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The Gathering of Zion: The Story of the Mormon Trail

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REVISED ONLINE REVIEW: Wallace Stegner The Gathering of Zion: The Story of the Mormon Trail (1964, Lincoln, Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press, Bison Books edn., 1992)

Wallace Stegner is one of the United States' most underappreciated men of letters. Born in Iowa, Stegner was raised and spent his youth in North Dakota, Washington, Montana, Utah, and Saskatchewan, and he lived most of his adult life in California. His knowledge of the American west was encylopedic, and he was a prolific writer of stories and novels, such as Angle of Repose, which won the Pulitzer Prize in 1971. But, like Shelby Foote, the bard of the Civil War, Stegner wrote both fiction and nonfiction, and their oeuvre proves that the best popular history is informative, lively, and well written.

In The Gathering of Zion: The Story of the Mormon Trail, Stegner does not ask the reader to accept Mormon theology or social doctrine, only to admire the courage and fortitude of the church's pioneers. After a mob in Carthage, Illinois, killed Mormon Prophet Joseph Smith, several thousand Mormons - as Stegner puts it, a "a whole people - grandparents, parents, children, flocks and herds, household goods and gods" - crossed the continent from Nauvoo, Illinois, to what became Salt Lake City in 1846 and 1847 on foot and in covered wagons under the most difficult conditions. Most of the book is devoted to recounting the travails of the Mormons, always tired, often hungry, and constantly at the mercy of the elements. The logistical requirements of the Mormon migration were staggering. In September 1845, one Mormon elder estimated that, in order to outfit a family of five, it needed a wagon, three oxen, two cows, two beef cattle, three sheep, 1000 pounds of flour, 20 pounds of sugar, a rifle and ammunition, and a tent with poles: a total weight of 2,700 pounds, and 3,285 families began the trek. Once on the trail, climatic conditions, natural obstacles, internal dissension, suspicious Native Americans, wolves, snakes and other unfriendly fauna, and the fear of "contamination by Gentile" pioneers were constant concerns. Although written in 1964, this book anticipates the so-called "new history." In a number of passages, Stegner's presents this delightful paradox: although Mormon society was constitutionally patriarchal, and the most-familiar figures in Mormon history are men, it was their women whom the author praises most highly, describing them with obvious admiration as "incredible" and "capable, indefatigable, unquestioning." Some of the most heartbreaking moments of the Mormon migration involved women. For instance, a mother who lost a child three days after its birth carries the tiny corpse all the way west so that it can be blessed and buried by the priesthood. And on another occasion, a mother approaches a squatter's cabin to beg a few potatoes to make soup for a dying child only to be rebuffed angrily by a woman who told her "I wouldn't give or sell a thing to one of you damned Mormons." It is difficult to imagine the Mormon migration without the church's extraordinary women. Stegner clearly admires the Mormons, but he pulls few punches in describing the foibles of their leaders. Joseph Smith is portrayed as charismatic and a visionary, but a bank he founded engaged in unorthodox, if not fraudulent, business practices. Furthermore, Stegner suggests that Smith's revelation which led to the Mormons' doctrine of polygamy may have been a pretext for the Prophet's energetic pursuit of women. And Brigham Young, brave, strong, and with a great gift for command, was not averse to using blistering language when chastising his followers. (According to Stegner, Brigham Young once said, "he that will not bear chastisement is not worthy of my kingdom.") Indeed, Stegner writes that many of Young's Mormon contemporaries hated him but also that "he was an extraordinary leader."

In addition to being a vivid and skillfully-written story, The Gathering of Zion also is inspirational. Stegner describes the survivors of the Mormon migration as "hard core, tested and tempered by tribulation and shared hope, as tough and durable a people as this republic has ever produced." I cannot imagine anyone reading this book and then disputing that conclusion. Stegner, himself, provides the most compelling reason for reading this book: "The story of the Mormon Trial is the story of people...." However unusual Mormon theology and social organization may be, the story of their migration is full of universal values. The Mormons' mid-19th century achievements were essential prerequisites to the American Century which followed.

Wallace Stegner is one of America's great writers, and possibly the greatest Western writer. Contrary to some views Stegner IS a historian. His fluid prose and narrative style are reminiscent of the great Steven Ambrose. When Stegner turns his focus to the Mormon Trail the result is an excellent recounting of the Mormon migration west to the Rocky Mountains.

