Samuel W. Taylor (1907–1997)

Though written by a faithful Mormon, this account of his denomination's early sojourn in Illinois (1839-1846) doesn't gloss over its unattractive, even bizarre, features. The "prophet" Joseph Smith, while charismatic, was also a petty tyrant with grandiose delusions. On the basis of a militia commission, he fancied himself the highest ranking officer in the U.S. army, who would be called on to lead the country's forces if war should break out. He also sought to expel Missouri from the Union show more for its mistreatment of his followers and mounted a campaign for the Presidency that did well in a poll of Mississippi riverboat passengers. Most notorious were his endorsement of polygamy and suppression of dissent within the Mormon ranks. The welcome originally extended to his sect by the "gentiles" turned to fear and mistrust.

The reaction against Smith's state-within-a-state was inexcusably violent, but the author shows why it was neither surprising nor completely unjustified. After reciprocal acts of terrorism by Mormons and their enemies, Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum gave themselves up to the authorities. On June 27, 1844, a mob stormed the jail where they were held and killed them both. Within the year, the Mormon community, reorganized under the leadership of Brigham Young, a more capable executive than the self-indulgent Smith, had abandoned Nauvoo and their just-completed Temple, embarking on the trek that would take them to a desert refuge in Utah.

LDS adherents will find in this book an inspiring story of martyrdom. To the rest of us, it offers a clear view of what made early Mormonism both dynamic and persecuted. show less

Good biography and family story of the rebellious John W. Taylor, who left the 12 because he would not stop living in polygamy. This is written by his son who is not "active" LDS but who is sympathetic to the culture. Well written.

I thought a great read. Was not expecting much when I started but it ran well from the beginning.

Like many of its kind the circumstances that underpin the story are a little outlandish, but more so than many others, iwas tols in a way that made it more than believable. It is no literary gem , but it does not need to be to make it a worthwhile read.

The book also alludes to an interesting question....how can one prove that you are you ? sounds like a silly question , but if those nearest and show more dearest to you are absent fo any reason and your records of your fingerprints accidently misplaced /substituted at a point in time, how do you indeed show that you are you and that "the man with my face " who is sitting at your work desk and proclaiming that he is you is not indeed you.

An intruiging read. Apparently made into a movie in the 1950s. The back cover blurb has a great line...the author is " the eighth child of the third wife of the six wives of the incomparable John W Taylor , one of the last of the Mormon pluralists". Now if you were looking for something outlandish about this book , it would be the back cover rather than that within which would win!

Bigship
2 March 2013 show less

Very funny book about a small-town LDS man who finally gets some ambition after being vistited by his deceased grandfather. Originally written in 1948. Samuel Taylor is a son of the polygamist John W. Taylor, who kept living it after it was abolished, and a grandson of President John Taylor, the 3rd LDS prophet.