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Great Basin Kingdom: An Economic History of the Latter-day Saints, 1830-1900
Leonard Arrington, who died in 1999, is considered by most, if not all, serious scholars of Mormon and western history as the single most important figure to write on LDS history. Great Basin Kingdom is perhaps his greatest work. A classic in Mormon studies and western history, Great Basin Kingdom offers insights into the ‘underdeveloped' American economy, a comprehensive treatment of one of the few native American religious movements, and detailed, exciting stories from little-known phases of Mormon and American history. This edition includes thirty new photographs and an introduction by Ronald W. Walker that provides a brief biography of Arrington, as well as the history of the work, its place in Mormon and western historiography, and its lasting impact.
576 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1958
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303 people want to read
About the author
Leonard J. Arrington
94 books10 followersThe first professionally trained official LDS Church Historian.
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May 26, 2025
I had been looking forward to reading this book for five years before finally finding an affordable copy, and boy, did this book deliver. Probably the greatest book on alternative economic systems I've read.
I actually thought this book was going to be mostly a history of the Mormon Church, a topic that fascinates me, due to how successful the modern Mormon community is. But this book was something quite different; it was essentially a look at only the economic policies and financial data for the Mormon Church from the founding of the Utah settlement to Utah's statehood.
This book assumes you know Mormon history, which I don't, so it required a huge amount of AI-assisted research. What this book is actually about, which I was completely ignorant of, is that the Mormon Church basically created a theocratic one-party state from around 1848 to 1887. During this time, they innovated a number of very unique economic and social arrangements and are by far the most successful quasi-communist experiment in history, as far as I can tell.
Some random things that stood out to me:
This was happening during the same time as the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom on the other side of the world, which, while differing in some very critical ways, was shockingly similar in terms of their vision for the world and form of self-governance.
I stereotype Mormons as being very smart. Perhaps due to a bias from reading a lot of Jewish history, where stories frequently share incredible feats of ingenuity and brilliance, I expected their founding story to be filled with individual tales of intellectual feats, and this was definitely not the case.
The Mormon superpower in the 19th century seemed to be an exceptional commitment to their beliefs (!!!), extremely strong willpower, and incredible levels of social cohesion.
As a small example, it's truly incredible that after Brigham Young realized that large sums of money were spent on things like tea, coffee and tobacco – which, one, could be spent on other purposes to improve/build the community, and two, because he hated the idea of being reliant on anything they couldn't produce themselves, Brigham Young decided to stop permitting the continued import/purchases of these goods. The fact that the whole community was just more or less okay with suddenly stopping drinking tea, coffee, smoking etc. without revolt is a level of purity and discipline I can't imagine most accepting.
It is inspiring to read about how much the community cared about what they believed led to spiritual and material amelioration, and to see how they, as a collective, pursued this.
The Mormon method of success seemed to be: have extremely high social trust, benefit from scale, and use these traits to solve collective action problems and achieve greater levels of efficiency. While this may sound simple, the amount of trust, cohesion, and actual care required to make these things possible is incredibly unique and impressive.
Scott Alexander has argued that Mormon success is not such a mystery because Mormons are really just Puritans who migrated West. I think this misses something important. While there might be significant Puritan lineage in the Mormon population, it is not true they are ethnically all that Puritan. The theory that is more persuasive to me is that original Mormon culture was a very ascetic and disciplined one (Puritan in culture), and anyone who converted to Mormonism would have been one who was attracted to these qualities. For example, this is what Wikipedia has to say about Brigham Young BEFORE he converted to Mormonism: "He used tobacco but did not drink alcohol. He refused to sign a temperance pledge, however, stating that 'if I sign the temperance pledge I feel that I am bound, and I wish to do just right, without being bound to do it; I want my liberty.'" The Mormon community received huge influxes of converts from Europe (mostly England, with significant numbers also from Scandinavia and some from Switzerland and Germany). While these converts weren't Puritans in the technical sense, they were the kinds of people who were attracted to such a Puritan-like culture/religion, which both cemented and compounded the initial founder culture.
Scott Sumner frequently talks about how if you want to pacify and change the culture of a foreign nation, you want as much integration with them as possible – and not sanctions and disinvestment. Brigham Young shows, at least from the perspective of the Mormons, that Sumner is right on the money. His greatest fear and his self-stated biggest vulnerability for the Mormons would be economic integration with non-Mormons, which he viewed as their surefire path to ruin.
