Brigham Young, Not Revealed

Readers expecting a balanced treatment of Brigham Young, an outsized character in the settlement of the West by any measure, will likely be disappointed with Thomas G. Alexander’s Brigham Young and the Expansion of the Mormon Faith (University of Oklahoma Press, $29.95). The author covers in detail Young’s noteworthy exploits, but barely touches on or ignores many controversial aspects. Anyone with a gripe is labeled “anti-Mormon” and the legitimacy of their reasons for challenging Young disregarded. Too much of the alphabet is wasted on explanations of Mormon history and doctrine that wander off the trail of Brigham Young’s life and accomplishments. While the author is an academic historian of some note, by his own admission in the introduction, his heart may not have been in this work.

—Rod Miller, author of Father Unto Many Sons