A little "light" reading

I get the opportunity to talk with a lot of people from different backgrounds, which is interesting and thought provoking for me. Recently I was asked about polygamy and challenged to read a book titled "Under the Banner of Heaven" by Jon Krakauer who also wrote "Into the Wild" and Into Thin Air". I bought the book and it has been difficult to put down.



The book starts out detailing the gruesome murder of Brenda Lafferty and her young daughter in Utah a few year back by her husband's brothers who believe that the execution order was given to them in a revelation from God. The book traces the roots of the LDS church through Joseph Smith to Brigham Young through the separation of the Fundamentalists through the Mountain Meadows Massacre and back to the murders and the trial. What has surprised me the most is that all of the names in the book are very familiar, the places are places I know, the history is part of my history and most shocking is the stories (documented in foot notes) of the details behind each of the events. It has caused me to really stop and think about what I have thought I knew all my life. It has also peaked my interested to study more of my history and not just take stories I've heard at face value. I've always been fascinated with Mormon history, loved The Work and the Glory series, read tons on Porter Rockwell, but never really though about it much past the surface.

In the trial chapters of the book the Defense team thought about using the insanity defense for the Lafferty Brothers, but there is a whole issue around trying to prove that someone is insane because they pray to and receive guidance from God...don't we all?

It has brought up a lot of great questions in my mind and I am looking forward to more reading and researching, discussions and deliberations. The more I learn, the more I want to know. I am fascinated with the story of John D. Lee. I never connected that Lee's Ferry on Lake Powell was named for him and that he was bannished there by Brigham Young after the massacre. He was excommunicated along with a couple of church leaders from Cedar City and in the end given up as the scapegoat for the tragic massacre and executed at Mountain Meadows. That is a whole story I want to study. I'll also be making a trip up to the Mountains Meadows next time I'm in Hurricane. If you want to read an article put out a couple years ago by the Church, google the Mountain Meadows Massacre.

And one last thing that I want to study more is the Dream Mine that is located in the mountains above Salem, UT. We've all seen it from a distance, but there is a whole other story that weaves into LDS history about the mine and all the gold that is supposed to be buried there.

2 Other recommended reads that are on my list are The Mountain Meadows Massacre by Juanita Brooks of St. George and Blood of the Prophets.