Stegner clearly admired the Mormon Pioneers. His is an unbelieving but sympathetic viewpoint. This is demonstrated most clearly by his treatment of Brigham Young. Stegner's Young is volcanic, brilliant, powerful, and even empathetic; a truly Great Man with foibles.

A bonus of the paperback edition includes prints of Thomas Moran and Frederick Piercy watercolors and engravings showing the Mormon Trail as it was in the 1850s and 1860s. These illustrations start in Nauvoo with the ruins of the Temple, and end in the Salt Lake Valley.

The last chapter of the book is a modern-day (1960's) Pilgrim's guide to the trail. It describes how an auto tourist may visit important points on the path. There is an appendix with bibliographic notes (yes, this is a history), giving the interested reader a way to dig deeper. Of course, a lot of great Mormon literature has been written since the 1960's. Highly recommended are Rough Stone Rolling by Richard Bushman and American Moses by Leanord Arrington. For a 5-star treatment of the Handcart Pioneers read The Price We Paid by Andrew Olsen.

I disagree with other reviewer's comments that Stegner was not a friend of the Mormon Church. He was a great admirer of these people and their accomplishments. One must grant that the unbeliever does not see a miracle in every event. Where the pioneers saw miracles, Stegner sees human strength and fortitude. This is a straight-on narrative. Those looking for anti-mormon conspiracy readings of the migration, look elsewhere; likewise those looking for faith-promoting Mormon Trivia. If you want to understand the struggles and celebrate the achievements of the largest single migration in American History read this book!

Being raised Mormon I have been exposed my entire life to the mythical stories of the pioneers. I knew the names and places in the book for the most part, but Stegner brought the people to life. Just because the pioneers had normal human foibles doesn't make their journey and struggles and triumphs less credible. If anything, it makes them more inspiring. If God can work through the hands of these imperfect men, and I believe he did, he can certainly work through me. I wish I would have read this book before I went on Pioneer Trek and saw Martin's Cove, Devil's Gate, and the Sweetwater River.

I am surprised to read reviews describing this book as anti-Mormon. Stegner was clearly a great admirer of the pioneers. Although the book doesn't fawn over Smith and Young, it emphasizes Young's strength as a leader. From my perspective, the weakness of the book lies in the focus on somewhat irrelevant details. Complaints about the quality of Stegner's sources are over-stated. True, he does not cite sources for each point made, but the major sources are primary.

For a non-Mormon here in Albuquerque, their presence is most easily noted when one see two earnest young men, in the fading days of their teens, white shirt, tie, sometimes walking, more often on bikes, performing what is their religious requirement of mission work. Sometimes that mission work involves an unsolicited ring of one's doorbell. Always two men; the women are "different," you understand, it is not a requirement for them. Their presence is also noted sometimes in stores; three or four children, all under the age of five, all white. Through their mission work, they are reaching out to you, wanting to reveal the one true faith; to save your soul. Although they conduct "outreach," it is on their terms. Like Mecca, a non-believer cannot casually wander into one of their services. It is closed. So, how can a non-Mormon learn more about them, on one's own terms? Stegner's book is a most relevant vehicle. But as even he says, in his word on the Bibliography: "There is no firm ground here; there is only Mormon opinion, Gentile opinion, and the necessarily tentative opinion of historians trying to take account for all the facts and allow for all the delusion, hatred, passion, paranoia, lying, bad faith, concealment and distortion of evidence that were contributed by both the Mormons and their enemies."