I think it's interesting to consider a counterfactual history: if Brigham Young hadn't died when he did, what direction might he have taken the Mormon Church in 1888 when faced with significant U.S. government pressure? I wonder if Brigham Young, if he could see the Mormon community today, would view it as a success story or a failure, given its significant integration and assimilation within broader American culture.
I find it especially interesting to compare Brigham Young's unrealized vision for the Mormon future with communities like the Amish and Hasidic Jewish groups in the USA. I suspect their models—achieving profound separation from secular American society without having undertaken the same kind of monumental pioneering and state-building effort from scratch (in the USA)—might have surprised him, or I suspect, even broken his heart were he to look at the Mormon community today.
I actually thought this book was going to be mostly a history of the Mormon Church, a topic that fascinates me, due to how successful the modern Mormon community is. But this book was something quite different; it was essentially a look at only the economic policies and financial data for the Mormon Church from the founding of the Utah settlement to Utah's statehood.
This book assumes you know Mormon history, which I don't, so it required a huge amount of AI-assisted research. What this book is actually about, which I was completely ignorant of, is that the Mormon Church basically created a theocratic one-party state from around 1848 to 1887. During this time, they innovated a number of very unique economic and social arrangements and are by far the most successful quasi-communist experiment in history, as far as I can tell.
Some random things that stood out to me:
This was happening during the same time as the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom on the other side of the world, which, while differing in some very critical ways, was shockingly similar in terms of their vision for the world and form of self-governance.
I stereotype Mormons as being very smart. Perhaps due to a bias from reading a lot of Jewish history, where stories frequently share incredible feats of ingenuity and brilliance, I expected their founding story to be filled with individual tales of intellectual feats, and this was definitely not the case.
The Mormon superpower in the 19th century seemed to be an exceptional commitment to their beliefs (!!!), extremely strong willpower, and incredible levels of social cohesion.
As a small example, it's truly incredible that after Brigham Young realized that large sums of money were spent on things like tea, coffee and tobacco – which, one, could be spent on other purposes to improve/build the community, and two, because he hated the idea of being reliant on anything they couldn't produce themselves, Brigham Young decided to stop permitting the continued import/purchases of these goods. The fact that the whole community was just more or less okay with suddenly stopping drinking tea, coffee, smoking etc. without revolt is a level of purity and discipline I can't imagine most accepting.
It is inspiring to read about how much the community cared about what they believed led to spiritual and material amelioration, and to see how they, as a collective, pursued this.
The Mormon method of success seemed to be: have extremely high social trust, benefit from scale, and use these traits to solve collective action problems and achieve greater levels of efficiency. While this may sound simple, the amount of trust, cohesion, and actual care required to make these things possible is incredibly unique and impressive.
Scott Alexander has argued that Mormon success is not such a mystery because Mormons are really just Puritans who migrated West. I think this misses something important. While there might be significant Puritan lineage in the Mormon population, it is not true they are ethnically all that Puritan. The theory that is more persuasive to me is that original Mormon culture was a very ascetic and disciplined one (Puritan in culture), and anyone who converted to Mormonism would have been one who was attracted to these qualities. For example, this is what Wikipedia has to say about Brigham Young BEFORE he converted to Mormonism: "He used tobacco but did not drink alcohol. He refused to sign a temperance pledge, however, stating that 'if I sign the temperance pledge I feel that I am bound, and I wish to do just right, without being bound to do it; I want my liberty.'" The Mormon community received huge influxes of converts from Europe (mostly England, with significant numbers also from Scandinavia and some from Switzerland and Germany). While these converts weren't Puritans in the technical sense, they were the kinds of people who were attracted to such a Puritan-like culture/religion, which both cemented and compounded the initial founder culture.
Scott Sumner frequently talks about how if you want to pacify and change the culture of a foreign nation, you want as much integration with them as possible – and not sanctions and disinvestment. Brigham Young shows, at least from the perspective of the Mormons, that Sumner is right on the money. His greatest fear and his self-stated biggest vulnerability for the Mormons would be economic integration with non-Mormons, which he viewed as their surefire path to ruin.
I think it's interesting to consider a counterfactual history: if Brigham Young hadn't died when he did, what direction might he have taken the Mormon Church in 1888 when faced with significant U.S. government pressure? I wonder if Brigham Young, if he could see the Mormon community today, would view it as a success story or a failure, given its significant integration and assimilation within broader American culture.
