Blood of the Prophets

{{Short description|2002 book by Will Bagley}} {{Infobox book | name = Blood of the Prophets: Brigham Young and the Massacre at Mountain Meadows | title_orig = | translator = | image = blood of prophets cover.jpg | caption = | author = [[Will Bagley]] | illustrator = | cover_artist = | country = United States | language = English | series = | subject = [[Mountain Meadows massacre]] | genre = [[Non-fiction]] | publisher = [[University of Oklahoma Press]] | pub_date = September 2002<ref>{{cite book | title=Blood of the Prophets: Brigham Young and the Massacre at Mountain Meadows (Hardcover) | isbn=0806134267 | last1=Bagley | first1=Will | year=2002 | publisher=University of Oklahoma Press }}</ref> | english_pub_date = | media_type = Print (Hardcover) | pages = 544 | isbn = 0-8061-3426-7 | oclc = | preceded_by = | followed_by = }}

'''''Blood of the Prophets: Brigham Young and the Massacre at Mountain Meadows''''' (2002) by [[Will Bagley]] is a history of the [[Mountain Meadows massacre]]. The work updated [[Juanita Brooks]]' seminal history ''[[The Mountain Meadows Massacre (book)|The Mountain Meadows Massacre]]'', and remains one of the definitive works on the topic.<ref name="Krakauer">[[Jon Krakauer]], ''[[Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith]]'' (Doubleday, 2003), p.214, footnote.</ref>

==Awards and praise== * Spur Award, Western Writers of America<ref>{{cite web | title=2008 | work=Award-Winning Books | publisher=[[University of Oklahoma Press]] | url=http://www.oupress.com/awardbooks.asp | archive-url=https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20070718194001/http://www.oupress.com/awardbooks.asp | url-status=dead | archive-date=2007-07-18 | accessdate=2009-05-12 }}</ref> * Caughey Book Prize, Western History Association <ref>{{cite web |title=WHA Award Winners |work=Western History Association |publisher=[[University of Missouri–St. Louis]] |url=http://www.umsl.edu/~wha/awards/winners.html |accessdate=2009-05-13 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090406183002/http://www.umsl.edu/~wha/awards/winners.html |archivedate=2009-04-06 }}</ref> * Caroline Bancroft History Prize, Denver Public Library <ref>{{cite web | title=Caroline Bancroft History Prize | work=Western History and Genealogy | publisher=[[Denver Public Library]] | url=http://history.denverlibrary.org/about/bancroft.html | accessdate=2009-05-12 | url-status=dead | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20081226141420/http://history.denverlibrary.org/about/bancroft.html | archivedate=2008-12-26 }}</ref> * Co-Founders Best Book Award, Westerners International.<ref name="oupress.com">{{cite web | title=Blood of the Prophets | work=Book Details | publisher=[[University of Oklahoma Press]] | url=http://www.oupress.com/bookdetail.asp?isbn=0-8061-3639-1 | archive-url=https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20070718194848/https://www.oupress.com/bookdetail.asp?isbn=0-8061-3639-1 | url-status=dead | archive-date=2007-07-18 | accessdate=2009-05-12 }}</ref> * 2003 Best Book Award, John Whitmer Historical Association <ref>{{cite web|title=2003 Best Book Award |work=Awards |publisher=[[John Whitmer Historical Association]] |url=http://jwha.info/awards/2003book.asp |accessdate=2009-05-12 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080724012259/http://www.jwha.info/awards/2003book.asp |archivedate=2008-07-24 }}</ref>

Brigham D. Madsen, a fellow Utah historian, wrote: “While the word ‘definitive’ is often overused, this account of the killings merits that distinction. Bagley’s book ranks as a Mormon historical classic.”, Western Historical Quarterly.<ref name="oupress.com"/>

The [[New York Review of Books]] praised the work as “an exhaustive, meticulously documented, highly readable history that captures the events and atmosphere that gave rise to the massacre, as well as its long, tortuous aftermath. Bagley has taken great care in negotiating the minefield presented by what remains of the historical record.”<ref>{{cite journal | author=Fraser, Caroline | title=The Mormon Murder Case | journal=[[The New York Review of Books]] | volume=49 | issue=18 | date=November 21, 2002 | url=http://www.nybooks.com/articles/article-preview?article_id=15814 | accessdate=2009-05-21 | archive-date=2008-12-23 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081223142552/http://www.nybooks.com/articles/article-preview?article_id=15814 | url-status=live }}</ref>

==Criticism== The book has received strong criticism from Mormon groups. [[FARMS|The Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies]] at [[Brigham Young University]] criticized Bagley's conclusion that Brigham Young ordered the massacre.<ref name="Crockett, Robert D. 2003 199–254">{{cite journal | author=Crockett, Robert D. | title=A Trial Lawyer Reviews Will Bagley's Blood of the Prophets | journal=[[FARMS Review]] | volume=15 | issue=2 | pages=199–254 | year=2003 | doi=10.5406/farmsreview.15.2.0199 | s2cid=78973607 | url=http://farms.byu.edu/display.php?table=review&id=509 | accessdate=2009-05-12 | url-status=dead | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090210215036/http://farms.byu.edu/display.php?table=review&id=509 | archivedate=2009-02-10 | url-access=subscription }}</ref> For example, FARMS alleges that Bagley misused a quote, written by [[Dimick B. Huntington]], in which the [[Southern Paiute|Piedes]] Indians told Brigham Young they were "afraid to fight the Americans & so would raise grain" during the [[Utah War]].<ref name="Coates">{{cite journal|author=Coates, Lawrence |title=Blood of the Prophets: Brigham Young and the Massacre at Mountain Meadows (Book Review) |journal=[[BYU Studies]] |volume=42 |issue=1 |pages=153–158 |year=2003 |url=http://byustudies.byu.edu/showTitle.aspx?title=6825 |accessdate=2010-04-13 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110609212818/http://byustudies.byu.edu/showTitle.aspx?title=6825 |archivedate=2011-06-09 }}</ref> Bagley replaced the word "grain" with "allies" as an interpolation, so as to read "afraid to fight the Americans & so would raise allies", and published this revision in ''Blood of the Prophets''.<ref name="Coates" /> It has also been claimed that some of Bagley's more controversial conclusions can only be reached by using a flawed timeline of events.<ref name="Crockett, Robert D. 2003 199–254"/>

Some Mormon historians feel that, since Will Bagley was hired by California businessman Frank James Singer to "rewrite the story of the Mountain Meadows Massacre," this may have influenced his interpretation of the facts, a charge Bagley denies.<ref name="Coates" />

==Editions== * 2002: Norman, [[University of Oklahoma Press]].

==References== {{reflist|2}}

[[Category:Mountain Meadows Massacre]] [[Category:Cultural depictions of Brigham Young]] [[Category:History books about the American Old West]] [[Category:History books about the Latter Day Saint movement]] [[Category:LDS non-fiction]] [[Category:2002 non-fiction books]] [[Category:University of Oklahoma Press books]] [[Category:2002 in Christianity]]