Rating: 
Summary: No new facts
Review: All that the author adds with this book are more conjectures based on arbitrary interpretation of phrases in documents, plus opinions that agree with his own, evident anti-mormon bias.
Rating: 
Summary: BOTP Is A Marvelous Work
Review: Blood of the Prophets: Brigham Young and the Massacre at Mountain Meadows is not for thefaint-hearted, or those who want a popular "read", of this sensational or lurid event of the American West. Rather, it calls mightily to the professional historian and the serious layperson. Its words strike to the heart, and appeal to the gut, of human experience. The author's authentic voice as a great storyteller emerges swiftly in the prologue, "The Mountain Meadow", and continues to inform the book to its end. Bagley magnificently narrates, interprets, and deconstructs the myth, legend, and lore surrounding the events and subsequent retelling (often false or misinformed) of the massacre. It meets the imperative that good history writing inherits the criteria underpinning good literature. Impeccable, exhaustive research with a clear, fresh narrative and interpretative style makes the book a must read for those truly interested in the tragedy and its subsequent versions of its retelling. All future works must meet the bar that Bagley has set; Blood of the Prophets convinces the objective reader that Brigham Young's words, intent, and actions were clearly revealed on the meadows. If you truly desire to know the truth about Mountain Meadows, buy this book.
Rating: 
Summary: Well written fiction.
Review: I liked Bagley's work as the product of years of effort and the assembly of some new material. However, the book is very weak in the assessment of official documents, probably its greatest defect. When Blood of the Prophets concludes that the LDS Church reached a "deal" in September 1876 with the Justice Department which would require the government to cease any further investigation of the massacre in exchange for the scapegoating of John D. Lee, Bagley misses two important things. First, he ignores federal case law which would have made any such deal a nullity and unenforceable. A federal prosecutor cannot offer a deal like the one Bagley describes without the approval of a judge or a president. Second, he ignores official correspondence from 1876 to 1884. In that correspondence, government lawyers express the feeling that it would be wise not to make their investigation public, as it would alert possible suspects. The investigation, in the end, proved ineffectual. Nonetheless, the government pursued it for years. A president, a secretary of war, three attorneys general, several marshals, and a federal judge all weighed in on the prosecutorial effort from 1876 to 1884. A presidential pardon was secretly offered Lee to turn against Brigham Young in 1877 -- months after the date Bagley tells us a deal was made to ignore the prosecution of Brigham Young and others. A reward was offered by the Department of Justice in 1884 for the apprehension of massacre perpetrators who were fugitives. Bagley's theory of a "deal," however, is the central theme of the book. There really is, not yet, any definitive treatise on the massacre which adequately handles the official documents.
Rating:
Summary: A Biased Treatment By an Intelligent but Prejudiced Author!
Review: I read this book anticipating an honest and unbiased treatment of an important and tragic event in Utah and Mormon history. However, I was greatly disappointed instead by the biased voice of the author reflected throughout the book, which in numerous instances were unsubstantiated by questionable and unsupported evidences. I frequently examined the end notes supporting the quotes as I read, and found the author's sources were taken from the conclusions drawn by other authors, not direct sources. Many times the author gave quotes without any documentation whatsoever. It was difficult to find additional light and knowledge on this subject when the author's bias was so plainly manifested in his writings. It appeared that Bagley's ulterior motive was to negate the veracity of Brigham Young and the leaders of the LDS Church down to the current church President, Gordon B. Hinckley. In my opinion, this book has little merit for a scholarly study. In other words, let's put it this way: Juanita Brooks -- You're still Number #1!!
Rating:
Summary: A Biased Treatment By an Intelligent but Prejudiced Author!
Review: I read this book anticipating an honest and unbiased treatment of an important and tragic event in Utah and Mormon history. However, I was greatly disappointed instead by the biased voice of the author reflected throughout the book, which in numerous instances were unsubstantiated by questionable and unsupported evidences. I frequently examined the end notes supporting the quotes as I read, and found the author's sources were taken from the conclusions drawn by other authors, not direct sources. Many times the author gave quotes without any documentation whatsoever. It was difficult to find additional light and knowledge on this subject when the author's bias was so plainly manifested in his writings. It appeared that Bagley's ulterior motive was to negate the veracity of Brigham Young and the leaders of the LDS Church down to the current church President, Gordon B. Hinckley. In my opinion, this book has little merit for a scholarly study. In other words, let's put it this way: Juanita Brooks -- You're still Number #1!!
Rating:
Summary: Mental Motives known over 100 years later? Nay..
Review: If people are honestly reading this book, and taking it to heart to be a "true" "solid" book, worth reading, then they are just about as ignorant as Simon was when he offered money to Peter to purchase the power of God, as stated in the book of ACTS. This author claims to know the mental motives of a man that lived over 100 years ago! How can you say that Brigham Young was feeling this... or thinking that... When in all actuality, YOU CANT READ DEAD PEOPLES MINDS! Not even journals can "tell" you there thoughts and feelings. So that right there should tell you that this author was biased when producing this book. And when it comes to "TRUE HISTORY" A biased document can not be trusted.
Rating:
Summary: When ordinary people did terrible things
Review: Recently I've read Jon Krakauer's book which deals partly with the Mountain Meadows Massacre, and Sally Denton's book which focuses entirely on it. Will Bagley's "Blood of the Prophets" is the definitive source, to date (and until the Mormon Church makes all its archives available to scholars), on this shocking, almost incomprehensible event.
