“Massacre at Mountain Meadows deserves to be the standard account of the massacre for both LDS and non-LDS researchers and readers, updating Juanita Brooks’s fine but now outdated The Mountain Meadows Massacre . . . and surpassing other recent treatments . . . Walker, Turley, and Leonard have provided a tightly written, riveting narrative . . . While its prose is commendable, the real quality of the book rests upon the impressiveness of its research and the soundness of its analysis.”
“A comprehensive analysis that places the complex event in the midst of such broader historical constructs as the persistence of violence in antebellum America, the liabilities of the militia tradition, and the nature of mass killings in general. . . . The narrative is haunting, tense, and compelling. . . . The scholarship is impeccable.”
After five hardback printings and a book club edition, Massacre at Mountain Meadows is now also available as an audio book that can be downloaded from Audible.com. For more information, click here.
At a Westerners International breakfast held during the Western History Association’s annual conference on October 10, 2009, in Denver, Colorado, Massacre at Mountain Meadows received the “Co-Founders Best Book Award: First Place for Best Non-Fiction Book Published in 2008.” Read more here.
“Massacre at Mountain Meadows is arguably the most professional, transparent account of a controversial event in Mormon history produced under church auspices. The work may well mark a major turning point in Latter-day Saint historiography. . . . The deftly and tightly written story is constructed like a Greek tragedy, the timeline contracting as the narrative expands in detail─breaking at the climax.”
“A fascinating study about one of the most controversial events of western history . . . When confronted with disputed or contradictory evidence, the authors deal with it judiciously and fairly. The thoroughness of their research is most impressive . . . Massacre is a significant contribution. It is carefully researched, objective in viewpoint, well organized, and clearly written.”
“Using new archival research, Walker, Turley, and Leonard strive to accurately represent the historical context surrounding the [Mountain Meadows Massacre]. . . . The book is a must-read for scholars of the Mountain Meadows Massacre and LDS history.” Read more here.
“A long-awaited book on the infamous Mountain Meadows Massacre has received the Best Book Award from the Mormon History Association at its 44th annual conference” in Springfield, Illinois. “The book has been heralded as the most thorough treatment to date of the 1857 event.” Read more here.
The Christian Century magazine of May 5, 2009, has an article titled “Best Sellers” that names top religion titles by publisher. Oxford University Press lists Massacre at Mountain Meadows as its number one bestseller in this field.
“Ronald W. Walker, Richard E. Turley, Jr., and Glen M. Leonard have produced the most complete, thoughtful, and balanced account of the murders to date. Their painstaking research has allowed them to piece together a timeline of events and a multitude of perspectives from which to explain the unexplainable. The Association admires the skill with which interlocking, parallel narratives have been crafted, a nuanced and balanced tone achieved, genuine compassion for the victims evinced, and no excuses sought or given for the perpetrators.” Read more here.
“Coauthors Walker, Richard E. Turley, and Glen M. Leonard provide the richest account yet of the darkest chapter in Mormon history: the massacre of a wagon train of California-bound immigrants passing through Utah in 1857. Essential for western-history collections.” Read more here.
“Local booksellers Ken Sanders and Catherine Weller agree that one of the biggest Utah releases of 2008 was the . . . long-anticipated account of the tragic 1857 slaughter of more than 120 men, women and children, Massacre at Mountain Meadows, … ‘In terms of sales, historic import and splash within the community nothing topped it.’” Read more here.
“Massacre at Mountain Meadows (Oxford University Press) is . . . a compelling and dramatic piece of historiography.” Read more here.
“Anxious booksellers were calling Oxford University Press every other day asking when they could get more copies of the book ‘Massacre at Mountain Meadows.’ . . . ‘We couldn’t print them fast enough,’ said Susan Fensten, a publicist for Oxford University Press. . . . With more than 44,000 books sold over so short a time, it has been Oxford’s fastest-selling book over the last few years.” Read more here.
“Some seven-plus years in the making, and drawing upon the full resources of the LDS Church (including access to the First Presidency’s Archives), Massacre offers a straightforward, spartan narrative couched in nuanced language more focused on explaining than on blaming.” Read more here.
Seagull Book, 10714 Santa Monica Blvd, Los Angeles, California, 2:00-4:00 p.m., November 8, 2008.
Barnes & Noble, Fashion Island Mall, 401 Newport Center Drive, Suite A215, Newport Beach, California, 10:00 a.m.-noon, November 8, 2008.
“Only recently has anything approaching a comprehensive account of the massacre become possible. But no one has done a more thorough, even-handed job of reconstructing the killing and the complex events that surrounded it than Ronald W. Walker, Richard E. Turley Jr. and Glen M. Leonard in their riveting new book, Massacre at Mountain Meadows . . . The three bring to their subject unusual expertise as well as a sympathy for the Mormon cause that renders their unflinching telling of this awful story all the more persuasive.” Read more here.
“BYU television interview at Mountain Meadows to air Sept. 24.” Read more here.
Dave Wood, past vice-president of the National Book Critics Circle, writes: “My wishes were recently fulfilled with a new book, ‘Massacre at Mountain Meadows,’ by Ronald W. Walker, Richard E. Turley and Glen M. Leonard . . . It’s a shocking story, well-documented, neither an expose or a cover-up.” Read more here.
Barnes & Noble, 1720 East Red Cliffs Drive, St. George, Utah, 6:00-9:00 p.m., September 17, 2008.
“The pain of the Mountain Meadows Massacre continues to echo across time. It still affects members of the LDS Church, descendants and relatives of the victims, and others. The authors hope their book can provide ‘catharsis’ — a release of deep, emotional healing.” Read more here.
“Turley and fellow Mormon authors Ronald Walker and Glen Leonard spent more than five years collecting diaries, journals, reports and other documents from that period. They had unprecedented access to the archives of the LDS Church, which include documents that other historians had not been permitted to review.” Read more or listen here.
“In less than a month after its release, Oxford University Press is in its fourth printing of ‘Massacre at Mountain Meadows’ by Mormon authors Ronald W. Walker, Richard E. Turley Jr. and Glen M. Leonard.” Read more here.
“What if you had been a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in southern Utah in 1857? What if you had been asked to participate in what later would be called the Mountain Meadows Massacre? What would you have done? The three authors of a new book, ‘Massacre at Mountain Meadows,’ hope their readers ask themselves these questions.” Read more here.
