Mormon History

“When the odds were stacked against us - and there have been many times when the great experiment we call America could have and should have failed - did God intervene to save us?” That question, posed by authors Chris and Ted Stewart, is the foundation for this remarkable book. And the examples they cite provide compelling evidence that the hand of Providence has indeed preserved the United States of America on multiple occasions.

On the morning of November 4, 2019, a caravan of women and children was ambushed by masked gunmen on a desolate stretch of road in northern Mexico controlled by the Sinaloa drug cartel. Firing semi-automatic weapons, the attackers killed nine people and gravely injured five more. The victims were members of the LeBaron and La Mora communities-fundamentalist Mormons whose forebears broke from the LDS Church and settled in Mexico when their religion outlawed polygamy in the late nineteenth century.

The book is a controversial and critical account of the early history of the LDS Church. Bennett's work offers a scathing review of Joseph Smith and the practices of the Mormon community in Nauvoo, Illinois. He covers various topics, including the church's political and social practices, alleged secret rites, and polygamy, which was a deeply controversial issue at the time.

Among all the various figures in 19th century America who left controversial legacies, it is hard to find one as influential as Joseph Smith (1805-1844), the founder of the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Mormonism, and the Latter-Day Saint movement. Revered as a prophet on the level of Moses by some, reviled as a perpetrator of large-scale fraud by others, what everyone can agree on is that Joseph Smith founded a religious movement that played a crucial role in the settlement of the West, especially in Utah.

According to Joseph Smith, in September of 1823, an angel appeared to him and directed him to a hill near his home. Buried there, Smith found a box containing a stack of thin metal sheets, gold in color and covered with what appeared to be ancient engravings. Exactly four years later, the angel instructed Smith to translate the plates into English. When the text was published, a new religion was born.

Among all the various figures in 19th century America who left controversial legacies, it is hard to find one as influential as Joseph Smith (1805-1844), the founder of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Mormonism, and the Latter-Day Saint movement. Revered as a prophet on the level of Moses by some, reviled as a perpetrator of large-scale fraud by others, what everyone can agree on is that Joseph Smith founded a religious movement that played a crucial role in the settlement of the West, especially in Utah.

Depuis sept ans, Nauvoo était le lieu de rassemblement des saints des derniers jours, mais sous la menace des émeutiers qui projettent de les chasser de leurs foyers, ils fuient la ville. Sous la direction de Brigham Young et du Collège des douze apôtres, ils se dirigent vers l’Ouest et traversent les plaines, confiant que Dieu leur prépare un foyer au-delà des sommets majestueux des montagnes Rocheuses.

What are the feasts and festivals of the Messiah? They are not just “Jewish holidays” that are defunct for Christians because the Law of Moses is fulfilled and the Jerusalem temple destroyed. Rather, the ancient feast and festival days were given to all of Israel to keep forever. Ezekiel and Zechariah prophesy that both the Passover and the Feast of Tabernacles will be kept during the Millennium. If that is true, what do we need to know and understand about them?

In the single month of September 1993, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints excommunicated or disciplined six of its members. These six individuals–some of them intellectuals, some activists, and some both–were soon dubbed the “September Six.” In The September Six and the Struggle for the Soul of Mormonism, Sara M. Patterson challenges listeners to think more deeply about the events of that month and the era in which they unfolded.

During the mid-19th century, a quarter of a million travelers - men, women, and children - followed the "road across the plains" to gold rush California. This magnificent chronicle - the second installment of Will Bagley's sweeping Overland West series - captures the danger, excitement, and heartbreak of America's first great rush for riches and its enduring consequences.

Los populachos amenazan con expulsarlos de sus hogares, por lo que miles de Santos de los Últimos Días huyen de Nauvoo, su lugar de recogimiento durante los últimos siete años. Guiados por Brigham Young y el Cuórum de los Doce Apóstoles, viajan hacia el oeste a través de praderas y llanuras, confiando en que Dios les preparará un lugar donde establecerse más allá de las cumbres de las Montañas Rocosas. Encontrar un nuevo hogar es solo el comienzo de la historia.

In June 1846, General Stephen Watts Kearny rode out of Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, with two thousand soldiers, bound for California. At the time, the nation was hell-bent on expansion: James K. Polk had lately won the presidency by threatening England over the borders in Oregon, while Congress had just voted to annex Texas. After Mexico declared war on the United States, Kearny’s Army of the West was sent out, carrying orders to occupy Mexican territory. Winston Groom recounts the amazing adventure and danger that Kearny and his troops encountered on the trail.

The relationship between early Mormons and the US was marked by anxiety and hostility. Nineteenth-century Latter-day Saints looked forward to apocalyptic events that would unseat corrupt governments across the globe. Mormons envisioned divine deliverance by way of plagues, natural disasters, foreign invasions, American Indian raids, slave uprisings, or civil war unleashed on American people. For the Saints, these violent images promised a national rebirth that would vouchsafe the protections of the US Constitution and end their oppression.

Dive into a compelling historical account with Female Life Among the Mormons! This remarkable book provides a vivid glimpse into the lives, experiences, and challenges faced by women in the early days of the Mormon community. Written by Maria Ward, who experienced the lifestyle first-hand, this book navigates through the intricacies and dynamics of polygamous relationships, societal expectations, and the overall environment within the Mormon community during the 19th century.

The Mormon trek westward from Illinois to the Salt Lake Valley was an enduring accomplishment of American overland trail migration; however, their wintering at the Missouri River near present-day Omaha was a feat of faith and perseverance. Richard E. Bennett presents new facts and ideas that challenge old assumptions - particularly that life on the frontier encouraged American individualism.

In Revelation, Resistance, and Mormon Polygamy, historian Merina Smith explores the introduction of polygamy in Nauvoo, a development that unfolded amid scandal and resistance. Smith considers the ideological, historical, and even psychological elements of the process and captures the emotional and cultural detail of this exciting and volatile period in Mormon history.

Though these two men grew up in close proximity to each other, they didn’t meet until Brigham was in his 30s. Their first meeting, which involved speaking in tongues and led to Joseph prophesying that one day Brigham would “preside over this Church,” proved to be a harbinger of their future relationship. But these two giants of the Restoration, indeed of the American West, didn’t always see eye to eye, though their friendship never faltered.

Santos cuenta las historias de hombres y mujeres comunes y corrientes desde los primeros años de la Iglesia hasta la actualidad. También ofrece nuevos detalles y perspectivas sobre las personas y los acontecimientos más conocidos de la historia de la Iglesia. Cada relato le ayudará a comprender y valorar a los santos que los precedieron e hicieron de la Iglesia lo que esta es en la actualidad.

Though the Constitution guarantees the free exercise of religion, it does not specify what qualifies as a religion. From its founding in the 1830s, Mormonism, a homegrown American faith, has drawn thousands of converts but far more critics. In A Peculiar People, J. Spencer Fluhman offers a comprehensive history of anti-Mormon thought and the associated passionate debates about religious authenticity in 19th-century America.

In Barred by Congress: How a Mormon, a Socialist, and an African American Elected by the People Were Excluded from Office, Robert M. Lichtman provides a definitive history of congressional exclusion and expulsion cases. Lichtman offers a timely investigation of the vital constitutional issues, debated since the nation's founding, concerning permissible and impermissible grounds for excluding a member-elect or expelling a member from Congress.