MORMONS AT THE MISSOURI

The Mormon trek westward from Illinois to the Salt Lake Valley was an enduring accomplishment of American overland trail migration however their wintering at the Missouri River near presentday Omaha was a feat of faith and perseverance Richard E Bennett presents new facts and ideas that challenge old assumptionsparticularly that life on the frontier encouraged American individualismWith an excellent command of primary sources Bennett assesses the role of women in a pioneer society and the Mormon strategies for survival in a harsh environment as they planned their emigration coped with internal dissension and Indian agents and dealt with tribes of the region This was says Bennett Mormonism in the raw on the way to what it would be later Now available in paperback for the first time with a new introduction by the author Mormons at the Missouri received the Francis M and Emily Chipman Award from the Mormon History Association and was honored as a Choice Outstanding Academic Title by the American Library Association