American Massacre
The Tragedy at Mountain Meadows, September 1857
Denton, Sally
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BOOK SYNOPSIS
In September 1857, a wagon train passing through Utah laden with gold was attacked. Approximately 140 people were slaughtered; only 17 children under the age of eight were spared. This incident in an open field called Mountain Meadows has ever since been the focus of passionate debate: Is it possible that official Mormon dignitaries were responsible for the massacre? In her riveting book, Sally Denton makes a fiercely convincing argument that they were.
The authorherself of Mormon descentfirst traces the extraordinary emergence of the Mormons and the little-known nineteenth-century intrigues and tensions between their leaders and the U.S. government, fueled by the Mormons zealotry and exclusionary practices. We see how by 1857 they were unique as a religious group in ruling an entire American territory, Utah, and commanding their own exclusive government and army.
Denton makes clear that in the immediate aftermath of the massacre, the church began placing the blame on a discredited Mormon, John D. Lee, and on various Native Americans. She cites contemporaneous records and newly discovered documents to support her argument that, in fact, the Mormon leader, Brigham Young, bore significant responsibilitythat Young, impelled by the churchs financial crises, facing increasingly intense scrutiny and condemnation by the federal government, incited the crime by both word and deed.
Finally, Denton explains how the rapidly expanding and enormously rich Mormon church of today still struggles to absolve itself of responsibility for what may well be an act of religious fanaticism unparalleled in the annals of American history. American Massacre is totally absorbing in its narrative as it brings to life a tragic moment in our history.
BOOK REVIEWS
Gripping.... An excellent introduction to one of the most controversial events in Western American history, one that still stirs strong passions today. The New York Times Book Review
Vivid and hair-raising.... An entertaining and impressive contribution. Chicago Tribune
The atrocity was so bewildering that it demands the careful investigation and eloquent recounting that it receives. The Boston Globe
FOR RELATED BOOKS
History Books :: United States Books :: 19Th Century Books
Religion Books :: Christianity Books :: Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter-Day Saints (Mormonism) Books
Religion Books :: Christianity Books :: Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon) Books
MORE BOOK INFO
ISBN: 0375726365
ISBN(13-digit): 9780375726361
Copyright: 2004
Dewey Decimal: 973
Library of Congress: 2004559169
Book Publisher: Random House Inc
Language: ENG
No. of Pages: 306
Paper Weight (lb): .715 lb
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