Customer Reviews

The Mormon Mountain Meadows Massacre: From the Diary of John I. Ginn

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The title alludes to this being an edited version of an actual diary. At least in his own notes Farley refers to this work as a novel not history. If this were an actual diary, it would be a reworked diary written well after the fact, not as the events occurred which is the way it is portrayed. Even his "new found" supporting evidence is hear say of hear say that has been hidden in fear for over a hundred years. Where I was looking for a possible primary source for historical research, good, bad & ugly, I found a nice fairy tale. If this volume was taken from an actual diary, I would suspect that "I was in Utah. I met a Mormon. I was in Southern Utah. I saw bones." would probably be the entirety of what was gleaned from the diary. Nearly everything else is conjecture or fiction.

If you are looking for a disparaging read against the evil mormon church, this is your ticket.
If you are looking for fiction and conjecture, loosely based on actual events, this may be for you.
If you are looking for impartial history don't bother, unless you are looking for a timeline, sort of. Even the fastest indians couldn't make it from southern Utah to Salt Lake and back in 4 days, especially on foot.