I find it especially interesting to compare Brigham Young's unrealized vision for the Mormon future with communities like the Amish and Hasidic Jewish groups in the USA. I suspect their models—achieving profound separation from secular American society without having undertaken the same kind of monumental pioneering and state-building effort from scratch (in the USA)—might have surprised him, or I suspect, even broken his heart were he to look at the Mormon community today.
August 6, 2013
This classic stood out in my home library growing up. I often saw the title and wondered what it meant until one rainy Saturday afternoon day I picked it up and could not put it down until I had finished it, even though it was days later. I was just a teenager but found myself enamored with the stories of economic ingenuity exhibited by the early Western Saints. It lead to a life-long interest in the business ventures of the church that culminated in a week-long visit to the archives of the Utah Division of Corporations doing first-hand research.
I made copies of all the original articles of incorporation for the Corporation of the President, Corporation of the Presiding Bishop, Deseret Management Corporation, Zion’s Securities, Beneficial Financial Group, Bonneville International, Deseret Book, Deseret News, Hawaii Reserves, Farmland Reserve and on and on and on.
I still have in my possession copies of documents signed by prophets changing the official name of the church, documents passing control of the church from one man, Brigham Young, to a corporation sole, then through several other iterations until we find the present form of financial structure of the Church: The Corporation of the President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Many Published Resources
I made a master list of all entities I could find that were owned by or associated with the church and then spent literally hundreds of hours researching each one of them. I intended to publish a book on businesses owned by the LDS Church but Heinerman and Shupe beat me to it in 1985 with The Mormon Corporate Empire. John Gottlieb and Peter Wiley had a chapter on the subject in their 1984 book America's Saints. That was followed by the Arizona Republic’s series in 1991, “Mormon Inc. Finances and Faith,” Time Magazine’s “Mormons Inc.” in 1997, and a chapter in Mormon America by Richard and Joan Ostling published in 1999.
Of course, another great source for information on church finances is the chapter from D. Michael Quinn’s book, The Mormon Hierarchy: Extensions of Power published by Signature Books in 1997. I don’t care what you think about Quinn, he did some serious research. The footnotes alone are more than half of his book.
Successful Church Businesses
Let me make it clear. My interest in researching the financial and business interests of the church was not to try to dig up dirt, make accusations or slant things in any kind of an unfavorable light. To the contrary, my intention was to highlight the great successes of the church in creating and maintaining prosperous businesses.
However, I soon learned that I was wasting my time. The majority of people I talked to about my project simply were not interested in LDS Church finances. Despite the fact that most people were surprised when I shared just how extensive the business holdings were, invariably they asked, “So what does all that matter?”
So even though I put that project aside in favor of concentrating on my new family and career, I have always had an interest and sense of pride at how well the church has managed its finances and business endeavors. It’s an amazing success story if you’re curious about that kind of stuff. Every so often it pops up in the news again.
Statement on Church Finances
I like President Hinckley’s statement on church finances that he shared back in 1985 in a priesthood session of General Conference. This was just after I decided that my book project would not produce results. He answered the question, “Is the Church an institution of great wealth, as some claim?” Here is his response:
“The Church does have substantial assets, for which we are grateful. These assets are primarily in buildings in more than eighty nations. They are in ward and stake meeting facilities. They are in schools and seminaries, colleges and institutes. They are in welfare projects. They are in mission homes and missionary training centers. They are in temples, of which we have substantially more than we have ever had in the past, and they are in genealogical facilities. But it should be recognized that all of these are money-consuming assets and not money-producing assets.
“They are expensive to build and maintain. They do not produce financial wealth, but they do help to produce and strengthen Latter-day Saints. They are only a means to an end. They are physical facilities to accommodate the programs of the Church in our great responsibility to teach the gospel to the world, to build faith and activity among the living membership, and to carry forward the compelling mandate of the Lord concerning the redemption of the dead.
A few Income-Producing Properties
“We have a few income-producing business properties, but the return from these would keep the Church going only for a very short time. Tithing is the Lord’s law of finance. There is no other financial law like it. It is a principle given with a promise spoken by the Lord Himself for the blessing of His children. When all is said and done, the only real wealth of the Church is the faith of its people.”
