In 1832 Joseph Smith, Jr., the Mormons’ first prophet, foretold of a great war beginning in South Carolina. In the combatants’ mutual destruction, God’s purposes would be served, and Mormon men would rise to form a geographical, political, and theocratic “Kingdom of God” to encompass the earth. Three decades later, when Smith’s prophecy failed with the end of the American Civil War, the United States left torn but intact, the Mormons’ perspective on the conflict—and their inactivity in it—required palliative revision. In The Civil War Years in Utah, the first full account of the events that occurred in Utah Territory during the Civil War, John Gary Maxwell contradicts the patriotic mythology of Mormon leaders’ version of this dark chapter in Utah history. While the Civil War spread death, tragedy, and sorrow across the continent, Utah Territory remained virtually untouched. Although the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints—and its faithful—proudly praise the service of an 1862 Mormon cavalry company during the Civil War, Maxwell’s research exposes the relatively inconsequential contribution of these Nauvoo Legion soldiers. Active for a mere ninety days, they patrolled overland trails and telegraph lines. Furthermore, Maxwell finds indisputable evidence of Southern allegiance among Mormon leaders, despite their claim of staunch, long-standing loyalty to the Union. Men at the highest levels of Mormon hierarchy were in close personal contact with Confederate operatives. In seeking sovereignty, Maxwell contends, the Saints engaged in blatant and treasonous conflict with Union authorities, the California and Nevada Volunteers, and federal policies, repeatedly skirting open warfare with the U.S. government. Collective memory of this consequential period in American history, Maxwell argues, has been ill-served by a one-sided perspective. This engaging and long-overdue reappraisal finally fills in the gaps, telling the full story of the Civil War years in Utah Territory.
For years Robert Newton Baskin (1837–1918) may have been the most hated man in Utah. Yet his promotion of federal legislation against polygamy in the late 1800s and his work to bring the Mormon territory into a republican form of government were pivotal in Utah’s achievement of statehood. The results of his efforts also contributed to the acceptance of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by the American public. In this engaging biography—the first full-length analysis of the man—author John Gary Maxwell presents Baskin as the unsung father of modern Utah. As Maxwell shows, Baskin’s life was defined by conflict and paradox. Educated at Harvard Law School, Baskin lived as a member of a minority: a “gentile” in Mormon Utah. A loner, he was highly respected but not often included in the camaraderie of contemporary non-Mormon professionals. When it came to the Saints, Baskin’s role in the legal aftermath of the Mountain Meadows massacre did not endear him to the Mormon people or their leadership. He was convinced that Brigham Young made John D. Lee the scapegoat—the planner and perpetrator of the massacre—to obscure complicity of the LDS church. Baskin was successful in Utah politics despite using polygamy as a sledgehammer against Utah’s theocratic government and despite his role as a federal prosecutor. He was twice elected mayor of Salt Lake City, served in the Utah legislature, and became chief justice of the Utah Supreme Court. He was also a visionary city planner—the force behind the construction of the Salt Lake City and County Building, which remains the architectural rival of the city’s Mormon temple. For more than a century historians have maligned Baskin or ignored him. Maxwell brings the man to life in this long-overdue exploration of a central figure in the history of Utah and of the LDS church.
Brigham Young was a rough-hewn craftsman from New York whose impoverished and obscure life was electrified by the Mormon faith. He trudged around the United States and England to gain converts for Mormonism, spoke in spiritual tongues, married more than fifty women, and eventually transformed a barren desert into his vision of the Kingdom of God. While previous accounts of his life have been distorted by hagiography or polemical exposé, John Turner provides a fully realized portrait of a colossal figure in American religion, politics, and westward expansion. After the 1844 murder of Mormon founder Joseph Smith, Young gathered those Latter-day Saints who would follow him and led them over the Rocky Mountains. In Utah, he styled himself after the patriarchs, judges, and prophets of ancient Israel. As charismatic as he was autocratic, he was viewed by his followers as an indispensable protector and by his opponents as a theocratic, treasonous heretic. Under his fiery tutelage, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints defended plural marriage, restricted the place of African Americans within the church, fought the U.S. Army in 1857, and obstructed federal efforts to prosecute perpetrators of the Mountain Meadows Massacre. At the same time, Young's tenacity and faith brought tens of thousands of Mormons to the American West, imbued their everyday lives with sacred purpose, and sustained his church against adversity. Turner reveals the complexity of this spiritual prophet, whose commitment made a deep imprint on his church and the American Mountain West.