I've given it 5 stars because of the throughness of its documentation, but I do believe serious inquirers should consult other sources for a fuller description of the oppression which the Mormons had experienced, culminating in the lynching of Joseph Smith and his brother. Such knowledge makes the Mountain Meadows Massacre of a large wagon train, largely by the Mormons, no less horrifying and no less indefensible, but at least slightly explicable.
As I immersed myself in the bloody events of 1857, I was sadly aware that the willingness of ordinarily decent people to do terrible things in the name of their god is not unique, of course, to some Mormons of the mid-19th century. And it is not unique to Islamic extremists today, as evidenced by Krakauer's book about recent Utah murders-in-the-name-of-god and by the killing of Christians by Christians in Northern Ireland. Religions, which inspire so many good, generous actions, also are the justification used by some people to commit the most terrible acts.
Rating:
Summary: Smoke and Mirrors to Slander Brigham Young
Review: So lets see if this makes sense:
-Mormons are forcibly expelled by Missouri Militia (Gov. Boggs infamous "Extermination Order") in 1838;
-They are again expelled by Illinois Militia in 1846;
-They flee to the desert wastes of the Great Basin where no one else wants to settle, and they struggle to survive;
-Republican John C. Fremont runs for President in 1856 on a platform to abolish "the last vestiges of barbarism", namely slavery and polygamy;
-Democrat James Buchanan is elected President in 1856 and certainly won't do anything about slavery;
-But Buchanan pre-empts the Republican issue against Mormons by finding a pretext of a bogus "Mormon Rebellion" to send the "Utah Expedition" or Johnston's Army to "quell" the insurrection;
-Utah Territorial Governor Brigham Young--fearing (with just cause) the worst--orders what turns out to be a bloodless defense by Mormon Raiders, who force Johnston's Army to winter in Ft. Bridger, Wyoming;
-This delay permits cooler heads in Washington and Salt Lake City to resolve the matter peaceably in 1858;
-It should be obvious the Mormons were esteemed as Indians by the general U.S. population at that time: better to kill them than to deal with them.
Into this context, Will Bagley presumes to channel Governor Brigham Young's thoughts regarding the Mormon's September, 1857 "war strategy" against the hostile U.S. Government/Army. Bagley speculates that Young ordered the massacre of the Fancher wagon train to in some way intimidate the U.S. Government. This is utterly preposterous. Obviously, Bagley believes Gov. Young to be either exceptionally stupid or perhaps suicidal to deliberately give Buchanan and the Army the very pretext necessary to terminate the "Mormon Problem" once and for all. A person so biased to believe such nonsense perhaps can also conjure the tunnel-vision necessary to believe in the tooth fairy.
Bagley's research for the most part is good, if not tedious. His conclusions and analysis are preposterous--particularly the parsing of Gov. Young's order to Iron County to leave the wagon train alone. Bagley's caricature of Mormon Society as not being capable of doing anything with or without direction from Brigham is also groteque, ridiculous and utterly false. Bagley works all the tired Mormon sterotypes possible to rationalize his bias.
As the great-nephew of Juanita Brooks, Bagley's presuming to carry on the truthful inquiry she initiated is a farce. Brooks did not have an axe to grind, as Bagley obviously does.
Rating: 
Summary: Difficult to know....
Review: This book may deal chiefly with the Mountain Meadows Massacre, but researchers and scholars will find no better primer on what life in territorial Utah was really like. I've been trying to understand why my great-great-grandfather's first wife left him to elope with a soldier from the Utah Expedition, and this book is the most helpful source I've found. Bagley undertook this work knowing that the Massacre and its unflagging aftermath cannot be interpreted without a thorough understanding of Brigham Young. In the third chapter, my eyes popped out when I read, "Brigham Young loved his office as governor of Utah and the salary and power that went with it, but he was never comfortable with his role as prophet." This was the preface to a series of staggering insights into Young's inner workings. On the 200th anniversary of Young's birth, Bagley published a sagacious appreciation of the prophet's career in the Salt Lake Tribune. Let's hope Bagley is gearing up to produce the definitive biography of Young that for over a century has been crying out to be written.
Rating:
Summary: Blood of the Propehts a worthy read
Review: This book should be read by anyone interested in Western Americana and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Bagley has performed yeoman service with his treatment of the tragedy at Mountain Meadows. His research has opened important opportunities for objective evaluation. Important new material includes, among other sources, both Brigham Young's encouragement to the Paiutes to attack immigrant wagon trains and John Hawley's memoirs of Mormon attitudes immediately after the attack in the southern counties of Utah Territory. Although Hawley denies that he participated in the massacre, the evidence seems credible that two of his brothers were at the scene as was Hawley, no later than the afternoon of the slaughter of the prisoners. Recent forensic evidence on immigrant remains brings into doubt the charge that the Paiutes killed the majority of women and children, as been stated by various Mormon sources. Point-blank gunshot wounds to bodies of women, children, and infants point to the Mormon militia being far more active in the killings and contradicts their statements they killed only the men and older boys. Whether Brigham Young actively ordered the wagon train's destruction remains circumstantial. However, his behavior at the time provides a basis for his indictment at the very least on grounds of conspiracy and failure of leadership. The real question remains: "Would priesthood holders in Southern Utah destroy a wagon train of non-believers without Young's explicit approval?" Any serious student of LDS history knows the answer.
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