If you want to read a book which has been written by someone who hates the Latter Day Saints, then this is the book for you. This author has crossed the bridge between being factual and being a zelot bigot. I was raised not to bash anyone's religion, but I guess that was not the case with this bitter old man.

Wallace Stegner was a great travel writer, and a great writer of the American West. There is one thing, however, which he was not--a historian. The writing is eloquent, but the history is poor; not only poor, but terribly inaccurate.

If you skim the details, this book is relevant enough. But if you start looking at the actual basis of fact, this work falls way short. One thing that should tip you off is that he does not cite his sources. The few he does mention are shady at best--mostly secondary or tertiary sources, not all of which are reliable. For example, if he wanted to tell about Joseph Smith's murder, why did he have to use Fawn Brodie's (very biased) account? It's not like there isn't a ton of information out there.

This style of history is just sloppy. Not only does it show that the author did very little research, it also shows he didn't care much about accuracy. Some of the errors are simply inexcusable. For example, he cites Wilford Woodruff as the sixth president of the Mormon church. Anyone who grew up in Utah (as Stegner did) should have been able to find out that he was the fourth, not the sixth. This would have taken very little effort on his part. So why didn't he do it? I think he just wasn't all too concerned with historical accuracy.

I recognize the fact that Stegner was primarily a novelist, but if you're going to write history, write history. Don't turn it into fiction. This book will give you a basic overview of the Mormon Exodus. But you can get that in many other books, so why take your chances with a book who's reliability is questionable?

I gave this book two stars simply because the writing is very good. He does a great job of telling a story. Just don't be misled into thinking this is historically accurate, because it just isn't. Stick to Stegner's other works.

REVISED ONLINE REVIEW: Wallace Stegner The Gathering of Zion: The Story of the Mormon Trail (1964, Lincoln, Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press, Bison Books edn., 1992)

Wallace Stegner is one of the United States' most underappreciated men of letters. Born in Iowa, Stegner was raised and spent his youth in North Dakota, Washington, Montana, Utah, and Saskatchewan, and he lived most of his adult life in California. His knowledge of the American west was encylopedic, and he was a prolific writer of stories and novels, such as Angle of Repose, which won the Pulitzer Prize in 1971. But, like Shelby Foote, the bard of the Civil War, Stegner wrote both fiction and nonfiction, and their oeuvre proves that the best popular history is informative, lively, and well written.

In The Gathering of Zion: The Story of the Mormon Trail, Stegner does not ask the reader to accept Mormon theology or social doctrine, only to admire the courage and fortitude of the church's pioneers. After a mob in Carthage, Illinois, killed Mormon Prophet Joseph Smith, several thousand Mormons - as Stegner puts it, a "a whole people - grandparents, parents, children, flocks and herds, household goods and gods" - crossed the continent from Nauvoo, Illinois, to what became Salt Lake City in 1846 and 1847 on foot and in covered wagons under the most difficult conditions. Most of the book is devoted to recounting the travails of the Mormons, always tired, often hungry, and constantly at the mercy of the elements. The logistical requirements of the Mormon migration were staggering. In September 1845, one Mormon elder estimated that, in order to outfit a family of five, it needed a wagon, three oxen, two cows, two beef cattle, three sheep, 1000 pounds of flour, 20 pounds of sugar, a rifle and ammunition, and a tent with poles: a total weight of 2,700 pounds, and 3,285 families began the trek. Once on the trail, climatic conditions, natural obstacles, internal dissension, suspicious Native Americans, wolves, snakes and other unfriendly fauna, and the fear of "contamination by Gentile" pioneers were constant concerns. Although written in 1964, this book anticipates the so-called "new history." In a number of passages, Stegner's presents this delightful paradox: although Mormon society was constitutionally patriarchal, and the most-familiar figures in Mormon history are men, it was their women whom the author praises most highly, describing them with obvious admiration as "incredible" and "capable, indefatigable, unquestioning." Some of the most heartbreaking moments of the Mormon migration involved women. For instance, a mother who lost a child three days after its birth carries the tiny corpse all the way west so that it can be blessed and buried by the priesthood. And on another occasion, a mother approaches a squatter's cabin to beg a few potatoes to make soup for a dying child only to be rebuffed angrily by a woman who told her "I wouldn't give or sell a thing to one of you damned Mormons." It is difficult to imagine the Mormon migration without the church's extraordinary women. Stegner clearly admires the Mormons, but he pulls few punches in describing the foibles of their leaders. Joseph Smith is portrayed as charismatic and a visionary, but a bank he founded engaged in unorthodox, if not fraudulent, business practices. Furthermore, Stegner suggests that Smith's revelation which led to the Mormons' doctrine of polygamy may have been a pretext for the Prophet's energetic pursuit of women. And Brigham Young, brave, strong, and with a great gift for command, was not averse to using blistering language when chastising his followers. (According to Stegner, Brigham Young once said, "he that will not bear chastisement is not worthy of my kingdom.") Indeed, Stegner writes that many of Young's Mormon contemporaries hated him but also that "he was an extraordinary leader."

