Customer Reviews

Mormonism Unveiled: The Life and Confession of John D. Lee and the Complete Life of Brigham Young

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John D. Lee's devotion to the Mormon Religion and to Brigham Young was repaid with animosity, deceit, and denial. In modern terms we would say that the church "threw him under the Bus", but in this case, the Bus backed up and ran over him again with Brigham Young at the wheel. Though somewhat biased because John D. Lee's descendants (son) sold a home to my wife's family, it was her first home. Close descendants were related to my wife's family and often told stories about Mr. Lee. There is no doubt that his total devotion to the LDS Church leadership was the motivation for the despicable acts that occurred at Mountain Meadows. In his own words, Mr. Lee described his disillusionment and sadness at having been thrown aside so casually. This book portrays Lee's deepest feelings during and after the massacre. His description of emotions after he knew that the church was going to make him the single scapegoat in this sordid affair. To tell much more would take away some of the powerful chapters of this book. It is very well written and edited. It would be difficult for the reader to not share the sorrow, not only of the loss of about 125 souls but also, the sorrow about the treatment of Mr. Lee. Warning: It is very hard to put this book down once you begin.

The original subtitle, from the 1891 edition, was "Autobiography of John D. Lee, a Bishop and `Enforcer' of Secret Terrorist Organizations of the Mormon Church during the Years of 1838-1875." The so-called "complete life" of Brigham Young consists of a twenty-page obituary at the end of the book.
The book is composed of Lee's autobiographical memoir, cut short when he was whisked off to be executed for murder in 1877; his confession and accusation of the Mormon hierarchy for the Mountain Meadows Massacre of 1857; documents from the investigation and trial of Lee and his co-defendants; and the Brigham Young obit.
Lee was an early convert to the Mormon religion, who participated in the Mountain Meadows Massacre,a Mormon-led Indian uprising against a band of anti-Mormon settlers in their westward migration from Missouri, resulting in the slaughter of a hundred twenty men, women, and children.

The Mormons were a persecuted sect, practicing polygamy and financial fraud, and moving west in the belief that they would find a place they could govern, and from which they could eventually take over the world by divine ordination. John D. Lee claims he received orders from a chain of command involving "all in authority," and laying ultimate blame for the massacre clearly at the feet of Brigham Young.

Lee's account has a familiar ring: it's the outline of a cult that draws people to it, enslaves them mentally and physically by giving them power and showing them the consequences of apostasy, then involves them in the worst crimes in order to expand the power of those at the top. Despite his bitterness against Brigham Young, Lee nevertheless obviously had a lot of what he liked in life before things went bad, namely nineteen wives and sixty-four children. Among the wives were two sets of sisters and one mother-daughter combination. A letter at the back of the book by one "J.W.R." claims that this was a common practice among polygamous Mormons, and that there would be children born to these combinations. One of the more lurid of Lee's accounts describes how a lecherous old bishop separated a young couple in order to have the young woman "sealed" to himself, first offering "eternal" rewards to the young man, and later having him castrated when he wouldn't cooperate.
Sickening as parts of it are, the book is a valuable historical document, and will be interesting to students of religious history and American westward migration in the mid-nineteenth century.

I enjoyed reading through the confessions and stories here, until I found out that this particular title includes some writings and things that were NOT originally included by John D. Lee. The publisher for whatever reason decided to include some derrogatory and almost anti-mormon snippets to "liven" things up a bit I guess. The book titled The Writings of John D. Lee is essentially the exact same collection as found here, WITHOUT the garbage added to it - I recommend it over this one.

An honest review of someone involved in Mountain Meadows Massacre.
It is a sad, devastating story of man's inhumanity to man, and atrocities
done in the name of religion. Very informative, arouses emotions of
disgust.

John D Lee did a lot of things in his life. I gave this 3 stars because it's an interesting read, and gives you a bit of the flavor of the times. As a history buff, and someone who has read everything I can find about Mountain Meadows, I liked the little details he adds.

I wish the Church hadn't appropriated his real journals, because I am sure the book would have been much better had he been able to refer to them.

Still, this is written by a man facing death, and he makes himself sound as absolutely wonderful as possible. In addition, there is some question about how much the lawyer who got it published could have changed bits here and there.

In truth, he was a favorite of Brigham, and much more well off because of that while living in Southern Utah, a place, at that time, of fairly widespread poverty. People had trouble putting food on the table, or clothes on their backs, but he threw lavish banquets. When Brigham needed someone to sacrifice for the atrocious massacre, he set up JDL to take the fall.

Did JDL do some amazing things? Sure, try taking that trek to the Ferry, it's difficult even today. But he certainly wasn't the only brave explorer type of the time.

The book is full of bluster, but, in spite of that, as long as you don't assume what you are reading is "truth?" It's worth a read. After that be sure to read Will Bagley's book, or simply search on line for more information.

I believe that JDL was all for the massacre, from the beginning. I also believe that he felt/knew Brigham was behind it. I also believe that he profited from the spoils of the murder, and there is plenty of documentation about that.

Did he deserve to be shot? Absolutely.

So did others.