The vile despot Brigham Young

It’s fashionable in some (usually politically and theologically leftish) Mormon, fringe-Mormon, and ex-Mormon circles to despise Brigham Young.  He’s routinely denounced as a misogynist and a racist, as if — even if those epithets were accurate — that would count as a more or less exhaustive description of the second president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

And, even among some still-believing Latter-day Saints, there’s occasional deep discomfort with him.

So I would like to recommend two books that, in my judgment, will serve to counter the hostile caricatures of him that I encounter with some frequency these days:

Hugh Nibley, Brother Brigham Challenges the Saints (also available for free online, here)

Eugene England, Brother Brigham

I think it’s helpful to note, in this case, that both Hugh Nibley and Eugene England were — I knew them both — men of the political Left.

And, while we’re at it, Hugh Nibley’s Tinkling Cymbals and Sounding Brass: The Art of Telling Tales about Joseph Smith and Brigham Young is also quite relevant.  (It’s available for free online, here.)  Moreover, it’s often uproariously funny.