Review: Thomas G. Alexander. Brigham Young and the Expansion of the Mormon Faith. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2019.

Authors

Nicole Kirk

Keywords

Thomas G. Alexander, Mormon migration, Intermountain West, Western biography

Abstract

In Brigham Young and the Expansion of the Mormon Faith, Thomas G. Alexander delivers a new study of the second prophet of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as well as an account of Young’s leadership of the Mormon migration and settlement in the Intermountain West. A part of the Oklahoma University Press’s Western Biography series, the collection employs the genre of biography to illuminate the history of the American West. Written by leading scholars for a general audience, the series excludes notes. The Western Biography series has included a wide range of figures, from Annie Oakley, Billy the Kid, and Calamity Jane, to Red Cloud, César Chávez, and J. Robert Oppenheimer. This particular volume features twenty-eight illustrations, and each chapter begins and ends with a summary. Alexander concentrates on Brigham Young’s religious, political, and civic administration of the Latter-day Saints in Utah. He wants to recognize Young’s “successes as a missionary, family man, businessman, church leader, and colonizer” while grappling with the horrific, violent, and controversial moments in Young’s leadership (xv).

BYU ScholarsArchive Citation

Kirk, Nicole (2022) "Review: Thomas G. Alexander. Brigham Young and the Expansion of the Mormon Faith. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2019.," Mormon Studies Review: Vol. 9: No. 1, Article 25.
Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/msr2/vol9/iss1/25