Costa Prize Winner: The “best biography yet” of notorious media mogul Robert Maxwell, “by turns engrossing, amusing, and appalling” (Sunday Times). In February 1991, Robert Maxwell triumphantly sailed into New York Harbor on his yacht, the Lady Ghislaine, to buy the ailing Daily News. Taxi drivers stopped their cabs to shake his hand, children asked for his autograph, and patrons of the hottest restaurant in Manhattan gave him a standing ovation while he dined. Ten months later, Maxwell disappeared off that same yacht in the middle of the night and was later found dead in the water. As John Preston, author of A Very English Scandal, reveals in this biography, Maxwell’s death was as mysterious as his remarkable life. A tightly paced, addictive saga of ambition, hubris, narcissism, greed, power, and intrigue, this book recounts Maxwell’s rise and fall and rise and fall again. Preston moves backward and forward in time to examine the forces that shaped Maxwell, from his Jewish childhood in occupied Eastern Europe to his failed political ambitions in the 1960s that ended in accusations of financial double-dealing to his resurrection as a media mogul—and the family legacy he left behind, including his daughter Ghislaine Maxwell. Preston chronicles Maxwell’s all-encompassing rivalry with Rupert Murdoch—a battle that ruined Maxwell financially, threatened his sanity, and led, indirectly, to his death. Did Maxwell have a heart attack and fall overboard? Was his death suicide? Or was he murdered—possibly by Mossad or the KGB? Few in the twentieth century journeyed as far from his roots as Robert Maxwell. Yet, as Fall reveals, no one, however rich and powerful, can entirely escape their past. “Preston tells [the story] with great verve and the benefit of extensive interviews.” —The Economist “The mystery of this larger-than-life figure is perplexing—true crime aficionados will be absorbed.” —Library Journal “One of the most enigmatic figures in the annals of white-collar crime . . . well-researched, compelling.” —Kirkus Reviews
Screen World, volume 38, features outstanding films and performers. Academy Awards Best Picture "Platoon". Academy Award for Best Actor Paul Newman for "The color of money" and Academy Award for Best Actress Marlee Matlin "Children of a lesser God". Also has pictorial and statistical record of the 1986 movie season.
The super-selling author of Hard Courts and A Season on the Brink launches a mystery series with this thriller involving right wing killers, beautiful and dangerous feminist leaders, and equally dangerous--and less beautiful--local politicians.
(Screen World). The 2006 edition of Screen World highlights the surprise Academy Award-winner for Best Picture, Crash, featuring Matt Dillon, Terrence Howard, and Sandra Bullock, which also won Academy Awards for Best Original Screenplay and Best Film Editing; the groundbreaking gay love story Brokeback Mountain, winner of three Academy Awards, with Oscar-nominated performances by Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal; the Johnny Cash biopic Walk the Line, which earned a Best Actress Academy Award for Reese Witherspoon and a Best Actor nomination for Joaquin Phoenix; Philip Seymour Hoffman's uncanny, Oscar-winning Best Actor impersonation of Truman Capote in Capote; Best Supporting Actress winner Rachel Weisz in The Constant Gardener; plus George Clooney's Good Night, and Good Luck, and Syriana, the former bringing him Oscar nominations as director and writer, the latter the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. Screen World's outstanding features include: * A color section of highlights and a comprehensive index. Full-page photograph s of the four Acadmey Award-winning actors as well as photos of all acting nominees; A look at the year's most promising new screen personalities; Complete film information: cast and characters, credits, production company, date released, rating, capsule plot summary, and running time; Biographical entries: a priceless reference on over 2,400 living stars, including real name, school, and date and place of birth; Obituraries for 2005; The top box office stars and top 100 box office films. Includes over 1000 color and b&w photos.
This up-to-date, thoughtful, and reader-friendly presentation of the mass media, media messages, and media issues "uses the media to teach the media." Widely praised for its ability to make learning interesting, Vivian excites readers as they explore the ever-changing subject of mass communication. The book retains its emphasis on the challenges of media while building on its extensive coverage of media history, effects, and culture. Every chapter reflects the most current statistics, issues, and challenges facing the media today. For mass communication students and enthusiasts.
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