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Resources and Reviews

The following is a list of relevant resources relating to the life and times of Brigham Young. Some of these materials may vary in their content's accuracy, but all have contributed to either greater or lesser understanding of Brigham Young and to the public perceptions of him that have lingered to this day.

Books

  • 40 Ways to Look at Brigham Young: A New Approach to a Remarkable Man, by Chad M. Orton and William W. Slaughter (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2008)

  • American Massacre: The Tragedy at Mountain Meadows, September 1857, by Sally Denton (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2003)

  • Blood of the Prophets: Brigham Young and the Massacre at Mountain Meadows, by Will Bagley (Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 2002)

  • Brigham Young, by M. R. Werner (New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1925)

  • Brigham Young, by Olive Burt (New York: Julian Messner, Inc., 1956)

  • Brigham Young: A Concise Biography of the Mormon Moses, by Ed Breslin (Washington, D.C.: Regnery History, 2013)

  • Brigham Young: American Moses, by Leonard J. Arrington (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1985)

  • Brigham Young and the Expanding American Frontier, by Newell G. Bringhurst (Boston: Little, Brown, 1986)

  • Brigham Young and the Expansion of the Mormon Faith, by Thomas G. Alexander (Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 2019)

  • Brigham Young at Home, by Clarissa Young Spencer and Mabel Harmer (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1940)

  • Brigham Young, Modern Moses/Prophet of God, by Francis Gibbons (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1981)

  • Brigham Young: Pioneer Prophet, by John Turner (Cambridge, MA.: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2012)

  • Brigham Young: Sovereign in America, by David Mason (New York: Routledge, 2015)

  • Brigham Young the Colonizer, by Milton R. Hunter (Independence, MI: Zion's Printing and Publishing, 1945)

  • Brigham Young, the Man and His Work, by Preston Nibley (Salt Lake City: Deseret News Press, 1936)

  • Brigham Young, the Man of the Hour, by Leah D. Widtsoe (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1947)

  • Brigham Young: The New York Years, by Richard F. Palmer and Karl D. Butler (Provo, UT: Signature Books, 1982)

  • Brother Brigham Challenges the Saints, by Hugh Nibley (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book/Provo, UT: FARMS, 1994)

  • Brother Brigham, by Eugene England (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1980)

  • Building the City of God: Community and Cooperation Among the Mormons, by Leonard J. Arrington, Feramorz Y. Fox, and Dean L. May (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1976)

  • A Child’s Story of the Prophet Brigham Young, by Deta Petersen Neeley and Nathan Glen Neeley (Salt Lake City: Deseret News Press, 1959)

  • Comprehensive History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints: Century I, by B.H. Roberts (Salt Lake City: Deseret News Press, 1930)

  • Great Basin Kingdom: An Economic History of the Latter-day Saints, 1830-1900, by Leonard J. Arrington (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1958)

  • “Here is Brigham”: Brigham Young – the Years to 1844, by S. Dilworth Young (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1964)

  • History of Utah, 1847 to 1869, by Andrew Love Neff (Salt Lake City: Deseret News Press, 1940)

  • Kingdom of the Saints: The Story of Brigham Young and the Mormons, by Ray B. West, Jr. (New York: Viking Press, 1957)

  • Letters of Brigham Young to His Sons, edited by Dean C. Jessee (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1974)

  • The Life of Brigham Young, by Edward H. Anderson (Salt Lake City: Geo. Q. Cannon and Sons Co., 1893)

  • The Life of Brigham Young; or, Utah and Her Founders, by Edward W. Tullidge (New York: n.p., 1876)

  • The Life Story of Brigham Young, by Susa Young Gates and Leah D. Widtsoe (New York: Macmillan, 1930)

  • The Lion of the Lord: A Biography of Brigham Young, by Stanley P. Hirshson (New York: Alfred Knopf, 1969)

  • The Lion of the Lord: Essays on the Life and Service of Brigham Young, by Susan Easton Black and Larry C. Porter (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1995)

  • Massacre at Mountain Meadows: An American Legend and a Monumental Crime, by William Wise (New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Company, 1976)

  • Massacre at Mountain Meadows: An American Tragedy, by Ronald W. Walker, Richard E. Turley and Glen M. Leonard (New York: Oxford University Press, 2008)

  • The Mormon Prophet and His Harem: An Authentic History of Brigham Young, His Numerous Wives and Children, by Catherine V. Waite (Cambridge, MA: Riverside Press, 1866)

