The Mountain Meadows Massacre

Rating:
Summary: Authoritative, and a timeless classic
Review: Brooks, although not a professional historian, did throuough research and offered a balanced view of the massacre even though she was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints as well. The book's conclusions are well argued and the documents are used in a fair and balanced way. Brooks also does an effective job of discussing the background of the massacre with clear chapters on the "Mormon War" of 1857 that was coming. Unlike many authors, Brooks overcomes the tendancy to become emotional or polemical about the massacre. Instead of using the book to further her own agenda, (either to be an apologist or what is called an "Anti-Mormon" and tear down the church), Brooks attempts to bring to light not only the massacre itself but the motivations behind it and the cover-up that happened afterwards. Anyone studying the Mountain Meadows Massacre need to read this book first or at least second or their research is woefully incomplete!

Rating:
Summary: If BY didn't order the MMM, Why the Cover-up?
Review: I'm tired of reading defenses for BY & the MMM.The bottom line of Savior's gospel is Love for God & neighbor, which the MMM certainly was NOT. Anything more or less than Love for God & others needed waste my time. IF BY had taught LOVE for God & others rather than wind himself & others up with racist remarks, teaching others reveng rather than Forgiveness as Christ did...Can we understand why many Mormons are overly caught up in the details of things rather than Love?
We now see & understand that JDLee's reputation & life were traded away by BY in order that Utah might 'redeem' itself and attain statehood. How very, very sad, only to be punctuated by D. O. McKay reinstating his membership & blessings in the early 1960's...

Neither Juanita Brooks, nor any other individual- now or in 1857, could have ALL the information necessary for a 100% accurate history of this sordid tragedy. What we do know is that BY should have immediately brought those responsible to justice: a)He was Prophet & Governor... b)He ruled Utah with an Iron Fist; he was the bottom line of either Responsibility or Irresponsibility, Accountability or Unaccountability there.

Mormon people who love the truth should request & demand that the church education system be renamed in honor of Juanita Leone Leavitt Pulsifer Brooks (1898 - 1989) Woman Mormon Historian... she told the truth, BY covered-up the truth.


Rating:
Summary: An Objective Book and Well-Researched.
Review: Juanita Brook's book was objective on both sides, pointing out the atmosphere among the LDS people at the time of the Mountain Meadows Massacre while also showing the inconsistencies in some of the LDS explanations. If there is one clear point in the book it is that in times of prejudice and war, even good people will do horrific things. This does not justify the massacre but does attempt to explain the paranoia and fear which existed in Southern Utah at that time. I find Juanita's research to be very fair and quite accurate. It parallels the research done by Josiah F. Gibbs in his book which was printed in 1910, much closer to the time of the massacre. Mr. Gibbs is not LDS and it is obvious he does not like the LDS, but certainly his book verifies that the research which Juanita performed was very accurate. Having read many of the books and information regarding this massacre, I believe Juanita has done her research well and attempted to get the truth out. One painfully obvious truth which comes out is the quickness with which the U.S. Government took action in trying to find the guilty parties. Perhaps if they had taken such quickness with the killings and mobbings upon the LDS in Missouri, Illinois and other states, this massacre could have been avoided.

Rating:
Summary: First Authoritative, Honest Text About Mt. Meadows
Review: Juanita Brooks, a life-long southern Utahn, used her considerable native talent, her drive for the truth, and many years of effort to compile this first exhaustive, honest examination of the Mountain Meadows massacre. It is especially impressive given the fact that Ms. Brooks wasn't by vocation a historian or scholar. Her narrative is lucid and complete. Her analysis has proven, in the context of additional investigation, to be principally correct. Throughout it all, Ms. Brooks remained also a faithful LDS (Mormon) woman, in spite of her disappointments with her contemporary LDS church leadership as it related to her investigation. This should be a starting point for any serious student of the Mountain Meadows massacre. Ms. Brooks shows us a world of grays with very human characters whom she places into a carefully resurrected context.

Rating:
Summary: Juanita Brooks - Housewife or historian
Review: Mrs. Brooks performed an invaluable service when she wrote "The Mountain Meadows Massacre." She dared to go where no member of the LDS church had dared go before. It has been said that her work has stood the test of time. Unfortunately, that is not true. Because her book is far from clear about the location of the events of the massacre, I began to search the information contained in her bibliography. She is wrong on several points. To her dying day she believed the men's grave was located at the original monument. Major Carleton's report reveals there were three graves. The remains at the monument are those found scattered around the valley. Two other graves were put in place by a Captain Campbell a couple of weeks before Major Carleton came on the scene. Mrs. Brooks uses Rachel Lee's diary as evidence that John D. Lee went to Cedar City for his meeting with Isaac Haight on Sunday, September 6, 1857. The entry says Lee left on an expedition "south". Even a cursory examination of a map shows Cedar City to be north of New Harmony, Lee's home. Further, why would she characterize a visit to town as "an expedition"? In fact, Lee was on his way to Mountain Meadows that day. Also, because of this book, several names appear on the monument that have no documentary justification for being there. Several people from places other than Arkansas are mentioned. Since all of the surviving children are from Arkansas, what are the odds that none of these phantom families had any children that survived? The extra names listed are based on hearsay only by people who thought they had met the Fancher wagon train coming across the plains. That's not good research, and cannot be considered accurate history. The death toll is placed at 120, but there is no evidence other than the Mitchell report that names all those who left Arkansas in the Spring of that year. All of the surviving children are on that list. Between Major Carleton and Captain Campbell, the remains they buried totalled less than seventy-five..... Obviously, the full story has never been told, but this book is a brave attempt at the truth. Too bad it doesn't quite hit the mark.






