He then went on to address the issue of why the church is involved in commercial ventures of any kind, pointing out that the majority were formed out of necessity many years ago in the Pioneer days of our history. Of course some have grown while others, like banks and hospitals were sold off as being no longer needed.
Communications Businesses
I like the fact that the church has hung onto and strengthened the business ventures that involve publishing and broadcasting. Bonneville International and Deseret Book help to fulfill one of the primary missions of the church, which is to bring people to Jesus Christ through proclaiming the message of the restored gospel.
The church has made an obvious investment in their Internet properties over the years, which I have watched with some trepidation at first, but with growing pride over the years. I am amazed at how well the church has embraced and now uses this technology to communicate both internally and externally to the world at large.
In fact, I would venture to guess that we actually reach more people through our websites than our missionaries talk to each day. Add the thousands of individual efforts to those of the church and you have a wealth of favorable information now available to combat an equal amount of misinformation that can still be found.
The Church is not a Business
The idea that the church is more of a business than a church is laughable but you can still find it as one of the silly things that detractors of our mission continue to raise any place where they can get an audience. If they would bother to take a few moments to do some basic research they would see how ridiculous their claim is.
We will never have a lack of fault-finders, detractors and critics who are certain we are a deluded people. The most vociferous of them are former members who have been hurt in some way and now seek to inflict pain in retribution for their own discomfort. Painting the church as an impersonal corporation serves their needs.
I had invested a lot of time and energy in my research on church businesses and how they had come about. I was feeling disappointed. I had done so much work with nothing to show for it and wondered why. Sitting in that Priesthood session of General Conference so long ago, President Hinckley was speaking directly to me.
Build the Kingdom
He said in conclusion of the matter, “When we are called before the bar of God to give an accounting of our performance, I think it unlikely that any of us will be commended for wearing out our lives in an effort to find some morsel of history, incomplete in its context, to cast doubt on the integrity of this work.
“Rather, I believe we will be examined on what we did to build the kingdom, to bring light and understanding of the eternal truths of the gospel to the eyes and minds of all who are willing to listen, to care for the poor and the needy, and to make of the world a better place as a result of our presence.”
And that is why I just smile now whenever we are referred to as the big Mormon Corporation, with untold wealth being used to wield secret power and influence in America and on the world. I have studied this one out in great detail. Trust me, there is no secret agenda. There is no desire to conquer and control; only to bless.
Summary
I realize this wasn't exactly a review of Leonard Arrington's book, Great Basin Kingdom. Suffice it to say I found the book enjoyable, fascinating, a wealth of information and a springboard into a world that few of us ever think about - how the Kingdom of God on earth is financed. This book will give you the foundation and start you off in the right direction. If you are really interested in this stuff I recommend you continue with the other books I mentioned above in my review.
And For a more recent treatise on this subject, read Rock Waterman's How Corporatism Has Undermined and Subverted The Church of Jesus Christ. It's one of his most popular essays on his Pure Mormonism blog. In it you'll find a review of a book new book is titled The Book of Mammon: A Book About A Book About The Corporation That Owns The Mormons, from Daymon Smith. I found that book to be a hard read but other's have loved it. Read the reviews to see what I mean.
Note: Some of this review was taken from an essay on my blog: Latter-day Commentary: http://latterdaycommentary.com/2011/0...
I made copies of all the original articles of incorporation for the Corporation of the President, Corporation of the Presiding Bishop, Deseret Management Corporation, Zion’s Securities, Beneficial Financial Group, Bonneville International, Deseret Book, Deseret News, Hawaii Reserves, Farmland Reserve and on and on and on.
I still have in my possession copies of documents signed by prophets changing the official name of the church, documents passing control of the church from one man, Brigham Young, to a corporation sole, then through several other iterations until we find the present form of financial structure of the Church: The Corporation of the President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Many Published Resources
I made a master list of all entities I could find that were owned by or associated with the church and then spent literally hundreds of hours researching each one of them. I intended to publish a book on businesses owned by the LDS Church but Heinerman and Shupe beat me to it in 1985 with The Mormon Corporate Empire. John Gottlieb and Peter Wiley had a chapter on the subject in their 1984 book America's Saints. That was followed by the Arizona Republic’s series in 1991, “Mormon Inc. Finances and Faith,” Time Magazine’s “Mormons Inc.” in 1997, and a chapter in Mormon America by Richard and Joan Ostling published in 1999.