  • The Mormons at Home, by Cornelia Ferris (New York: Dix & Edwards, 1856)

  • The Mountain Meadows Massacre, by Juanita Brooks (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1950)

  • My Servant Brigham: Portrait of a Prophet, by Richard Neitzel Holzapfel and R.Q. Shupe (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1997)

  • Religion of a Different Color: Race and the Mormon Struggle for Whiteness, by W. Paul Reeve (New York: Oxford University Press, 2015)

  • Rocky Mountain Saints, by T.B.H. Stenhouse (New York: D. Appleton & Co., 1873)

  • Young Brigham Young, by S. Dilworth Young (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1962)

Articles

  • Thomas G. Alexander, “Wilford Woodruff and the Mormon Reformation of 1855-57,” Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 15 (Summer 1992): 25-38.

  • Thomas G. Alexander, Brigham Young, the Quorum of the Twelve, and the Latter-day Saint Investigation of the Mountain Meadows Massacre, Leonard J. Arrington Mormon History Lecture Series, No. 12 (Logan, Utah: Utah State University Press, 2007).

  • Leonard J. Arrington, “The Transcontinental Railroad and Mormon Economic Policy,” Pacific Historical Review 20 (May 1951): 143-57.

  • Leonard J. Arrington, “The Latter-day Saints and Public Education,” Southwestern Journal of Social Education 7 (Spring-Summer 1977): 9-25.

  • Leonard J. Arrington and Ronald K. Esplin, “Building a Commonwealth: The Secular Leadership of Brigham Young,” Utah Historical Quarterly 45 (Summer 1977): 216-32.

  • Leonard J. Arrington and Ronald K. Esplin, “The Role of the Quorum of the Twelve during Brigham Young’s Presidency of the Church…,” Task Papers in LDS History, no. 31 (Salt Lake City, 1979).

  • Leonard J. Arrington and JoAnn Jolley, “The Faithful Young Family: The Parents, Brothers, and Sisters of Brigham,” Ensign (August 1980): 52-57.

  • Valeen Tippetts Avery and Linda King Newell, “The Lion and the Lady: Brigham Young and Emma Smith,” Utah Historical Quarterly 48 (Winter 1980): 81-97.

  • Ronald O. Barney, “Letters of a Missionary Apostle to His Wife: Brigham Young to Mary Ann Angell Young, 1839-1841,” BYU Studies 38 (1999): 156-201.

  • Richard E. Bennett, “Finalizing Plans for the Trek West: Deliberations at Winter Quarters 1846-1847,” BYU Studies 24 (Summer 1984): 301-320.

  • Gary James Bergera, “The Orson Pratt-Brigham Young Controversies: Conflict within the Quorums, 1853 to 1868,” Dialogue 13 (Summer 1980): 7-58.

  • Davis Bitton, “The Sovereignty of God in John Calvin and Brigham Young,” Sunstone 5 (September-October 1980): 26-30.

  • Newell G. Bringhurst, “An Ambiguous Decision: The Implementation of Mormon Priesthood Denial for the Black Man – A Reexamination,” Utah Historical Quarterly 46 (Winter 1978): 45-64.

  • David John Buerger, “The Adam-God Doctrine,” Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 15 (Spring 1982): 14-58.

  • Lester E. Bush, Jr. “Brigham Young in Life and Death: A Medical Overview,” Journal of Mormon History 5 (1978): 79-103.

  • Eugene Campbell, “Brigham Young’s Outer Cordon – A Reappraisal,” Utah Historical Quarterly 41 (Summer 1973): 220-53.

  • John K. Carmack, “Father Brigham in His Western Canaan,” BYU Studies 40 (April 2001): 13-22.

  • Lawrence G. Coates, “Brigham Young and Mormon Indian Policies: The Formative Period, 1836-1851,” BYU Studies 18 (Spring 1978): 428-52.

  • Rebecca Cornwall and Richard F. Palmer, “The Religious and Family Background of Brigham Young,” BYU Studies 18 (Spring 1978): 286-310.

  • Richard H. Cracroft, “'Cows to Milk Instead of Novels to Read’: Brigham Young, Novel Reading, and Kingdom Building,” BYU Studies 40 (April 2001): 102-131.

  • Jill Mulvay Derr, “Woman’s Place in Brigham Young’s World,” BYU Studies 18 (Spring 1978): 377-395.