In addition to being a vivid and skillfully-written story, The Gathering of Zion also is inspirational. Stegner describes the survivors of the Mormon migration as "hard core, tested and tempered by tribulation and shared hope, as tough and durable a people as this republic has ever produced." I cannot imagine anyone reading this book and then disputing that conclusion. Stegner, himself, provides the most compelling reason for reading this book: "The story of the Mormon Trial is the story of people...." However unusual Mormon theology and social organization may be, the story of their migration is full of universal values. The Mormons' mid-19th century achievements were essential prerequisites to the American Century which followed.

Stenger believes Hill is guilty from the start and tries to make him out to be a common criminal. While Joe is no choir boy the truth is stranger than fiction. Little is known of Hill's buddy Otto Applequist, but over the years more facts have been uncovered about this man's fascinating life. Not the ... son of a Swedish minister but one of many sons of a working class family. An immigrant who becomes disillusioned with the American dream after he finds, instead of streets paved with gold, only forests, mines, docks, and streets covered with the blood of his fellow workers. Not a romantic bandit, but a revolutionary who chose to use his death sentence to bring the cause of labor to the forefront. If you want a balanced book about him get Joe Hill by Gibbs Smith. "Don't Mourn - Organize!" - Joe Hill 1917

Wallace Stegner's novel attempts to strip away the layers of mythology created around songwriter, artist and organiser Joe Hill. Taciturn Swedish sailor, fervent Wobbly, possible murderer, victim of conspiracy and, ultimately, willing martyr - all these aspects of the legendary Trade Unionist are explored in an effort to get to grips with the "real" Joe Hill. Stegner has tried to penetrate the conventional IWW mythology around Hill, refusing to accept the simplistic interpretation of an innocent man fitted up by the law. Instead, the Joe Hill he writes of is human, multidimensional - possibly guilty but a flawed hero nonetheless. Stegner explores the creation of a martyr andthe creation of a myth. Reading the story of Hill adds a poignancy and human dimension to the formulaic elegies of folksong and syndicalist tradition.

I had this book recommended to me by someone who I really respect intellectually and since I was very moved by "Big Rock Candy Mountain" by Stegner I looked forward with great anticipation to "The Sound of Mountain Water". The Introduction was great. The first narrative, "The Rediscovery of America: 1946", was about an area very familiar to me from my travels and so I enjoyed that story. The rest of the first part of the book talked about the West, Utah and Arizona (Havasu Falls, where I have also been.)

The second part of the book (except for the first story which is about Stegner growing up in Salt Lake City) is concerned with literary criticism about Western Writers and Writing. And after the second selection of the second part, "Born A Square", I stopped reading the book and am going to try and return it.

There are so many good books waiting to be read I didn't feel the last 100 pages was worth reading--and I rarely do this, I almost always finish a book.

Stick with his novels!!