Product Description

In September 1857, a wagon train passing through Utah laden with gold was attacked. Approximately 140 people were slaughtered; only 17 children under the age of eight were spared. This incident in an open field called Mountain Meadows has ever since been the focus of passionate debate: Is it possible that official Mormon dignitaries were responsible for the massacre? In her riveting book, Sally Denton makes a fiercely convincing argument that they were.

The author–herself of Mormon descent–first traces the extraordinary emergence of the Mormons and the little-known nineteenth-century intrigues and tensions between their leaders and the U.S. government, fueled by the Mormons’ zealotry and exclusionary practices. We see how by 1857 they were unique as a religious group in ruling an entire American territory, Utah, and commanding their own exclusive government and army.

Denton makes clear that in the immediate aftermath of the massacre, the church began placing the blame on a discredited Mormon, John D. Lee, and on various Native Americans. She cites contemporaneous records and newly discovered documents to support her argument that, in fact, the Mormon leader, Brigham Young, bore significant responsibility–that Young, impelled by the church’s financial crises, facing increasingly intense scrutiny and condemnation by the federal government, incited the crime by both word and deed.

Finally, Denton explains how the rapidly expanding and enormously rich Mormon church of today still struggles to absolve itself of responsibility for what may well be an act of religious fanaticism unparalleled in the annals of American history. American Massacre is totally absorbing in its narrative as it brings to life a tragic moment in our history.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #66647 in Books
• Published on: 2004-09-14
• Released on: 2004-09-14
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 352 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Like September 11, 2001, another September 11, in 1857, reverberates in American history as a date when the dangers of violent religious extremism became obvious, for it was then that a party of Mormons (and possibly Paiute Indians) attacked a pioneer party passing through southern Utah, killing all but the youngest children. Denton, an investigative journalist (The Bluegrass Conspiracy, etc.), is not the first interpreter to take on the Mountain Meadows Massacre, but she adds a new twist. Whereas historians Juanita Brooks and Will Bagley emphasized the Mormons' religious motivations, Denton latches onto a more base explanation: greed. The Baker-Fancher party, she writes, was rich, with hundreds of livestock and a ready supply of cash, and their wealth proved irresistible to the Mormon attackers. At times, she overreaches her sources, asserting as fact what is not attested to in the historical record, e.g., that Brigham Young struck a deal with a prosecuting attorney to fix the conviction of John D. Lee, the only attacker convicted of murder. She also wrongly claims that Brigham Young became fatally ill six months to the day after Lee's execution (it was five months later) in order to make Young's death fit a prophetic legend. Although not as nuanced a historian as Brooks or Bagley, Denton is a marvelous writer who keeps this work of popular history as fresh and engaging as any novel.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
In September 1857, a wagon train filled with gold was attacked, and the 140 Arkansas emigrants on their way to California in the wagons were slaughtered as they passed through Mountain Meadows, Utah. After the massacre, the Mormon church began to place the blame on John D. Lee, a discredited Mormon, and on the Paiute Indians. Denton, of Mormon descent, draws on oral histories, diaries, and depositions of the descendants from historical societies in Arkansas; from U.S. government files at the National Archives; Mormon records; newspaper accounts; and other sources. These documents bolster Denton's contention that the Mormon church's leader, Brigham Young, was responsible for the massacre because of what she describes as "the church's financial crises." Despite scientific evidence to the contrary, over the years the church has steadfastly denied any responsibility for the tragedy. Denton's extensively researched account of this atrocity is both convincing and chilling. George Cohen
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review
“Gripping.... An excellent introduction to one of the most controversial events in Western American history, one that still stirs strong passions today.” –The New York Times Book Review

“Vivid and hair-raising.... An entertaining and impressive contribution.” –Chicago Tribune
“The atrocity was so bewildering that it demands the careful investigation and eloquent recounting that it receives.” —The Boston Globe

Customer Reviews

A Real Page-Turner! Fascinating History of Strange Mormon Origins
If you liked the 2007 film SEPTEMBER DAWN, then you will probably like this book, AMERICAN MASSACRE by Sally Denton, which takes you more in-depth into the real life characters and situations surrounding the Mountain Meadows Massacre. September Dawn

This book retells the stories surrounding the infamous Mountain Meadows Massacre of 1857, when a peaceful wagon train of settlers headed west were unmercifully massacred by Mormons disguised as indians. Why? How? Will the guilty get away with it all?

