American massacre : the tragedy at Mountain Meadows, September 1857

In September 1857, a wagon train passing through Utah laden with gold was attacked and the people in it slaughtered.

Since then, this incident at Mountain Meadows has been the focus of passionate debate: were Mormon church officials responsible for the massacre or were they not?Sally Denton - herself of Mormon descent - traces the extraordinary history of the Mormons up to the time of the massacre.

She makes it clear that, in the immediate aftermath of the incident, the Church began to place the blame on John D.

Lee, a discredited Mormon, and on Native Americans. She draws on contemporary records and newly-revealed documents to support her argument that, in fact, the Church's leader, Brigham Young, bore significant responsibility: impelled by the Church's financial crises - increasingly serious as scrutiny and condemnation by the federal government intensified - Yung incited the crime by both word and deed.

Finally, Denton explains how the rapidly expanding and fantastically wealthy Mormon Church of today still struggles to absolve itself of responsibility for what many be an act of religious fanaticism unparalleled in the annals of American history.