Routledge Historical Americans Brigham Young: Sovereign in America, (Hardcover)

I read a proof of this book aloud to my 79 year old mother over the course of a few days while looking for typos. From the first sentence to the last I found this book not only easy and enjoyable to read, it was irresistible. Like a Ken Burns documentary set on a vaudeville stage. Mom was equally addicted to listening to each chapter, we laughed hard in several places and had to repeat portions and laugh again they were so good. We could not stop after one chapter but would go through three before my voice would give out or we were pulled away. I have heard stories about Brigham Young my whole life but never in this context. It was many of the familiar stories but with dimension now that reached off into the horizon in every direction, music of Brigham's time and place playing loudly in the background of my mind instead of the Mo Tab of the LDS publications. Much of the content I had never heard. It was as if I have always known a "Flat Stanley" version of Brigham and came out of reading this seeing the whole guy, 3D with wives and kids and church members, government employees and mobsters sitting in my front room. And maybe even Brigham's parents standing over my shoulder. If you have ever hated Brigham you might hate him more after reading this and if you have loved and admired him you will also find empathy and awe in these pages. More than a read, this book is an experience. A S T O N I S H I N G L Y readable, I was anxious to get to the next page and didn't want it to end.