Brigham Young

Pioneer Prophet

By: John G. Turner

Narrated by: Stephen Hoye

Brigham Young was a rough-hewn craftsman from New York whose impoverished and obscure life was electrified by the Mormon faith. He trudged around the United States and England to gain converts for Mormonism, spoke in spiritual tongues, married more than 50 women, and eventually transformed a barren desert into his vision of the Kingdom of God. While previous accounts of his life have been distorted by hagiography or polemical exposé, John Turner provides a fully realized portrait of a colossal figure in American religion, politics, and westward expansion.

After the 1844 murder of Mormon founder Joseph Smith, Young gathered those Latter-day Saints who would follow him and led them over the Rocky Mountains. In Utah, he styled himself after the patriarchs, judges, and prophets of ancient Israel. As charismatic as he was autocratic, he was viewed by his followers as an indispensable protector and by his opponents as a theocratic, treasonous heretic.

Under his fiery tutelage, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints defended plural marriage, restricted the place of African Americans within the church, fought the U.S. Army in 1857, and obstructed federal efforts to prosecute perpetrators of the Mountain Meadows Massacre. At the same time, Young's tenacity and faith brought tens of thousands of Mormons to the American West, imbued their everyday lives with sacred purpose, and sustained his church against adversity. Turner reveals the complexity of this spiritual prophet, whose commitment made a deep imprint on his church and the American Mountain West.

©2012 the President and Fellows of Harvard College (P)2012 Tantor

Critic reviews

"An impressively detailed portrait of a controversial giant." ( Booklist)

Many original sources

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes, It is fast-paced, interesting and seems non-biased (although it spends a seemingly disproportionate amount of time on the Mountain Meadow Massacre). The author also compares Brigham Young to his contemporaries to better understand the historical setting. Great book.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Brigham Young?

The account of the "Utah war."

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

Brigham Young, a man who loved his religion.

More like a textbook

Felt like listening to a textbook, though not as dry. The narrator should have looked up pronunciations beforehand as he botches some repeatedly. Overall, not bad, but not great.

Juliana

Very nice book , This bring up so much different types of emotions, during my reading I was crying, laughing, hated . I really enjoy it.

This is the very best general biography of Brigham

If you could sum up Brigham Young in three words, what would they be?

Thorough/Balanced/Well-Documented

Would you listen to another book narrated by Stephen Hoye?

The narration was competant, but the reader consistently mispronounced names, concepts, and place names that could have been avoided with a little research, or an inquiry.

Any additional comments?

This is the most thorough, balanced and carfully constructed biography of Brigham Young available. There are Mormon sources that are quite good, but fatally flawed by underlying bias. This avoided insider and outsider bias. The source material is considerably superior to any other popular treatment. There isn't even a close second. The narrator did mispronounce many names and place names. That is really innexcusable and I blame the producers for this, as much as the narrator. This could have been easily avoided. Still, this was a great listen and well worth consideration. Brigham Young was a remarkable figure and the history of this period is fascinating.

Good content, narration not so much!

I read reviews about this book before I bought it and they said the narration was poor. it is! he doesn't pronounce stuff correctly!

Huh.

Full disclosure right off the bat: I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. My family have also been members for a long, long time. That being said, I spend a lot of time researching history, and have enjoy church history particularly. These men had their flaws, and were not perfect. This book does a great job of detailing a compelling portrait of the men who were instrumental in the early years of the Church.

Prepare to have your mind blown by this book! There are so many interesting facts and anecdotes of stories I had never heard! The Author does a masterful job of really giving you a sense of who Brigham Young was, and by the end you feel like you really knew brother Brigham. This book did a better job demystifying a character in church history that, for me, was so hard to wrap my head around and understand. I would recommend this to anyone. Great book!

Amazing unbiased report of the historical events of Brigham Young's life and early Mormonism

If you are on the fence about Brigham Young or unsure of early events of Mormonism and Brigham Young's influence in modern Mormonism and it's culture this book is perfect. I love the unbiased approach to the historical account. It shows the positive and negative aspects to Brigham Young's life. Mormon or not Brigham Young must be respected as a pioneer, colonizer, and leader.

Well rounded and surprisingly fair-minded

I’ll start this off by saying that I am a devoted LDS member. I appreciate any historical biography that takes a look at a person from every side and to the best of the authors ability takes a look at who the person was.

By no means did this diminish my respect for Brigham Young. I felt like the author analyzed the circumstances, climates and challenges that surrounded some of the major decisions both good and bad that were made.

I found this book quite enlightening. I am impressed with how well it was done.

I felt like I was able to gain a deeper grasp of who Brigham Young was as a person and as a prophet. And though there are many things that can and have been attributed to him by both members and nonmembers alike that can often seem like they are demonizing I felt like this author took such an analytical approach to the situation that you begin to understand why decisions were made even if they were not the right decisions.

As they say hindsight is 2020 and no one is capable of always making correct decisions. I also doubt that any of the readers of this book are in a position of power and influence that accompanies the responsibilities the Brigham Young had. Until they are in similar situation is no one knows how they would act. So criticisms are generally hypocritical at best.

Interesting perspective from a non-member, poor pronunciations

The LDS church has a lot of jargon, but when the topic is it's longest serving president and prophet I'd hope the effort to get the pronunciations right would be taken.
Moroni was the most common example. But calling Manti man-tee threw me the most. They did get Nephi correct though...which I thought was weird since that's normally one that goes uncorrected longer for new members imo. (Though there is a city Nephi, but that makes me wonder why Manti wasn't correct).

Fascinating Profile of a Psychopathic A**hole

I spent the first 32 years of my life as a Mormon and I thought I was an expert on anything related to Mormonism. It was realizing how little I really knew about the religion I had dedicated my life to that ultimately led me out. Add the story of Brigham Young to the list of things that I and the average member is quite ignorant of. They know the whitewashed history that paints Brigham as a bit of a loose cannon but not the true piece of human garbage that he was.

All that said, Mormonism was really defined by Brigham's reign in the Great Basin. He translated the Conman Joseph's ideas into often disturbing reality and he changed history. The modern church looks a lot more like Brigham's version than Joseph's and it's something I never appreciated until picking up this book. This man was not a prophet of God, he was a psychopathic, narcissistic, lying, racist, corrupt, power-mad, murdering?, nepotistic lunatic who should be held up as a symbol of tyranny, oppression, and religion/cultism run crazy in America. The fact that a University bears his name in 21st Century America shows how ignorant the average Mormon and average American is regarding who this piece of shit really was. This should be a must read for all Mormons and all fans of American history.