Of course, another great source for information on church finances is the chapter from D. Michael Quinn’s book, The Mormon Hierarchy: Extensions of Power published by Signature Books in 1997. I don’t care what you think about Quinn, he did some serious research. The footnotes alone are more than half of his book.
Successful Church Businesses
Let me make it clear. My interest in researching the financial and business interests of the church was not to try to dig up dirt, make accusations or slant things in any kind of an unfavorable light. To the contrary, my intention was to highlight the great successes of the church in creating and maintaining prosperous businesses.
However, I soon learned that I was wasting my time. The majority of people I talked to about my project simply were not interested in LDS Church finances. Despite the fact that most people were surprised when I shared just how extensive the business holdings were, invariably they asked, “So what does all that matter?”
So even though I put that project aside in favor of concentrating on my new family and career, I have always had an interest and sense of pride at how well the church has managed its finances and business endeavors. It’s an amazing success story if you’re curious about that kind of stuff. Every so often it pops up in the news again.
Statement on Church Finances
I like President Hinckley’s statement on church finances that he shared back in 1985 in a priesthood session of General Conference. This was just after I decided that my book project would not produce results. He answered the question, “Is the Church an institution of great wealth, as some claim?” Here is his response:
“The Church does have substantial assets, for which we are grateful. These assets are primarily in buildings in more than eighty nations. They are in ward and stake meeting facilities. They are in schools and seminaries, colleges and institutes. They are in welfare projects. They are in mission homes and missionary training centers. They are in temples, of which we have substantially more than we have ever had in the past, and they are in genealogical facilities. But it should be recognized that all of these are money-consuming assets and not money-producing assets.
“They are expensive to build and maintain. They do not produce financial wealth, but they do help to produce and strengthen Latter-day Saints. They are only a means to an end. They are physical facilities to accommodate the programs of the Church in our great responsibility to teach the gospel to the world, to build faith and activity among the living membership, and to carry forward the compelling mandate of the Lord concerning the redemption of the dead.
A few Income-Producing Properties
“We have a few income-producing business properties, but the return from these would keep the Church going only for a very short time. Tithing is the Lord’s law of finance. There is no other financial law like it. It is a principle given with a promise spoken by the Lord Himself for the blessing of His children. When all is said and done, the only real wealth of the Church is the faith of its people.”
He then went on to address the issue of why the church is involved in commercial ventures of any kind, pointing out that the majority were formed out of necessity many years ago in the Pioneer days of our history. Of course some have grown while others, like banks and hospitals were sold off as being no longer needed.
Communications Businesses
I like the fact that the church has hung onto and strengthened the business ventures that involve publishing and broadcasting. Bonneville International and Deseret Book help to fulfill one of the primary missions of the church, which is to bring people to Jesus Christ through proclaiming the message of the restored gospel.
The church has made an obvious investment in their Internet properties over the years, which I have watched with some trepidation at first, but with growing pride over the years. I am amazed at how well the church has embraced and now uses this technology to communicate both internally and externally to the world at large.
In fact, I would venture to guess that we actually reach more people through our websites than our missionaries talk to each day. Add the thousands of individual efforts to those of the church and you have a wealth of favorable information now available to combat an equal amount of misinformation that can still be found.
The Church is not a Business
The idea that the church is more of a business than a church is laughable but you can still find it as one of the silly things that detractors of our mission continue to raise any place where they can get an audience. If they would bother to take a few moments to do some basic research they would see how ridiculous their claim is.
We will never have a lack of fault-finders, detractors and critics who are certain we are a deluded people. The most vociferous of them are former members who have been hurt in some way and now seek to inflict pain in retribution for their own discomfort. Painting the church as an impersonal corporation serves their needs.
I had invested a lot of time and energy in my research on church businesses and how they had come about. I was feeling disappointed. I had done so much work with nothing to show for it and wondered why. Sitting in that Priesthood session of General Conference so long ago, President Hinckley was speaking directly to me.
Build the Kingdom
He said in conclusion of the matter, “When we are called before the bar of God to give an accounting of our performance, I think it unlikely that any of us will be commended for wearing out our lives in an effort to find some morsel of history, incomplete in its context, to cast doubt on the integrity of this work.
