Brigham Young

American Moses
Author: Leonard J. Arrington
An authoritative biography of the controversial religious leader by the man called "the Dean of Mormon history"
Paper – $22.95
978-0-252-01296-9
Publication Date
Paperback: 04/01/1986
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About the Book

From the preface:

"Brigham Young was the supreme American paradox, not because he contained elements foreign to American soil but because he united them--the business genius of a Rockefeller with the spiritual sensitivities of an Emerson, the lusty enjoyments of the pleasures of good living with the tenderness of a Florence Nightingale. He was not merely an entrepreneur with a shared vision of America as the Promised Land; he was a prophet with visions of his own and he built beyond himself."

About the Author

Leonard J. Arrington was Lemuel Redd Professor of Western History at Brigham Young University and the former Director of the History Division of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. His books include  Great Basin Kingdom: An Economic History of the Latter-day Saints, 1830–1900 and coauthor of The Mormon Experience: A History of the Latter-day Saints. He died in 1999.

Also by this author


The Mormon Experience cover

Reviews

"Arrington gives readers as good a picture as they are likely to get of the man who assumed leadership of the major part of the Mormon church when Joseph Smith was assassinated in 1844, led its members west, and built a church empire in Utah."--R. Laurence Moore, New York Times Book Review

"A considerable achievement that will doubtless stand for many years as the most objective and authoritative biography of Young."--David Brion Davis, New York Review of Books

"Arrington pulls no punches. He writes of the successes as well as the failures, the conflicts as well as the compassion. The Mountain Meadows Massacre, polygamy, the United Order, and other controversial parts of the story are all discussed, neither underplayed nor sensationalized."--Carma Wadley, Deseret News

"Represents a significant turning point in Mormon historical scholarship for both Mormons and non-Mormons alike."--Howard R. Lamar, History Book Club Review

"Should bring new understanding and compassion for one of the most misunderstood giants in American history."--Don Keown, San Francisco Examiner-Chronicle