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Kingdom on the Mississippi Revisited: Nauvoo in Mormon History. Edited by Roger D. Launius and John E. Hallwas. (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1996. Pp. viii, 282. Cloth, $36.50; paper, $16.95.)
The Mormon sojourn in Nauvoo, Illinois, constitutes a key chapter in their history. Important developments occurred between 1839, when Brigham Young led them here from Missouri (they were fleeing state-supported violence; Joseph Smith was in jail) and 1846, when Young led most of them out of Nauvoo, across the Mississippi again and on to Utah (they were fleeing persecution again; Joseph Smith had been killed by a mob). The town itself grew to become second only to Chicago in population among Illinois cities. The Illinois legislature granted a charter which authorized a city university and an armed militia under local control. A great limestone temple was built that surpassed any building for hundreds of miles in size and majesty. Missionaries went abroad and new converts gathered here from England as well as the United States. Joseph Smith launched a campaign to establish a political kingdom of God and decided to run for the office of president of the United States. Young and many other Mormon men fanned out across the country to work for his election.
The religion itself changed as well. A series of continuing revelations added new doctrines to those originally published in the Book of Mormon. These included ideas about a hierarchy of heavens, a plurality of gods, and the potential for human beings to become gods. New practices included baptism for the dead, celestial marriage, and a variety of temple ordinances (some...