“Rather, I believe we will be examined on what we did to build the kingdom, to bring light and understanding of the eternal truths of the gospel to the eyes and minds of all who are willing to listen, to care for the poor and the needy, and to make of the world a better place as a result of our presence.”
And that is why I just smile now whenever we are referred to as the big Mormon Corporation, with untold wealth being used to wield secret power and influence in America and on the world. I have studied this one out in great detail. Trust me, there is no secret agenda. There is no desire to conquer and control; only to bless.
Summary
I realize this wasn't exactly a review of Leonard Arrington's book, Great Basin Kingdom. Suffice it to say I found the book enjoyable, fascinating, a wealth of information and a springboard into a world that few of us ever think about - how the Kingdom of God on earth is financed. This book will give you the foundation and start you off in the right direction. If you are really interested in this stuff I recommend you continue with the other books I mentioned above in my review.
And For a more recent treatise on this subject, read Rock Waterman's How Corporatism Has Undermined and Subverted The Church of Jesus Christ. It's one of his most popular essays on his Pure Mormonism blog. In it you'll find a review of a book new book is titled The Book of Mammon: A Book About A Book About The Corporation That Owns The Mormons, from Daymon Smith. I found that book to be a hard read but other's have loved it. Read the reviews to see what I mean.
Note: Some of this review was taken from an essay on my blog: Latter-day Commentary: http://latterdaycommentary.com/2011/0...
February 24, 2015
I got so much from this book. I will probably be reading it again someday. I especially loved the first half. Once it started talking about the railroad I got less interested, but then it picked up again after that. This gave me a lot more understanding in regard to my pioneer ancestors- why they moved around so much, what they must have felt and gone through after they got to Utah, etc. I think sometimes we focus so much on the months of the actual trek without giving much thought to what they experienced once they reached "Zion." When I saw how hard they had it even though they had followed God's command to emigrate, I realized I can get through my trials, too. A very interesting read to me. As a side note, I read it because I was sitting in Stake Conference and the Holy Ghost whispered that I needed to read it. I thought that was very strange because why would I "need" to read an economic history of the Mormons? I'm certainly glad I did, and I can't even enumerate the reasons why.
January 6, 2016
did some background research for a biography of an ancestor. fascinating and well written book!
October 18, 2025
Best read of the year for me! I went into this book trying to understand alternative economic systems, knowing that the Mormon attempt at economy was non-traditional. Arrington was thorough in his descriptions and fair in his analysis, even if he had a bit of a pro-Mormon tone. Understanding the early Utah Mormon experience will give any reader insights on current economic systems through stark contrast with an attempt at an alternative method.
May 24, 2016
I love this book. I still have 25 pages to go but I really wanted to add and review it. This is prime LDS Church History painstakingly researched and recounted in great detail and with studied objectivity. As someone who had multiple ancestors that participated in many of the events recounted it was wonderful. Some great parts of my ancestral heritage shine out to me.
I loved the iron will and willingness to work of these people. They were enterprising and self-reliant in the face of abject poverty and persecution. They squeezed everything they could out of the soil of a barren desert. They often failed but they never gave up. I also love how for these early Mormons everything was a sacred work and consecrated to the Lord-- From ZCMI to the cotton, from sugar beets to the railroad, from immigration to manufacturing and capital. Seemingly menial day-to-day economic reality became holy. They did everything they did to build the Kingdom, and to serve one another.
I also loved reading about Brigham Young. His no-nonsense personality, and his total dedication and loyalty to his people are inspiring.
In some ways this is a tragic book too. The account of the Edmonds act and the subsequent Edmonds-Tucker act dismantling the temporal structure of the Church was heart-rending to me after learning of all the blood sweat and tears that had been shed for things like the Perpetual Emigrating Fund and all the good that had been accomplished. It all reminds me of Doctrine & Covenants 29:34--"Wherefore, verily I say unto you that all things unto me are spiritual, and not at any time have I given unto you a law which was temporal; neither any man, nor the children of men; neither Adam, your father, whom I created." All things indeed are spiritual. I am so grateful for men and women who lived and died believing and living this principle. I have a lot to live up to.
I loved the iron will and willingness to work of these people. They were enterprising and self-reliant in the face of abject poverty and persecution. They squeezed everything they could out of the soil of a barren desert. They often failed but they never gave up. I also love how for these early Mormons everything was a sacred work and consecrated to the Lord-- From ZCMI to the cotton, from sugar beets to the railroad, from immigration to manufacturing and capital. Seemingly menial day-to-day economic reality became holy. They did everything they did to build the Kingdom, and to serve one another.
