''Mormonism Unveiled; or The Life and Confessions of the Late Mormon Bishop, John D. Lee (Written by Himself)'' is a book by

John D. Lee John Doyle Lee (September 6, 1812 – March 23, 1877) was an American pioneer and prominent early member of the Latter Day Saint Movement in Utah. Lee was later convicted as a mass murderer for his complicity in the Mountain Meadows massacre, s ...

, first published in 1877, just after the author's

execution Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the State (polity), state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to ...

for his complicity in the

Mountain Meadows massacre The Mountain Meadows Massacre (September 7–11, 1857) was a series of attacks during the Utah War that resulted in the mass murder of at least 120 members of the Baker–Fancher party, Baker–Fancher emigrant wagon train. The massacre occur ...

. It was dictated to, and edited by, Lee's attorney, William W. Bishop. The book was composed between Lee's second trial (with its subsequent conviction) and his execution. It includes Lee's autobiography up until 1847, his confession to Bishop, the transcript of the 1876 trial, an account of Lee's death by

firing squad Execution by firing squad, in the past sometimes called fusillading (from the French ''fusil'', rifle), is a method of capital punishment, particularly common in the military and in times of war. Some reasons for its use are that firearms are us ...

, and a biographical sketch of

Brigham Young Brigham Young (; June 1, 1801August 29, 1877) was an American religious leader and politician. He was the second President of the Church (LDS Church), president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), from 1847 until his ...

. Lee portrays himself as a true believer who was set up as a

scapegoat In the Bible, a scapegoat is one of a pair of kid goats that is released into the wilderness, taking with it all sins and impurities, while the other is sacrificed. The concept first appears in the Book of Leviticus, in which a goat is designate ...

by Young and other church leaders. Some details have been brought into question, if they were not Lee's words, but rather inserted by the editor. The book was

out of print __NOTOC__ An out-of-print (OOP) or out-of-commerce item or work is something that is no longer being published. The term applies to all types of printed matter, visual media, sound recordings, and video recordings. An out-of-print book is a book ...

for almost a century.

References

External links

Text of ''Mormonism Unveiled''
at

Archive.org The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

Mountain Meadows Massacre History books about the American Old West History books about the Latter Day Saint movement American autobiographies LDS non-fiction 1877 non-fiction books Books published posthumously {{LDS-book-stub