Though the massacre had already been the topic of numerous books, the authors observed there was a modern feeling that the LDS Church should invite "true reconciliation" by showing "more candor about what its historians actually know about the event". The authors agreed, writing:
Only complete and honest evaluation of the tragedy can bring the trust necessary for lasting good will. Only then can there be catharsis.[3]
To this end, "[LDS] Church leaders supported [the] book by providing full and open disclosure."[4] Although he wrote in his unofficial capacity, one of the authors, Turley, had been serving as an administrator over the church's historical programs since 1986.
Beginning their work in 2001, the authors did not intend to respond to earlier treatments on the massacre, but to instead take a "fresh approach" and amass all possible primary sources. Aside from available academic and scholarly sources, they were also granted access to the LDS First Presidency's archives. There they discovered the collection of past Assistant Church HistorianAndrew Jenson, including the papers from his interviews with insiders in southern Utah during 1892. This was the first modern examination of the massacre that had access to these sources.[4]
The authors avoided portraying the perpetrators and victims as good or evil, which would overlook their human complexity and the groups' diversities. Instead, they examined the massacre as a case of American frontier violence and vigilantism.[5]
The authors were interviewed about their research in an August 2008 airing of KUER's public forum program, Radio West.[6] On September 17, 2008 BYU Television produced a special report entitled, Massacre at the Meadows: A BYU Broadcasting Special Report, in which they conducted a wide-ranging, hour-long interview with the authors of the book.[7] The special report originally aired on September 24, 2008, and has been occasionally rebroadcast on BYU Television and other BYU media outlets such as KBYU-TV.
Reception
Demand for the book exceeded the anticipations of its publisher, Oxford University Press. The first printing sold out before the release date, and it has since gone through several more printings. It was Oxford's top sale through Amazon.com for two months and Oxford's fastest-selling book over the last few years, selling 44,000 copies in the first two months.[8] It received positive critical reaction and picked up by the History Book Club and the Military Book Club, though most sales were limited to Utah. Oxford considered it "a big best-seller" for its "smaller press" with conservative print runs.[9]
Awards and Praise
Best Non-Fiction Book of 2008, Westerners International[10]
A vivid, gripping narrative of one of the most notorious mass murders in all American history, and a model for how historians should do their work. This account of a long-controversial horror is scrupulously researched, enriched with contemporary illustrations, and informed by the lessons of more recent atrocities.[10]
Massacre at Mountain Meadows is arguably the most professional, transparent account of a controversial event in Mormon history produced under church auspices. The deftly and tightly written story is constructed like a Greek tragedy, the timeline contracting as the narrative expands in detail─breaking at the climax.[10]
A fascinating study about one of the most controversial events of western history ... When confronted with disputed or contradictory evidence, the authors deal with it judiciously and fairly. The thoroughness of their research is most impressive ... Massacre is a significant contribution. It is carefully researched, objective in viewpoint, well organized, and clearly written.[10]
Sequel
Massacre at Mountain Meadows tells the story of the massacre, but not its aftermath, impact, media reaction, coverup, or punishment. The authors concluded "that too much information existed for a single book", and that the second half of the story would be written in a future volume.[11] Richard E. Turley Jr. has signed a contract with Oxford University Press to publish the second volume; as of April 2010 this sequel was tentatively titled After the Massacre. The volume is set to be released in May 2023 as Vengeance Is Mine: The Mountain Meadows Massacre and Its Aftermath.[12]
Related Media
Upon completion of Massacre at Mountain Meadows the authors expressed a desire to publish some of the materials used in their research. As a result, BYU Studies published a special edition of their journal in fall 2008. This special edition, BYU Studies Volume 47:3, contained selections from the Andrew Jenson and David H. Morris collections, along with histories, essays, and book reviews; all dealing with the Mountain Meadows massacre.[13]
In September 2009 BYU Studies and Brigham Young University Press published the complete collections in a 352-page book, entitled Mountain Meadows Massacre: The Andrew Jenson and David H. Morris Collections.[14]
Notes
↑ Walker, Ronald W.; Turley, Richard E.; Leonard, Glen M. (21 August 2008). Massacre at Mountain Meadows (Hardcover). Oup USA. ISBN978-0195160345.
The Mountain Meadows Massacre was a series of attacks during the Utah War that resulted in the mass murder of at least 120 members of the Baker–Fancher emigrant wagon train. The massacre occurred in the southern Utah Territory at Mountain Meadows, and was perpetrated by settlers from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints involved with the Utah Territorial Militia who recruited and were aided by some Southern Paiute Native Americans. The wagon train, made up mostly of families from Arkansas, was bound for California, traveling on the Old Spanish Trail that passed through the Territory.
