| Things in Heaven and Earth: The Life and Times of Wilford Woodruff Volume 1 Contributor(s): Alexander, Thomas G. (Author) |
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ISBN: 1560850450 ISBN-13: 9781560850458 Publisher: Signature Books OUR PRICE: $24.26 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: August 1993 Annotation: When Wilford Woodruff converted to the LDS church in 1833, he joined a millenarian group of a few thousand persecuted believers clustered around Kirtland, Ohio. When he died sixty-five years later in 1898, he was the leader of more than a quarter-million followers worldwide. Before attaining the status of senior apostle at the death of John Taylor in 1887, Woodruff had been one of the fiercest opponents of United States hegemony. He spent years evading territorial marshals on the Mormon underground in rural Utah and Arizona, unable even to attend his first wife's funeral. As church president, faced with disfranchisement and federal confiscation of LDS temples, Woodruff reached a decision in 1890 to accept U.S. law. But through all this, Woodruff himself changed. Alexander examines the secular and religious development of the president's world view from apocalyptic mystic to pragmatic conciliator. He reveals the gentle, solitary farmer; the fisherman and horticulturalist; the family man with seven wives; the charismatic preacher of the Mormon Reformation; the astute businessman; the savvy politician who courted the favor of prominent Republicans in California and Oregon (Leland Stanford and others); and the romantic who in old age pursued the affections of Lydia Mountford. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Biography & Autobiography | Religious - Religion | Christianity - Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter-day Saints (mormon) |
| Dewey: B |
| LCCN: 91021223 |
| Physical Information: 1.44" H x 6.08" W x 9.05" (1.62 lbs) 504 pages |
| Themes: - Chronological Period - 19th Century - Religious Orientation - Mormonism/Lds |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: Wilford Woodruff converted to the LDS church in 1833, he joined a millenarian group of a few thousand persecuted believers clustered around Kirtland, Ohio. When he died sixty-five years later in 1898, he was the leader of more than a quarter of a million followers worldwide who were on the verge of entering the mainstream of American culture. Before attaining that status of senior church apostle at the death of John Taylor in 1886, Woodruff had been one of the fiercest opponents of United States hegemony. He spent years evading territorial marshals on the Mormon underground, escaping prosecution for polygamy, unable even to attend his first wife s funeral. As church president, faced with disfranchisement and federal confiscation of Mormon property, including temples, Woodruff reached his monumental decision in 1890 to accept U.S. law and to petition for Utah statehood. As church doctrines and practices evolved, Woodruff himself changed. The author examines the secular and religious development of Woodruff s world view from apocalyptic mystic to pragmatic conciliator. He also reveals the gentle, solitary farmer; the fisherman and horticulturalist; the family man with seven wives; the charismatic preacher of the Mormon Reformation; the astute businessman; the urbane, savvy politician who courted the favor of prominent Republicans in California and Oregon (Leland Stanford and Isaac Trumbo); and the vulnerable romantic who pursued the affections of Lydia Mountford, an international lecturer and Jewish rights advocate. He traces a faithful polygamist who ultimately embraced the Christian Home movement and settled comfortably into a monogamous relationship in an otherwise typically Victorian setting." |