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Rating:
Summary: A not unbiased view
Review: Ms. Brooks is to be commended for the research effort which went into this book, but the sources are so far removed from today and from the first hand knowledge of the occurance as to have only questionable value.
The book is divided into three major parts, the lead-in to the massacre, the massacre and the aftermath.
In the very lengthy first part, Ms. Brooks devotes most of her effort to justifying the slaughter on the basis of self defence, as an American army was approaching the territory for the purpose of restoring US control and the unbelievable assertion that the Fancher train rode through Utah loudly bragging of the involvement of members of the train in the death of John Smith and assaults on Morman communities in Missouri and Illinois. At no point is there reference to the fact that Utah was a US territory and as such subject to US laws and that by his actions in rousing his community against a US army, Brigham Young not only acted as a traitor, but established the atmosphere among Indians and LDS members which led directly to the Mountain Meadows Massacre, whether or not Young approved it in advance.
Ms. Brooks, perhaps horrified by the event itself, mannages only one brief chapter covering the massacre and the heinous acts of the Mormans who participated.
The aftermath, devoted to an attempt to establish that the Church leadership covered-up the facts of the event and selected one relatively innocent soul as a scapegoat, is the most believable and least well documented of the books sections.

Rating:
Summary: Some historical value, weak argument
Review: This book is an attempt to "bring to light" the facts that surrounded the Mountain Meadows Massacre, one of the darkest moments in LDS history. With the aid of journals, testimonies, and court proceedings, Ms. Brooks attempts to dispel all myths surrounding the tragedy and bring the truth forward. While the book gives many previously unpublished facts and details about the massacre, one cannot help but notice Brooks's very strong bias. Serving as an advocate to John D. Lee, the man executed because of his involvement, and under a mask of "objectivity", she endeavors to show that, while the leaders of the Mormon church did not know about the massacre at the time it was commited, they later covered up the facts and hid all the evidence so as not to implicate the church. In trying to prove that Brigham Young was party to the trial that led to the conviction of Lee, much of Brooks's logic is faulty, at best. She presents the facts and then speculates on the rest.Her evidence to support her claims are nothing more than gossip, and that not even first hand. To me, a statement made by someone who's grandmother once told them that she had heard one of the leaders admit to something 70 years earlier, holds absolutely no historical value whatsoever.
Though Brooks was a member of the LDS church, I was surprised to see that the last chapter was devoted to what she deemed a conspiracy to again hide the facts. Many will be shocked to find the names of Joseph Fielding Smith, David O. Mckay, and J. Reuben Clark listed among those who she implicates as covering up the evidence of the massacre. Her conclusion that, since the church never publicly denounced her work, it must have supported it, is a reflection of the faulty logic that dominates the book throughout. While This book is of some historical value, it should be read allowing for the bias against Brigham Young and the LDS leaders.

Rating:
Summary: Thank you, Ms. Brooks
Review: This was a hard story to tell. The Mountain Meadows Massacre is one of Mormondom's most infamous stories, and one which members have steered clear of for years. It is amazing that this book was written so long ago, and yet so many of us are still uninformed on what happened.

What Ms. Brooks has done is recreate the context in which this terrible act occurred. The Mormons of the southern colonies were in a highly aroused state knowing that the army of the United States was marching their way. The emigrant party was overly boisterous, deriding the Mormons, their leaders, and threatening to raise an army in California to return to destroy Utah. The Indians wanted some "action" against the "Merrycats" (Americans) in retaliation for the poisoning death of some of their tribe, and the Mormons new they needed the alliance of the Chiefs if they were to offer any kind of effective resistence to the army that would arrive that next spring. All of this contributed to a sense of mob action that every one of the participants would later regret. What is important about this book, however, is that it helps you understand that it was not a mere malicious act of vengence or wickedness; it came in the context of war, among a group of frightened farmers who had been driven from their homes by violent mobs at least two or three times in the past 15 years. Of course, it doesn't minimize the heinous act.....

It is also important in understanding the apparently diliberate sacrifice of John D. Lee, the only participant who was ever brought to trial, and who was ultimately executed at the Mountain Meadows. His loyalty to Brigham Young and the Church ultimately set him up to be the scapegoat, with the Church relying on the Book of Mormon phrase "it is better that one man should perish than a whole nation dwindle in unbelief." They knew that a fair trial would drag the upper eschelons of the Church hierarchy through the mud, and the preservation of the Church depended on that not happening.

While there are those who will criticize this work for some of its statistical inaccuracies (how many died in the Fancher party...), it is important to keep in mind that this book was written at a time when Mormon History was very difficult to obtain. It is remarkable that the story could be so well researched at all, and if there are errors, they certainly seem excusable to me. This book is still the standard for anyone who studies the Mountain Meadows Massacre.




Rating:
Summary: the book that open the ugly chapter
Review: This was the book that first got me interested in the Mountain Meadow Massacre, what I called the 9-11 of 19th Century. It was one of the biggest mass murders in the history of the American west and ironically speaking, the killers were white men, murdering white people in cold blood. With considerable courage, the author painted a very clear picture of what this massacre was all about and within her limited means, gave a cause and effect of the incident. I used that term "limited means" because the author was (now deceased) a member of LDS and she probably compromised some of more inflamatory elements of the massacre so other writers like Will Bagley and Sally Denton can go at it. Her defense of John D. Lee was bit surprising to me but I figured that she knew that Lee was nothing more then a scrapgoat for the Mormon Church. But she did not take any inroads to the actual responsibility of the massacre. Like I wrote in the earlier reviews on books written by Bagley and Denton, I would considered this book to be a valuable first book of three that honestly deal with the Mountain Meadow Massacre.

Rating:
Summary: Bang
Review: YOu need to remer the good with the bad, which is why this book wrapped me up like amummy. A mummy wrapped up in afection and the desire for facts that are beyond question.