In order to really understand the LDS Church, one absolutely needs to understand Mormon history. There are few periods in Mormon history that are darker and more defining than the Mormon Reformation.

Lindsay Hansen Park characterizes this period of Mormon history as best understood by imagining what you’d get if you introduced the wild, wild West to an Old Testament God. She further argues that the LDS Church today continues to be shaped by the unresolved violence that took place during that murderous time.