addition to the corpus of American religious history—a frank and balanced demystification of a faith that remains a mystery for many. With a new afterword by the author. “Fascinating and fair-minded . . . a sweeping soup-to-nuts primer on Mormonism.”—The Boston Globe “A cogent, judicious, and important account of a faith that has been an important element in American history but remained surprisingly misunderstood.”—Michael Beschloss “A thorough, stimulating rendering of the Mormon past and present.”—Kirkus Reviews “[A] smart, lucid history.”—Tom Brokaw

The massacre at Mountain Meadows on September 11, 1857, was the single most violent attack on a wagon train in the thirty-year history of the Oregon and California trails. Yet it has been all but forgotten. Will Bagley’s Blood of the Prophets is an award-winning, riveting account of the attack on the Baker-Fancher wagon train by Mormons in the local militia and a few Paiute Indians. Based on extensive investigation of the events surrounding the murder of over 120 men, women, and children, and drawing from a wealth of primary sources, Bagley explains how the murders occurred, reveals the involvement of territorial governor Brigham Young, and explores the subsequent suppression and distortion of events related to the massacre by the Mormon Church and others.

A biography of one of the founders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints who led the church to Utah.

As president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and Utah’s first territorial governor, Brigham Young (1801–77) shaped a religion, a migration, and the American West. He led the Saints to Utah, guided the establishment of 350 settlements, and inspired the Mormons as they weathered unimaginable trials and hardships. Although he generally succeeded, some decisions, especially those regarding the Mormon Reformation and the Black Hawk War, were less than sound. In this new biography, historian Thomas G. Alexander draws on a lifetime of research to provide an evenhanded view of Young and his leadership. Following the murder in 1844 of church founder Joseph Smith, Young bore a heavy responsibility: ensuring the survival and expansion of the church and its people. Alexander focuses on Young’s leadership, his financial dealings, his relations with non-Mormons, his families, and his own deep religious conviction. Brigham Young and the Expansion of the Mormon Faith addresses such controversial issues as the practice of polygamy (Young himself had fifty-five wives), relations and conflicts between Mormons and Indians, and the circumstances and aftermath of the horrific events of Mountain Meadows in 1857. Although Young might have done better, Alexander argues that he bore no direct responsibility for the tragedy. Young relied on the counsel of his associates, and at times, the Mormon people pushed back to prevent him from implementing changes. In some cases, such as polygamy and the doctrine of blood atonement, the church leadership eventually rejected his views. Yet on the whole, Brigham Young emerges as a multifaceted human figure, and as a prophet revered by millions of LDS members, an inspired leader who successfully led his people to a distant land where their community expanded and flourished.

BRIGHAM YOUNG, second President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and first Governor of Utah, was the founder and chief builder of the Great Intermountain West of the United States of America. He is recognized as one of the foremost colonizers and empire builders of all time. His unsurpassed methods of conquering for human use the Great American Desert, have been adopted to some degree by all who, since his day, have been engaged in the reclamation and settlement of unoccupied lands, especially under a low rainfall. Statesmen, scholars and business men have acclaimed the leadership, organizing power and sound philosophy which brought social and economic happiness to the people who were led into the wilderness by Brigham Young. He not only brought contentment to the people, gathered from many lands, but he guided the Church over which he presided, until, at his death, it was larger in numbers and more firmly established than ever before. The tremendous world significance of the labors of Brigham Young, and the universal applicability of his methods, under modern conditions, make it certain that the work he accomplished was not due, primarily, to the gigantic personality of the man. Rather, the success achieved must have been due to the possession of a life philosophy of sufficient depth and extent to meet varying human needs. Another man, of less dominant personality, armed with the same principles, would have won success. As he, himself, would say, it was the possession of the Gospel of Life and Salvation that enabled him and his associates to do the work so well. In fact, Brigham Young was first a spiritual teacher and secondly a material leader. The religion that he professed made him the man that he became; its principles were used in guiding the people in all their affairs. Books enough to fill a library have been written about the history, character and accomplishments of Brigham Young. Few of these books attempt to analyze the system of doctrine and practice that brought unbounded success to the Latter-day Saints. Many display such extreme religious partisanship that even the sympathetic reader can place no reliance upon their statements. Something harsher might be said about the large number of books written about Brigham Young and his times that manifestly aim to secure popularity by appealing to the sensational and the lurid, at the expense of truth. Even recently, when the years have given perspective, some writers have set up hypotheses concerning Brigham Young, and have proceeded to argue the case—as if that were history! It is amazing that intelligent people, knowing the high order of accomplishments of the Latter-day Saints, give credence to the weird and crude stories, appealing to the baser emotions of mankind, which fill the pages of anti-"Mormon" literature. In this book Brigham Young is allowed to speak for himself. Excerpts have been made from his many discourses, and these have been arranged to show the coherent system of faith which he continuously taught his people and by which he was enabled to win success for his followers. The philosophy thus set forth is clear and unmistakable in its purpose. It reveals Brigham Young as a man who applied the simple principles of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the everyday affairs of men; and who proved the efficacy, in common life, among common men, of the Gospel of the Son of God. This book was made possible because Brigham Young secured stenographic reports of his addresses. As he traveled among the people, reporters accompanied him. All that he said was recorded. Practically all of these discourses (from December 16, 1851 to August 19, 1877) were published in the Journal of Discourses, which was widely distributed. The public utterances of few great historical figures have been so faithfully and fully preserved. Clearly, this mass of material, covering nearly thirty years of incessant public speaking could not be presented with any hope of serving the general reader, save in the form of selections of essential doctrines. The discourses, from which this volume has been culled, were spoken extemporaneously. The state papers of Governor Brigham Young, and the epistles signed by him and his counselors in the Presidency of the Church, have not been used in this collection. The excerpts here presented came from his lips under the inspiration, at the moment, of the Power that guided his life. The corrections for the printer, as shown by existing manuscripts, were few and of minor consequence. The discourses are a remarkable self-revelation of the character and moving impulses of a man who accomplished huge tasks for his generation. It is marvelous that the enemies of Brigham Young, with this wealth of material before them, have found so little to use to his disadvantage. But, a dishonest or insincere man would not have had his public utterances reported and published all over the world. The consistency of the views presented, from the first to the last discourse, would be astounding, were it not for the fact that he clung constantly for interpretation to the Gospel of Jesus Christ as he had been taught it by the Prophet Joseph Smith. His devotion to his teacher and predecessor, the Prophet, is tenderly beautiful. The school education of Brigham Young was very limited, but his discourses show a wide knowledge of men and affairs and an excellent power to use the English language clearly and forcefully. Often, his simple eloquence rises to great heights. Those who heard him speak have declared that they were held in tense attention, however long the address might be. His vivid imagination, dramatic power and unquestioned sincerity made him a natural orator. He seldom confined himself to one subject in his discourses. The needs of the day were the themes about which he wound his teachings.