  • Jill Mulvay Derr, “The Lion and the Lioness: Brigham Young and Eliza R. Snow,” BYU Studies 40 (April 2001): 54-101.

  • Eugene England, “Brigham’s Gospel Kingdom,” BYU Studies 18 (Spring 1978): 328-376.

  • Ronald K. Esplin, “From the Rumors to the Records: Historians and the Sources for Brigham Young,” BYU Studies 18 (Spring 1978): 453-465.

  • Ronald K. Esplin, “Brigham Young and Priesthood Denial to the Blacks: An Alternate View,” BYU Studies 19 (Spring 1979): 394-402.

  • Ronald K. Esplin, “Inside Brigham Young: Abrahamic Tests as Preparation for Leadership,” BYU Studies 20 (Spring 1980): 300-10.

  • Ronald K. Esplin, “Joseph, Brigham and the Twelve: A Succession of Continuity,” BYU Studies 21 (Summer 1981): 301-341.

  • Ronald K. Esplin, “’A Place Prepared’: Joseph, Brigham, and the Quest for Promised Refuge in the West,” Journal of Mormon History 9 (1982): 34-58.

  • J. Sheldon Fisher, “Brigham Young as a Mendon Craftsman: A Study in Historical Archaeology,” New York History 61 (October 1980): 431-47.

  • Susa Young Gates, “How Brigham Young Brought Up His 56 Children,” Physical Culture (February 1925): 29-31, 138-44.

  • Susa Young Gates, “Brigham Young’s Missionary Experiences,” The Juvenile Instructor 63 (May 1928): 240-44.

  • Horace Greeley, “An Overland Journey; Two Hours with Brigham Young,” New York Daily Tribune (New York, 20 Aug. 1859): 5-6.

  • William G. Hartley, “The Priesthood Reorganization of 1877: Brigham Young’s Last Achievement,” BYU Studies 20 (Fall 1979): 3-36.

  • Dean C. Jessee, “Brigham Young’s Family,” BYU Studies 18 (Spring 1978): 311-27; 19 (Summer 1979): 474-500.

  • Dean C. Jessee, “A Man of God and a Good Kind Father: Brigham Young at Home,” BYU Studies 40 (April 2001): 23-53.

  • Jeffery Ogden Johnson, “Determining and Defining ‘Wife’: The Brigham Young Households,” Dialogue 20 (Fall 1987): 57-70.

  • Stanley B. Kimball, “Brigham and Heber,” BYU Studies 18 (Spring 1978): 396-409.

  • Gustave O. Larson, “The Mormon Reformation,” Utah Historical Quarterly 26 (January 1958): 45-63.

  • Dean L. May, “Brigham Young and the Bishops: The United Order in the City,” in Davis Bitton and Maureen Ursenbach Beecher, eds. New Views of Mormon History: A Collection of Essays in Honor of Leonard J. Arrington (Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1987): 115-137.

  • Dale L. Morgan, “The Administration of Indian Affairs in Utah, 1851-1858,” Pacific Historical Review 17 (1948): 383-409.

  • Floyd O’Neil and Stanford Layton, “Of Pride and Politics: Brigham Young as Indian Superintendent,” Utah Historical Quarterly 46 (Summer 1978): 236-51.

  • Gene A. Sessions, “John Young: Soldier of the Revolution,” in Latter-day Patriots: Nine Mormon Families and Their Revolutionary War Heritage (Salt Lake City, 1975): 20-41.

  • Jan Shipps, “Brigham Young and His Times: A Continuing Force in Mormonism,” Journal of the West 23 (January 1984): 48-54.

  • Philip A.M. Taylor, “The Life of Brigham Young – A Biography Which Will Not Be Written,” Dialogue 1 (Autumn 1966): 101-10.

  • Ronald W. Walker and Ronald K. Esplin, “Brigham Himself: An Autobiographical Recollection,” Journal of Mormon History 4 (1977): 19-34.

  • Ronald W. Walker, “The Willard Richards and Brigham Young 5 September 1840 Letter from England to Nauvoo,” BYU Studies 18 (Spring 1978): 466-474.

  • Ronald W. Walker, “Raining Pitchforks: Brigham Young as Preacher,” Sunstone 8 (May-June 1983): 5-9.

  • Ronald W. Walker, “Brigham Young on the Social Order,” BYU Studies 28 (Summer 1988): 37-52.

  • Linda P. Wilcox, “The Imperfect Science: Brigham Young on Medical Doctors,” Dialogue 12 (Fall 1979): 26-36.