eBook Brigham Young and the Expanding American Frontier (Library of American Biography) ePub

Bringhurst has produced a great biography on Brigham Young. It is short yet inclusive. It spans Young's entire life, giving a total picture of who he was. While sympathetic to Young, it leaves nothing untouched: polygamy, the Mountain Meadows Massacre, the Utah War, business transactions that made him rich, the handcart tragedy, and anything else unsightly. Bringhurst is critical in his analysis but fair in his judgement. This biography isn't all about what Young did. It takes a focus on showing Young's development, capturing his emotions and reactions to events.

well documented history of Brigham Young.

It's not surprising that the Mormon Church, just like other churches, companies, governments, and people, works to maintain a positive image. As an example, it's difficult to purchase what was once a commonly available portrait of Brigham Young with portraits of his many wives, today in Salt Lake City. That this book contains such a picture is indicative, I think, that the author endeavored to be impartial regarding his subject matter. And I've found that books that support the Mormon Church's message are generally published by LDS-owned publishing companies.

Having said that, I found this book to be an interesting and informative biography of the religious leader. It was not a heavily detailed biography, at 219 pages. You learn about his background, and his deeply religious upbringing. You get an idea of the major bumps in the road, the key controversies. You hear about the impetus for Young's various relocations, and because of that, the background of the church. There are a number of details provided about the evolution of the church - hot liquid versus caffeine, for example, and Young's liquor-serving restaurant - that readers unfamiliar with the Mormon Church background may find interesting.

But because only so much can fit in this book, you just don't get everything - there's no complete list of the Young children by name (but there are plenty of numbers provided), wives by name (numbers are provided but Young divorced regularly so I'm not sure what the final count was), or details on the inner church battles he faced and resulting excommunications (some are mentioned; more detail is available from LDS genealogy archives), to mention a few gaps. And the handcart migration - both a tragic and an epic effort involving starvation on a scale far beyond the Donner party, a burden Young should have shouldered - gets just a few paragraphs.

And most importantly, you don't get editorial opinion; you must form your own. You get an idea of Young's character as he matured, but there's no real judgement imposed. I don't envy the author attempting to write an impartial biography of a man who tried to shape not only his own destiny but that of an entire people - under the guise of carving a religious nation - out of a hostile wilderness.

Considering this biography reviews the life and actions of a religious leader, who is at times violently opposed to the United States, I found it to be remarkably fair. Very interesting book

This is a somewhat controversial work but American history buffs who seek a refreshing literary anomaly in an effort to wean themselves from mundane and traditional fare will enjoy Bringhurst's Brigham Young and the Expanding American Frontier (Library of American Biography Series) (Library of American Biography). Conversely, those who find themselves unable to cite the correct date for the outbreak of the American Civil War would probably do well to steer clear of this one until they have achieved a more firm grasp of "Manifest Destiny" as well as at least a cursory knowledge of the various early religious movements in America. The reason for this caution is that Bringhurst casts a very broad net which solidly captures the peripheral history of the period.

Brigham Young was a controversial figure even before he first achieved fame as the second renowned leader of the Mormons (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, a.k.a. LDS Church). Joseph Smith was the founder and "Prophet" of this religious movement, Young's predecessor.

Bringhurst apportions the travels and diverse activities of Brigham Young in digestible, logically-contrived morsels. This chronicle can be encapsulated into the following episodes:

1. Brigham Young and the Mormons during the Joseph Smith leadership.

2. The "planning period" following Smith's death.

3. The pre-migration (to Utah) period.

4. The post-immigration or settlement period (Salt Lake City).

Young was born in Vermont in 1801 and reared in an environment which Bringhurst describes as, "...austere, ascetic Methodism." It was Mormonism which eventually provided him with a springboard to renown since he was quite willing to work diligently toward that end. Young continued to build upon his own ranking within the Mormon Church until 1844 when Joseph Smith was murdered.

For the next thirty-three years Brigham Young became the principal Mormon Leader even though his leadership was intermittently contested by certain fringe members of the original congregation, a group which spilt off the main body and became known as the "Reorganized" Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (which was ultimately renamed the "Community of Christ" Church in 2001). This group abhorred polygamy and it is chiefly that very doctrine of the early LDS Church which haunted Brigham Young until his death in 1877.

Young's legacy is manifest today. His establishment of the Mormon Trail was subsequently compacted by the mass migrations of sect members from England as well as those from the "home bases" of Kirtland, Ohio and Nauvoo, Illinois. Salt Lake City similarly stands as a monument which reflects the political, economic, and religious engineering of Brigham Young and Bringhurst brings all this to light.

Bringhurst does dispel some erroneous Brigham Young mythology but he effects this in a way that, by simply reading the book, we cannot discern Bringhurst's own religious persuasions, (albeit, his rabid interest in his chosen subject probably does reveal this actuality.)

Perhaps it's relevant to state here that I am not a member of any of the aforementioned churches so, my view of this biography is unclouded by any personal agendas. A fine book -- it's not a page-turner but I still recommend it for appropriate readers, those who harbor an interest in such works.