Lion of the Lord: Essays on the Life & Service of Brigham Young

Few leaders of the nineteenth century match the caliber and dogged determination of Brigham Young, the Lion of the Lord. His contributions to the church and kingdom of God are immeasurable. As president, he faced multiple problems of settling the West, religious persecution, and emigration, yet he never swerved in his conviction. "We have been kicked out of the frying-pan into the fire," he said, "out of the fire into the middle of the floor, and here we are and here we will stay."

In Lion of the Lord, Susan Easton Black and Larry C. Porter have compiled sixteen essays by Latter-day Saint scholars on the life and service of Brigham Young. The essays discuss Brigham Young's early years, his conversion, and his role in:

• Missionary work and the gathering
• The Quorum of the Twelve
• Church leadership after the death of Joseph Smith
• Succession in the Presidency
• The Mormon Battalion
• Winter Quarters and Kanesville
• The colonization of the West
• The building of temples
• The Mormon Reformation
• The coming of the railroad
• The Great Basin economy Priesthood work at the general and local Church levels

A final essay reflects on the teachings of Brigham Young and provides a subject index to his discourses.

In his later years, Brigham Young advised that at his interment there should be "no crying or mourning with anyone as I have done my work faithfully and in good faith."

"We heartily concur," write the editors. "A life so well lived is a life worth remembering. We appreciate the scholars who have remembered Brigham Young by studying and writing about his life. Their expertise and meticulous research is conveyed in this volume again and again as they commemorate President Young's life of service."