American Massacre: The Tragedy at Mountain Meadows, September 1857

By Sally Denton

Book Overview

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 author-herself of Mormon descent-first 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 responsibility-that Young, impelled by the church's 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.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B000OXNMXA
• ISBN13: 9780375726361
• Release Date: September 2004
• Publisher: Vintage
• Length: 352 Pages
• Weight: 0.78 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.3" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Superb Investigative Report

Denton is the rare investigative reporter whose scholarship, compassion, and ability to write with poetic power are in perfect balance. In American Massacre, Denton tips over a religious rock and finds a nest of corruption, deceit, and despair. She delivers a temperate, detailed investigation of a religious tragedy: The cost of blind obedience and fanaticism that dehumanizes victims and seeks divine approval of even the most heinous crimes against innocents. She carefully details the inevitable corruption of any organization involving fallible humans - often with conflicting agendas - and her research is sound and rigorous. Denton's enthusiasm for the subject lends a subjective, sometimes accusatory, tone to her writing that could perhaps have been tempered by a thorough discussion of the mind-set present in violent confrontations. This is a difficult subject, however, and readers may find Professor Dave Grossman's "On Killing" a suitable companion in understanding how large bodies of ordinary men could be guilty of senseless slaughter. Overall, this is an exciting, well-researched and fair-minded narrative and a powerfully written, superb investigative report. David R. Bannon, Ph.D.; author, "Race Against Evil."

Why Isn't This Book Talked About?

After finishing Jon Krakauer's amazing "Under the Banner of Heaven," I turned to Denton's book for a fuller account of the Mountain Meadows Massacre. I wasn't disappointed. This book is absolutely incredible. Anyone who reads it will be shaken up by the history of the Mormon Church and what it has sanitized. How many Mormons today know of Brigham Young's atrocities? If they knew, would they still worship this faith based in the bloodshed of innocent Americans? Mormonism isn't very old. There is very recent history of torture and cruelty by the Mormon people. This history isn't biblical; it's pre-Civil war. Pretty hard to believe anyone could not acknowledge the abomination that was Brigham Young. But back to the book: Ms. Denton is an amazing writer--perhaps among our best today. Her attention to detail, her chronicling of history is beyond praiseworthy. She merits more distinction than she is getting, considering that this book is never talked about. But then again, the media seems to have swept Krakauer's book under the rug, as well. What is the press afraid of? Whatever the reasons, anyone wanting to educate him or herself about Mormon history--or anyone ignorant to its roots--should read this book as a companion to Krakauer's. And all should cry at the fate of the doomed Fancher party.

Brilliant, Brave History Hot as Today's Headlines

Political thriller, historical drama, crime and coverup, love and hate, disaster and redemption--Sally Denton's fast-paced, beautifully written account of the Mountain Meadow Massacre has it all. For a century-and-a-half, the worst atrocity of its kind in American annals went so little or marginally written about that it was one of our history's dirty secrets. But now Denton, a nationally-honored author and investigative journalist, gives it the definitive book it deserves--an achievement all the more impressive because of the courage and wisdom it took in a woman who is herself a descendant of Mormon pioneers. Terrorism and religious fanaticism hardly began with Islamic radicals September 11, 2001. It's as American as apple pie and massacre in a lovely Utah meadow. No history is more relevant to understanding our world, our America. Don't miss this one!

Important Book

This book is terrific. Not only it is great history, it is wonderfully written. Denton has tackled a great stain upon the history of the Mormon church--the massacre of more than 100 members of a wagon train headed west in 1857. She traces the history of the Mormon church to help explain both how its members could and would be nervous about outsiders, and how its leaders then tried to cover up a case of cold-blooded murder. When you are done reading it--and you will finish it; it is impossible to put down--you will have a better understanding of how this church became important and how and why it remains so mysterious to so many.