I also loved reading about Brigham Young. His no-nonsense personality, and his total dedication and loyalty to his people are inspiring.
In some ways this is a tragic book too. The account of the Edmonds act and the subsequent Edmonds-Tucker act dismantling the temporal structure of the Church was heart-rending to me after learning of all the blood sweat and tears that had been shed for things like the Perpetual Emigrating Fund and all the good that had been accomplished. It all reminds me of Doctrine & Covenants 29:34--"Wherefore, verily I say unto you that all things unto me are spiritual, and not at any time have I given unto you a law which was temporal; neither any man, nor the children of men; neither Adam, your father, whom I created." All things indeed are spiritual. I am so grateful for men and women who lived and died believing and living this principle. I have a lot to live up to.
October 22, 2015
I will never complain about anything again.
The economic details can get a bit trite at times, but he does a good job of weaving them all together to convey a picture of a sometimes brutal struggle for survival on the desert frontier. Previously,I had a notion of early pioneer life that included white picket fences and the occasional problems with invading armies and crickets, but this book shows that serious, existence-threatening struggles were a constant part of the Mormon experience up until the early 20th century.
For example, most Utahn's know about the "Miracle of the Seagulls," but how many of them know that a few years later the pioneers were in a state of semi-starvation anyway? It seems like every time the Saints had something figured out, something else would come up and threaten to wipe them out. I definitely have a newfound appreciation for how tough my ancestors were. Written by the first and only non-General Authority official LDS Church Historian.
The economic details can get a bit trite at times, but he does a good job of weaving them all together to convey a picture of a sometimes brutal struggle for survival on the desert frontier. Previously,I had a notion of early pioneer life that included white picket fences and the occasional problems with invading armies and crickets, but this book shows that serious, existence-threatening struggles were a constant part of the Mormon experience up until the early 20th century.
For example, most Utahn's know about the "Miracle of the Seagulls," but how many of them know that a few years later the pioneers were in a state of semi-starvation anyway? It seems like every time the Saints had something figured out, something else would come up and threaten to wipe them out. I definitely have a newfound appreciation for how tough my ancestors were. Written by the first and only non-General Authority official LDS Church Historian.
December 25, 2018
A classic study of efforts by Latter-day Saints to establish a communal kingdom of God in the western United States. Arrington covers the felicitous discovery of gold and use as a means of exchange, the beneficial trade with Forty-Niners, the tenuous fight to produce enough food to eat, ambitious efforts to create colonies through the Mormon Corridor, the arduous (and unsuccessful) iron, lead, and cotton missions, the Young Express and Carrying Company (predecessor to the Pony Express), the Utah War, the transcontinental and local railroads, and much more. Later chapters deal with Mormon tension with the federal government over polygamy, and Wilford Woodruff's prayerful decision to do away with the practice. The final chapters deal with the end of the United Orders and the church's lessened control over ZCMI. The volume is a little dated now, but still worth your time.--Devan Jensen, executive editor at Brigham Young University's Religious Studies Center
December 10, 2012
In the Great Basin Kingdom, Mr. Arrington presents an intense overview of Mormon economic activity up to the period of Mormonism in Transition (the turn of the twentieth century). It was and is a ground-breaking volume. I marvel at the sheer amount of information gathered and presented here and wonder how anyone could find and bring it all together. It was a very slow read--lots of dry information mixed with interesting historical narrative. My favourite story (which my wife also enjoyed) was the pants rebellion of Orderville. Anyway, I will use it as a resource in research and learned a lot from it, but it's not something you pick up for a bit of light reading, even compared to Hogwarts a History.
October 16, 2009
A classic study in economic history. Written by a "liberal" Mormon historian who is remarkably objective. It is a serious read; a scholarly history of a fascinating subject. The first 70 years of the Church is discussed showing the ties between the theology, the economics, the settlement of Utah, and the centralized control of the Church leadership. Expect to spend a day or two on this one!
June 7, 2008
This gave me a great feel of the settling of the Mormons. Failed venture after failed venture. But they stubbornly stuck with it and now look. Plus, I never knew that slaves were donated as tithing. Nor that Brigham called men to serve gold-seeking missions.
