Arthur Johnson Memorial Library

Normal view MARC view ISBD view

American crucifixion :

by Beam, Alex, frey50
Edition statement:First edition. Physical details: xv, 334 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm ISBN:1610393139 (hardcover); 9781610393133 (hardcover); 9781610393133 (hardcover); 9781610393133 (hardcover).
Tags from this library: No tags from this library for this title.
Item type Current location Call number Status Date due Barcode
200 - 299 289.3092 Bea (Browse shelf) Checked out 06/27/2024 101598

Flight -- Pt.1. "In Illinois we've found a safe retreat-- " : King Joseph ; Zion, Illinois ; Everybody hates the Mormons ; Polygamy and its discontents -- Pt. 2. "Oh! Illinois! thy soil has drank the blood / Of prophets martyr'd for the truth of God" : "The perversion of sacred things" ; "Crucify him! Crucify him!" ; Enter Pontius Pilate ; Surrender ; "The people are not that cruel" ; Joseph's homecoming ; Trial by jury -- Pt. 3. "Let us go to the far western shore / Where the blood-thirsty 'christians' will hunt us no more " : Aftermath ; This world and the next.

On June 27, 1844, a mob stormed the jail in the dusty frontier town of Carthage, Illinois, hunting down a man they saw as a grave threat to their quiet lives: the founding prophet of Mormonism, Joseph Smith. In addition to starting his own religion and creating the Book of Mormon, Smith had worked as a water-dowser and treasure hunter. He'd led his people to Ohio, then Missouri, then Illinois, where he founded a city larger than fledgling Chicago... and secretly, he had married more than thirty women. Beam tells how Smith went from charismatic leader to public enemy, and could not escape the consequences of his ambition and pride.