"I know just as well what to teach this people and just what to say to them and what to do in order to bring them into the celestial kingdom...I have never yet preached a sermon and sent it out to the children of men, that they may not call Scripture. Let me have the privilege of correcting a sermon, and it is as good Scripture as they deserve. The people have the oracles of God continually." – Brigham Young
A lot of ink has been spilled covering the lives of history's most influential figures, but how much of the forest is lost for the trees? In Charles River Editors' American Legends series, readers can get caught up to speed on the lives of America's most important men and women in the time it takes to finish a commute, while learning interesting facts long forgotten or never known.
Next to Joseph Smith, Brigham Young is one of the best known Mormon leaders and perhaps the most important. After Smith's death, it was Young who led Mormon pioneers westward in a journey that the Latter Day Saints often likened to the Exodus, and Young became popular as "American Moses". At the same time, Young and his group were involved in a seemingly never ending list of controversies, both of their own making and the misconceptions of so many Americans who were unfamiliar with the religion.
As Young's prominence and fame grew, people came from all over the world to meet the Mormon leader. And when they did, they met, by most accounts, an unremarkable man. He was handsome, of six feet height and a continual growth-of-girt over two hundred pounds. His eyes were blue-gray, not friendly, but secretive, some said, pointing out his clenched mouth, clearly used to firmness. He was not an animated talker, except for the finger he used to emphasize a moral point. When he sermonized, he barely filled his speeches with excerpts from the Book of Mormon, but instead provided anecdotes about fence building or cattle raising. His choice of words was well rounded, but he did possess provincialisms of his Vermont birth, with disagreeable choices in pronunciation.[1]
Maybe these plainspoken and unremarkable characteristics are explainable by the station of his birth. It was said he distrusted intellectuals, evidenced partly by his dissatisfaction with his apostles who exhibited a love for ideas, or even his own abhorrence of doctors, saying he had never let a doctor in his house for 40 years. Young was a person people were sure they'd never meet again, and they were usually right.[2]
What can be said about Young is his plain-spoken demeanor of appearance and personality made his efforts to connect with the members of his church all the more authentic. He looked and acted like most Mormons, and despite the dressed up appearance he gave to dignitaries who met him, his common touch worked because he genuinely cared about his fellow Saints. No matter the controversies that raged in the territory of Utah about Mormon lieutenants harassing federal officials, or the rumors of Danite murders of non-Mormons and apostates. The people of Zion cared about him, seeing him as their representative, and in the years to come, the defender of their way of life.[3]
American Legends: The Life of Brigham Young chronicles the amazing life of the Mormon leader, examines his leadership of the group, and analyzes his enduring legacy. Along with pictures of important people, and places, you will learn about Brigham Young like you never have before, in no time at all.