August 21, 2009
Leonard J. Arrington knows how to write histories. I was amazed that such a long book about the economic history of Utah could be so interesting. I learned all kinds of things about the settling of Utah that I never would have supposed.
May 21, 2012
Must read! This book tells the story of the saints in the west from 1847 to 1910. It is in some instances more gut wrenching than that of the Saints in Missouri or Nauvoo. I'm surprised we don't talk about this more often.
May 16, 2012
This book is a great (and long) summary of the Mormon experience in western America with a heavy emphasis on the Brigham Young period. I used it as a way to introduce myself to Mormon history for the period.
August 5, 2008
An economic history of the Church from its restoration to the Manifesto. A very readable book about what could be really boring subject matter. I found in enthralling.
Want to read
October 8, 2008It is somewhat technical, and I have to read it in chunks with other books between. However, it is my first glimpse of an in-depth study of Utah's early economic endeavors.
August 30, 2009
There were some real interesting parts, but I must say that the economic detail was overwhelming and boring at times. I'd recommend it overall.
May 29, 2011
Yes there were some slow parts, but essential to understanding early Mormon Church history.
December 25, 2025
The Utah period through the eyes of an economist.
Read
July 7, 2014A bit dry but fascinating read.
June 5, 2016
A very good economic history of the pioneer period of Utah. I read it for background in the lives of my own pioneer ancestors. Well written and insightful.
February 23, 2018
A groundbreaking work.
May 16, 2019
Okay. I'm going to try and be positive first. First, there are aspects of this information that are wildly fascinating (I think). Attempts to live the "United Order," the Utah War, Brigham Young's unique viewpoints,* Eliza Snow being touted as a feminist for the first time (that I ever heard)-- These are all interesting topics and worth exploring. Especially the latter.
It had its dry humor too. If you've read it, you'd know about the DMC. And there were several times when I laughed out loud because of the humor that the saints, not the writer, brought to the tales.
It also brings a bit of realism to the history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints** It wasn't all rose gardens when they arrived in Utah and food wasn't always plenteous after the seagulls. Neither was the Kirtland Safety Society the first time the church weathered financial crises.
But the tone is SOOOOO dry. And Arrington, economist that he is, had not yet read Freakonomics or anything by Arthur Brooks. So he didn't know how economics could be presented to be interesting. Perhaps he bit off more than he could chew?
* Let the record show: I love Brigham Young. He is an inhabitant of a foreign country. And Arrington does little here to make him more explicable, but I firmly believe (in spite of his foibles and, perhaps because of, his humanity) that he was a prophet.
** Perhaps what rankled the most was his unending use of the nickname. But BY and others used it. So I'm overreacting.
It had its dry humor too. If you've read it, you'd know about the DMC. And there were several times when I laughed out loud because of the humor that the saints, not the writer, brought to the tales.
It also brings a bit of realism to the history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints** It wasn't all rose gardens when they arrived in Utah and food wasn't always plenteous after the seagulls. Neither was the Kirtland Safety Society the first time the church weathered financial crises.
But the tone is SOOOOO dry. And Arrington, economist that he is, had not yet read Freakonomics or anything by Arthur Brooks. So he didn't know how economics could be presented to be interesting. Perhaps he bit off more than he could chew?
* Let the record show: I love Brigham Young. He is an inhabitant of a foreign country. And Arrington does little here to make him more explicable, but I firmly believe (in spite of his foibles and, perhaps because of, his humanity) that he was a prophet.
** Perhaps what rankled the most was his unending use of the nickname. But BY and others used it. So I'm overreacting.
January 29, 2021
An excellent book that appears to have no remotely close substitute. It offers a fascinating window into the theocracy that was the Utah territory and later state in the second half of the 19th century. Of particular interest was the contrasting economic institutions to the laissez faire individualism of the greater United States. Additionally of interest to Mormons themselves are some peculiarities of culture that last with us to this day resulting from this period. In particular, “the Raids” are a stunning revelation to me and constituted a serious gap in my knowledge. Modern LDS should be aware of this.
September 30, 2022
This shed SO much light on my understanding of the Mormon economy.
December 29, 2023
Excellent scholarship on the founding and colonization of Utah, in which my ancestors were directly involved. Fascinating and detailed history.
July 24, 2008
Having grown up in Utah, I really enjoyed reading this book.
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