The Autobiography of B.H. Roberts
from a site visitor:
A good book is the Gary Bergera edited “Autobiography of B. H. Roberts”. This book sets up the life of Roberts and gives one an understanding of what moved Roberts to believe as he did. He always seemed to resent Brigham Young and maybe even hated him for what his family was put through–all in the name of the Church. However, Roberts did seem to make out well with a reward for doing all the right things in the church.
From the dust cover:
In this exciting and readable autobiography, one of the most colorful figures of the American frontier recounts his poverty-stricken childhood, his rowdy adolescence in Rocky Mountain mining camps, his unseccessful bid for the U.S. Congress, and his stormy career in one of the leading councils of the Mormon church. Polygamy, women’s suffrage, prohibition, and separation of church and state all occupy center stage in the unfolding drama of Brigham Henry Roberts’s controversial life.
Roberts’s story-book adventures made him a household name during his lifetime. His impassioned speeches incited riots, his reasoned writings defined and codified religious beliefs, and his candid disclosures of Utah history brought him both respect and censure. He is best remembered today as a largely self-educated intellectual. Several of his landmark published works are still in print more than fifty years after his death. His life story, told here in his own words and now published for the first time, is revealing and honest and may well stand as his greatest, most enduring achievement.
about the editors:
Gary James Bergera is associate publisher of Signature Books, managing editor of Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, co-author of Brigham Young University: A House of Faith (which granted him a B.A. and M.P.A.), and editor of Line Upon Line: Essays on Mormon Doctrine and The Autobiography of B. H. Roberts. He is a contributing author to Religion, Feminism, and Freedom of Conscience: A Mormon/Humanist Dialogue and The Search for Harmony: Essays on Science and Mormonism and is the recipient of a Best Article Award from the Mormon History Association.