When I was a very reluctant reader I got this in paperback. I could not put it down. Very readable "historical fiction" based on facts. What happened to the Mormons as they were forced to migrate West is the stuff of American history as much as of the people.

A book of cultural and religious differences, intolerance, politics, greed for money and power, and in the 1800s. This was, after all, a time when Lincoln was living in Illinois, the Whig Party was fading the the Republican Party was yet t

When I was a very reluctant reader I got this in paperback. I could not put it down. Very readable "historical fiction" based on facts. What happened to the Mormons as they were forced to migrate West is the stuff of American history as much as of the people.

A book of cultural and religious differences, intolerance, politics, greed for money and power, and in the 1800s. This was, after all, a time when Lincoln was living in Illinois, the Whig Party was fading the the Republican Party was yet to evolve. The locals who feared and resented the Mormons had the support of state authorities as the Mormon population grew and word of plural marriage added fuel to the fire. The Mormons were driven out of Missouri by force after armed struggle over the Mississippi and into Illinois.

The jealousies within the church also come clearly into focus. Although a novel, it puts readers into the lives and times of a persecuted minority driven from Illinois after the murders of John and his brother Hyrum, and intended successor. The story is riveting with lessons for today's divergent politics and populace. Four stars. I'd give it five but since it's not quite fiction nor historical fact in total, four will suffice. Read it and see!