Publisher's Synopsis
Was Brigham Young Guilty of Murder? Boston prosecutor Horatio Newman faces the adversary of a lifetime-the indomitable Brigham Young-in this fiery fictional trial of murder in 1872 Utah Territory. Author August C. Bolino uses this reimagining of an actual 1871 trial to examine life in nineteenth-century America: the development of the LDS Church, its trek to Salt Lake Valley and ongoing battles with the federal government; the pull of the West and founding of great cities such as St. Louis and San Francisco; the post-emancipation treatment of blacks; the struggles of Irish immigrants; the birth of the women's rights movement; and the nation's devastating Indian policies. Tales of cattle drives, stagecoach journeys and Native American folklore are juxtaposed against the cultural refinements of Boston through a series of conversations and correspondences. Against this deftly-woven backdrop, Newman valiantly pursues an against-the-odds struggle to bring Brigham Young to justice for crimes of war, polygamy, blood atonement and, most infamously, the Mountain Meadows Massacre.