Leonard James Arrington was an American author, academic and the founder of the Mormon History Association. He is known as the "Dean of Mormon History" and "the Father of Mormon History" because of his many influential contributions to the field. Since 1842, he was the first non-general authority Church Historian for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, from 1972 to 1982, and was director of the Joseph Fielding Smith Institute for Church History from 1982 until 1986.
George Albert Smith was an early leader in the Latter Day Saint movement. He served in the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and as a member of the First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Andrew Jenson, born Anders Jensen, was a Danish immigrant to the United States who acted as an Assistant Church Historian of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for much of the early-20th century. Jenson also served the church as president of the Scandinavian Mission.
Church Historian and Recorder is a priesthood calling in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The role of the Church Historian and Recorder is to keep an accurate and comprehensive record of the church and its activities. His office gathers history sources and preserves records, ordinances, minutes, revelations, procedures, and other documents. The Church Historian and Recorder also chairs the Historic Sites Committee and Records Management Committee, and may act as an authoritative voice of the church in historical matters.
Marlin Keith Jensen is an American attorney who has been a general authority of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints since 1989. He served as the official Church Historian and Recorder of the church from 2005 to 2012. He was the 19th man to hold that calling since it was established in 1830. Jensen was made an emeritus general authority in the October 2012 general conference.
Although the Mountain Meadows massacre was covered to some extent in the media during the 1850s, its first period of intense nationwide publicity began around 1872. This was after investigators obtained the confession of Philip Klingensmith, a Mormon bishop at the time of the massacre and a private in the Utah militia. National newspapers also covered the John D. Lee trials closely from 1874 to 1876, and his execution in 1877 was widely publicized. The first detailed work using modern historical methods was published in 1950, and the massacre has been the subject of several historical works since that time.
Burying the Past: Legacy of the Mountain Meadows Massacre is a 2004 documentary film about the Mountain Meadows massacre. It was directed by Brian Patrick and has won 11 awards, but the producers were unable to obtain theatrical release for the film.
The conspiracy and siege of the Mountain Meadows Massacre was initially planned by its Mormon perpetrators to be a short "Indian" attack, against the Baker–Fancher party. But the planned attack was repulsed and soon turned into a siege, which later culminated in the massacre of the remaining emigrants, on September 11, 1857.
Ronald Davis Bitton was a charter member and president of the Mormon History Association, professor of history at the University of Utah, and official Assistant Church Historian in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints working with Leonard J. Arrington.
Dean Cornell Jessee is a historian of the early Latter Day Saint movement and leading expert on the writings of Joseph Smith Jr.
Glen Milton Leonard is an American historian specializing in Mormon history.
James Brown Allen was an American historian of Mormonism and was an official Assistant Church Historian of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1972 to 1979. While working as Assistant Church Historian, he co-authored The Story of the Latter-day Saints with Glen Leonard. After Ezra Taft Benson dismissed the book as secular new history, other events led to the dissolution of the LDS Church History department in 1982. Allen resigned as Assistant Church Historian in 1979, returning to work at Brigham Young University (BYU) full-time.
Richard Eyring "Rick" Turley Jr. is an American historian and genealogist. He previously served as both an Assistant Church Historian of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and as managing director of the church's public affairs department.
Ronald Warren Walker was an American historian of the Latter Day Saint movement and a professor at Brigham Young University (BYU) and president of the Mormon History Association. His work, acclaimed by the Mormon History Association, dealt with the Godbeites, the Utah War, and the Mountain Meadows Massacre, among other topics.
Colonel William Horne Dame was an American politician and Mormon military commander. He was one of the perpetrators of the Mountain Meadows Massacre.
Mormon studies is the interdisciplinary academic study of the beliefs, practices, history and culture of individuals and denominations belonging to the Latter Day Saint movement, a religious movement associated with the Book of Mormon, though not all churches and members of the Latter Day Saint movement identify with the terms Mormon or Mormonism. Denominations of the Latter Day Saint movement include the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, by far the largest, as well as the Community of Christ (CoC) and other smaller groups, include some categorized under the umbrella term Mormon fundamentalism.
Reid Larkin Neilson is the assistant academic vice president (AAVP) for religious scholarly publications at Brigham Young University (BYU). He was the Assistant Church Historian and Recorder for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 2015 to 2019, and the managing director of the church's history department from 2010 to 2019.
This is a bibliography of works on the Latter Day Saint movement.
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