NEWS NOW: Visiting professor shows different side of Brigham Young
George Mason University professor John G. Turner visited USU Tuesday afternoon to speak on his new book, released earlier this month.
His book, “Pioneer Prophet” is an in-depth biography of Brigham Young, Utah’s first governor and second president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It presents information about the early church leader that many may not be aware of, Turner said.
“My goal was to provide a fuller portrait of Brigham Young,” Turner said in reference to the book. “It’s primarily a tale of two Brighams. Brigham Young before 1844, and Brigham Young after leaving Nauvoo.”
Turner read excerpts from Brigham Young’s journal from his days as a missionary in Manchester, England, to later periods in his life, when he was a leader to thousands of Latter-day Saints. He spoke of how traumatic experiences in Nauvoo, Ill. in the early days of the LDS church shaped Brigham Young as a person and a leader.
Philip Barlow, director of USU’s religious studies program, said Turner’s book presents two sides of Brigham Young.
“Professor Turner presents a great leader,” Barlow said, “but also a man who was a coarser man who had a hard-edged side to him. Some aspects of this portrait will be new and people who care about Brigham Young, or Mormon history, or western history will have to come to terms with that new side of the portrait.”
Chase Pendleton, a senior majoring in history, said the speech gave him a new perspective on Brigham Young.
“A lot of what Latter-day Saints believe – and I’m a Latter-day Saint – rests on what these men did and so we hold them on such a high pedestal. It’s hard for us to see them as men, although that’s exactly what they were. They had challenges, and they had weaknesses,” Pendleton said.
– rmhenline@aggiemail.usu.edu
Look for the full version of this story in the Sept. 13 print edition of The Utah Statesman.