Customer Reviews

Biography - Brigham Young [VHS]

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Brigham Young did not found the Mormon Church, but he was primarily responsible for the prosperity of that particular religious community, overseeing the persecuted religious group's westward migration to Salt Lake City and governing the religious community for over three decades. His life was far less colorful than that of the prophet he chose to follow as a youth, the controversial Joseph Smith. It is difficult to discuss the life of Brigham Young without getting into the beliefs of the Mormon religion, but this video provides a good introduction to Joseph Smith's contributions to history and his excellent leadership skills. It does not delve into the origins of the church Joseph Smith founded, but it does follow the growing community of Mormons as they moved west in search of true freedom to practice their peculiar faith. A thriving Mormon community was prone to grow like Topsy and to keep itself isolated, so non-Mormon neighbors naturally tended to distrust the members of these religious communities as they arrived in numbers large enough to potentially dominate local governments. When Joseph Smith came out and sanctioned polygamy as an important religious practice, Mormons really became unwelcome wherever they went. With the leadership of the church in prison, Brigham Young oversaw the migration of the people to their chosen land out west; then, when Joseph Smith was killed, Young eventually succeeded him as the leader - but not the prophet - of the church.

I really don't find Young's life that exciting, and this video did little to help me understanding a form of religion I find perplexing and self-contradictory. Young was reportedly troubled when Joseph Smith promoted polygamy to an article of faith, yet he seemed to get over those early misgivings; by the time he died, he had taken 55 wives and had 57 children. After Utah was brought into the Union as a territory, the legal dispute over polygamy led to an actual war of sorts, with Young eventually giving in and letting the government put a stop to the Mormon practice. Before the conflict was settled, however, a large group of immigrants traveling through Utah were massacred by Mormon men who talked the innocent group of civilians into giving up their weapons for safe passage and then cold-bloodedly shot the now-defenseless men, women, and children. Young may not have condoned the action, but he took his sweet time doing anything about it, and that leaves a pretty ugly scar on the history of an otherwise unusual but less than fascinating man.