Brigham Young traces the religious leader who succeeded Joseph Smith and directed the Latter-day Saint migration to the Great Basin. It follows his conversion, rise within the church and organisation of the overland movement that established a new centre in the Salt Lake Valley.
The biography examines settlement, irrigation, missionary expansion and Young’s combined religious and territorial authority. It also addresses plural marriage, conflict with federal officials, relations with Native peoples and the violence and controversy surrounding the creation of a durable Mormon commonwealth.
