Under
the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer, 2003, Excerpts
“Joseph Smith
bequeathed his followers a troublesome legacy, the conviction that it was “the
Kingdom or nothing” and the belief that any act that promoted or protected
God’s work was justified. Some have tried to dismiss Mountain Meadows as an isolated
event, an aberration in the otherwise inspiring history of Utah and Mormonism,
but it was much more a fulfillment of Smith’s radical doctrines. Brigham
Young’s relentless commitment to the Kingdom of God forged a culture of
violence from Joseph Smith’s theology that bequeathed a vexatious heritage to
his successors. Early Mormonism’s peculiar obsession with blood and vengeance
created the society that make the massacre possible if not inevitable. These
obsessions had devastating consequences for Young’s own family. In New York in
1902, William Hooper Young, the prophet’s grandson, slit the abdomen of an
alleged prostitute and wrote the words “Blood Atonement” in his father’s
apartment.” Will Bagley, Blood of the Prophets
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