Wow! eBook
Buffalo Bill and the Mormons
Author(s): Brent M. Rogers (Author)
- Publisher: Bison Books
- Publication Date: March 1, 2024
- Language: English
- Print length: 312 pages
- ISBN-10: 1496213181
- ISBN-13: 9781496213181
Book Description
Winner of the 2025 Wyoming Historical Society Publication Award
In this never-before-told history of Buffalo Bill and the Mormons, Brent M. Rogers presents the intersections in the epic histories of William F. “Buffalo Bill” Cody and the Latter-day Saints from 1846 through 1917. In Cody’s autobiography he claimed to have been a member of the U.S. Army wagon train that was burned by the Saints during the Utah War of 1857–58. Less than twenty years later he began his stage career and gained notoriety by performing anti-Mormon dramas. By early 1900 he actively recruited Latter-day Saints to help build infrastructure and encourage growth in the region surrounding his town of Cody, Wyoming.
In Buffalo Bill and the Mormons Rogers unravels this history and the fascinating trajectory that took America’s most famous celebrity from foe to friend of the Latter-day Saints. In doing so, the book demonstrates how the evolving relationship between Cody and the Latter-day Saints can help readers better understand the political and cultural perceptions of Mormons and the American West.
Editorial Reviews
Review
“In
Buffalo Bill and the Mormons, Rogers has written a compelling and little-known story, vibrantly written, and thoroughly researched. . . . The closing of the American Frontier coincided with the opening of the nation to a more favorable view of Utah and its predominant religion. Buffalo Bill and the Mormons stands as an important addition to the literature of that transition.”—Kevin Folkman, Association for Mormon Letters“Historians interested in Buffalo Bill, Mormon history, and agricultural history will want
Buffalo Bill and the Mormons on their shelves. The book is well-written and researched, and overall, a fun read.”—Micah Chang, Journal of Mormon History“Rogers’s prose, creative organization, research, and the surprising combination of familiar subjects make his book valuable for scholars of Mormonism, progressivism, and Buffalo Bill.”―Matt McCook, Journal of American History
“Rogers . . . offers a valuable study by placing William F. Cody’s relationship with the Mormons in the larger context of national and international events.”—T. G. Alexander, Choice Published On: 2024-09-01
“Anyone who thinks that Buffalo Bill Cody’s biography has been examined upside-down and sideways should pick up Brent M. Rogers’ well-researched book to learn yet another side of the Wild West showman.”—Sandra K. Sagala, Roundup Magazine
“This study is especially relevant to Kansans seeking a story not to be found elsewhere about one of their state’s most famous native sons.”―William P. MacKinnon, Kansas History
“This book is a very readable account and will be useful to anyone interested in more of the history of Buffalo Bill, the Mormons, and the American West in general.”—Steve Friesen, Denver Posse of Westerners
“The book is well written in a lucid style, fully annotated, with both primary and secondary sources, and a very useful index. I recommend it for both academics and those interested in Western history.”―Michael W. Homer, Utah Historical Quarterly
“In this carefully researched book, Brent Rogers traces the surprisingly entangled and little-known stories of William F. ‘Buffalo Bill’ Cody and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. A remarkable history of how two western forces, famed showman and fabled church, mythologized each other.”—Louis S. Warren, author of Buffalo Bill’s America: William Cody and the Wild West Show