The author can be hard to quote because she seems to constantly quote other sources, yet, if you ignore the abundance of endless quotation marks, the reading is very smooth and highly interesting, even fascinating.

Early on, the book has a great origin of the Mormon religion, then spends the rest of the book leading up to the Mountain Meadows Massacre, and its aftermath. Strangely, the massacre itself does not get so much space in comparison to the before and after events. It is still a great read of a book.

I enjoyed the expose' about Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism. This book paints him as a showman and charmer who tricks his followers into believing his bizarre religious explanations and events. Between the strange beliefs and seedy activities of Joseph Smith and his followers, (revenge, murder, adultery and polygamy abound), it is a wonder how anybody could become a Mormon, under these circumstances. You would have to be not too bright to become a follower of Joseph Smith, at least, as portrayed in this book.

The greater bulk of the book concerns Brigham Young, the successor of Joseph Smith. Brigham is the focus of this book about the Mountain Meadow Massacre. How much did he know and authorize, before, during, and after the Massacre?

The book expands on characters seen in the film and also introduces many characters not even hinted at in the SEPTEMBER DAWN film. John D. Lee, the patsy and fall guy, is the only person sentenced to death for the massacre. His life and loyalties are explored in detail, as are also the key members of the victimized Fancher-Baker wagon train. Thomas Kane is a sort of un/official covert ambassador of the US government to coordinate tensions between the Mormons and the US. It seems that they came very close to having their own little war between Mormons and the USA, and the details are explained in this book.

This book reminds me of HELTER SKELTER by Vincent Bugliosi, in the way that it talks about the lives and beliefs of Charles Manson and his followers, I find a strange parallel with Joseph Smith, Brigham Young and the Mormons. What makes their followers so loyal to these unlikely, unlikable, yet highly charismatic leaders? Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders

I will leave it to others to defend the Mormons, if they so choose, but all that I know about Mormonism comes from this book, and I am left with a lack of enthusiasm for Mormonism, as a strange cult and a false branch/spin-off from the mainstream Judeo-Christian teachings and faith.

The Mormons are a self-described spin-off of the Old Testament Jews, but they have weird beliefs which do not jibe with Old and New Testament teachings as understood by Protestants, Catholics, and even Jews. At least, that is the perception that I have after reading this book.

This book reads like dishy gossip, at times, which should be avoided, yet it seems to equally warn of a false religious path to avoid, Mormonism, making it equally educational and edifying. I don't plan to spend any more time researching or going after the false religious teachings of Mormonism, but I enjoyed this book, which seemed to bring me up to speed about the dark origins and beliefs of Mormonism.

Zane Grey Wrote Better Fiction
So this is "history"??? One has to ask because Denton's "investigative" skills are severely lacking...she self-righteously bludgeons the Mormons but can't keep her facts straight. Denton's only new "twist" is to hysterically proclaim the "true" motive for the massacre: Brigham's and the Mormon's greed. Wow...that's original...Will Bagley and Mark Hoffman didn't even come up with that...she must have been inspired by those Zane Grey westerns or old family wive's tales. The fact that thousands of emigrant parties (many of which were much richer than the Fancher Party) passed through Utah both before and after this Massacre with no incident to speak of certainly would clue our crack investigator to come to this conclusion. Further, the coincidence of the Fancher Party passing through Utah when a belligerent Federal Army was marching on a persecuted religious population (First Amendment??) in context of newspapers around the country calling for the extermination of the Mormons at that time couldn't possibly have had anything to do with it...

This book is a pathetic joke because it purports to be objective and historical but only achieves bias and bigotry. Thomas Kane was instrumental in stopping a genocide, but Denton attacks him probably because he did just that...those Mormons deserved to be PUNISHED!! Bagley, while biased, at least is not hysterical. Just another personal vendetta in the "Why I hate Mormon's" genre...I'm surprised someone had the bad taste to publish it. Don't waste your money...

Very well written, passionately documented, empathetic
A very interesting, fair-handed glimpse into the Mormon faith and its history, early theological foundations. I don't get the sense this book is anti-mormon propaganda as a previous reviewer complained. In my opinion, it is a passionate attempt to assemble available data on what happened at the meadows massacre, for the sake of the murdered. Ms. Denton does a commendable job to maintain evenness while documenting a well researched history of a crime that certainly deserves re-opening the inquiry. This book is very much worth reading.