Stegner is a preeminent writer of the American West, having won the Pulitzer Prize for Angle of Repose (Penguin Twentieth-Century Classics) and is also noted for The Big Rock Candy Mountain (Peguin Classics) and Beyond the Hundredth Meridian: John Wesley Powell and the Second Opening of the West, among others. He wrote this book in 1964, and presents as fair a picture as may be possible, from outside the faith, or in, of the commencement, and evolution of the Church of the Later Day's Saints (LDS), which featured their own "higera," to use the word in the Muslim faith for a forced migration of people due to their religious beliefs; in the case of the LDS, from Nauvoo, Illinois to Salt Lake City, Utah. Stegner demonstrates much empathy for the courage and tenacity of the "rank and file" Mormons, in their migration, and writes eloquently of it. Consider: "...but after 1852 most of the companies that traveled the Mormon Trail would not be American frontier farmers with pioneering skills in their hands and muscles, but English millhands and miners, Corn Law paupers, incipient Chartists, Scandinavian farmers, German servant girls- the industrially dispossessed, the chronically unemployed, the widowed, the orphaned, those for whom Zion in the tops of the mountains was a far golden word, a pillar of fire or cloud, a star shining in the West." On the other hand, on numerous occasions, Stegner pilloried the LDS leadership, in incisive passages. Consider: (Concerning Woodruff, who would become the sixth President of the Church), "Woodruff, pious, methodical, superstitious, accident-prone, had a faculty for seeing the hand of God in the slightest incident..." In regards to the "Founding Father," Joseph: "Then, driven by some undetermined combination of eroticism, Caesarism, faith in his divine mission, and perhaps the desire to retaliate upon his rebellious counselor, he made a proposal of spiritual marriage to Law's `amiable and handsome' wife Jane." And concerning one of the seminal sermons of Brigham Young: "It was all there in one discourse--millennial city, hierarchical and patriarchal authority, isolationism, self-sufficiency, even that odd Mormon doctrine that justified polygamy much less in terms of personal liking or pleasure than by superimposing a theory of greater glory in heaven on the practical eugenics of a stock breeder." Such passages ensure this book will not be nestled next to the hagiographies at your local Deseret Bookstore.

Richard Burton was a phenomenal polymath of the 19th Century, with insatiable curiosity. He was reported to have mastered 29 languages, was a noted ethnologist, famous for entering Mecca, forbidden to non-Muslims, disguised. Stegner notes that the Mormons also attracted him: "In 1860, when Richard Burton made his celebrated trip to Zion to study, among other things, the sex habits of Mormons..."

Stegner's account of the Mormons, and in particular, their life on the "Mormon Trail" is well-written, and as "balanced" as possible in the "vale of earthly tears," and is an important source for non-Mormons (and even independently minded members of the LDS) who want to know more about those in the world around us. Definitely 5-stars.

Wonderful story of a complex group of religionists with the trail as background. Great reading.

Wallace Stegner was a great travel writer, and a great writer of the American West. There is one thing, however, which he was not--a historian. The writing is eloquent, but the history is poor; not only poor, but terribly inaccurate.

If you skim the details, this book is relevant enough. But if you start looking at the actual basis of fact, this work falls way short. One thing that should tip you off is that he does not cite his sources. The few he does mention are shady at best--mostly secondary or tertiary sources, not all of which are reliable. For example, if he wanted to tell about Joseph Smith's murder, why did he have to use Fawn Brodie's (very biased) account? It's not like there isn't a ton of information out there.

This style of history is just sloppy. Not only does it show that the author did very little research, it also shows he didn't care much about accuracy. Some of the errors are simply inexcusable. For example, he cites Wilford Woodruff as the sixth president of the Mormon church. Anyone who grew up in Utah (as Stegner did) should have been able to find out that he was the fourth, not the sixth. This would have taken very little effort on his part. So why didn't he do it? I think he just wasn't all too concerned with historical accuracy.

I recognize the fact that Stegner was primarily a novelist, but if you're going to write history, write history. Don't turn it into fiction. This book will give you a basic overview of the Mormon Exodus. But you can get that in many other books, so why take your chances with a book who's reliability is questionable?

I gave this book two stars simply because the writing is very good. He does a great job of telling a story. Just don't be misled into thinking this is historically accurate, because it just isn't. Stick to Stegner's other works.

The pushcart migration across the country is unbelievable(but true). How could people be so easily duped?

I purchased this book to give to a friend who is not LDS but very interested in the westward movement of the LDS pioneers. I thought this would be an objective and unbiased book of interesting facts and personal accounts, but I found it VERY biased against the LDS members, especially their leaders. I believe Mr. Stegner wrote his historical accounts in an era when it was popular for historians to find fault in the leaders of movements, ie, religious groups, publishing as much negative material--fact or hearsay--as possible. I found this book a pity to read and wished that Mr. Stegner were still alive so that I could post him a note and tell him so. Of course, I did not give this book to my friend.

Being a Mormon, I enjoyed the facts listed in the book but did not appreciate the biased comments by the author which to me left a sour taste in my mouth regarding the leaders of the Mormon culture. I'm sure there are other books listing the facts of the Mormon journey without the negative feedback.