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13 verk 1,017 medlemmar 13 recensioner

Om författaren

Sally Denton is an investigative reporter, author, and historian who writes about the subjects others ignore-from a drug conspiracy in Kentucky to organized crime in Las Vegas; from corruption within the Mormon Church to the hidden history of Manifest Destiny. She has received the Guggenheim visa mer Fellowship, the Woodrow Wilson Public Scholar Fellowship, and the Black Mountain/Kluge Fellowship. She lives in Nevada. visa färre

Inkluderar namnet: Sally Denton

Verk av Sally Denton

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Allmänna fakta

Vedertaget namn
Denton, Sally
Födelsedag
1953
Kön
female
Nationalitet
United States of America
Land (för karta)
United States of America
Födelseort
Elko, Nevada, USA

Medlemmar

Recensioner

This is one of three nonfiction books that I have read in the last month that didn't quite live up to my expectations. Some things that the author set out to achieve were done well but others either missed the mark or have been done better elsewhere.

For starters, readers looking for an in-depth investigation into the murders of eight women and children that took place in northern Mexico in November 2019 will likely be disappointed. The first and last chapters deal with this subject as comprehensively as is possible considering the limits that the situation imposes, but it still doesn't provide any concrete proof as to who commit these heinous crimes. In the end, I was left with even more possible culprits than I considered before I picked up the book.

As a descendent of polygamous Mormon families, [author:Sally Denton|100283] is well-equipped to provide a good summary of the foundation and history of the church founded by Joseph Smith and led for decades by Brigham Young. She pulls no punches, describing how church missionaries recruited European women into the church, denying forcefully the rumors that polygamy was one of their key tenets until they were in Utah with little chance of escape. Denton also didn't shy away from describing the events of the Mountain Meadows Massacre, when church members, likely on Young's orders, disguised themselves as Paiute Indians and slaughtered an entire wagon train of California-bound settlers, and its aftermath, when Young betrayed many of his trusted lieutenants and either aided the government in its prosecution of the killers or quietly arranged a more permanent means of insuring their silence. To this day, most church members that I have talked to know little to nothing about these events, even though they are a well documented part of the public record.

Brigham Young's betrayal of the Mountain Meadows participants and the subsequent revelation to church prophet Wilford Woodruff that God wanted them to end plural marriage, that prompted a schism in the church that saw may hardline polygamists leave the church and try to create their on promised land. Some of these went to Mexico. Even though the history of these LDS offshoots is convoluted and extremely bloody, this story, too, is one that Denton was able to tell well, with her innate empathy for the plight of women trapped in a subservient role from which few could escape.

Denton's skillset fails her when it comes to describing the history of the Mexican cartels. This, too, is a convoluted and very bloody story and many great journalists have paid with their lives for their attempts to tell it. Even so, there are books and articles out there that can give one a better understanding of the subject than Denton was able to do.

Bottom line: Denton did a good job of describing the history of the LDS church and of the groups that split off from it after it rejected polygamy. For those reasons, this book is worthwhile, and I appreciate the effort that went into writing it.
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Unkletom | Jan 18, 2024 |
This page-turner from Sally Denton covers the short span of time starting with FDR's campaign for the presidency through his first few years. Her depiction of the chaos and feelings of doom in the country are better than what is found in most other books on FDR and the depression. Most of the book deals on the challenges facing the FDR administration and the rise of the anti-FDR forces only begins once the book is half over. She provides a very detailed description of the attempt to assassinate the president-elect in Miami followed by an equally detailed discussion of the attempted wall street putsch when people on wall street approached General Smedley Butler and tried to recruit him to lead the putsch.

My main criticism of the book is that endnotes are only included with the hard-cover edition and not with the e-reader edition.
… (mer)
 
Flaggad
M_Clark | 2 andra recensioner | Apr 16, 2023 |
Based on the diaries of her grandmother, the author recounts the story of Jean Rio. Born into some wealth in England, she became convinced of the Mormon faith and after the death of her husband, came with her children to the United States. She became part of many from England who were recruited by Brigham Young to settle in the West where the group could form their own culture and basically a government to themselves.

I heard the author interviewed on NPR regarding another book she has written and having just read "The Prophet's Wife" this book also about the founding of Mormonism sounded interesting.

Eventually Jean Rio becomes discouraged with the faith and leaves. Interesting in places, draggy in others.
… (mer)
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maryreinert | 2 andra recensioner | Sep 22, 2022 |
A well-written history that focuses on the context surrounding the massacre. Helps us understand why these men might have committed the murders and why their higher-ups helped cover things up for them. But when you write about a subject that so many people have told so many lies about for so many decades, it is *crucial* that you rely on and cite primary sources. Denton does, but she mostly works off and references previous historians instead of the large number of eyewitness accounts.
 
Flaggad
poirotketchup | 1 annan recension | Mar 18, 2021 |

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Statistik

Verk
13
Medlemmar
1,017
Popularitet
#25,336
Betyg
½ 3.7
Recensioner
13
ISBN
47
Språk
2

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