Will Bagley
Encyclopedia
Will Bagley is a historian specializing in the history of western United States. Bagley has written about the fur trade, overland emigration, American Indians, military history, frontier violence, railroads, mining, and Utah and the Mormons.
, where his father was a long-serving mayor in the 1980s. His younger brother Pat Bagley
became the notable Salt Lake Tribune editorial cartoonist and they are the uncles of professional surfer Dusty Payne. Bagley attended Brigham Young University
in 1967-68, and then he transferred to University of California at Santa Cruz (UCSC), where he obtained his B.A. in History
in 1971. At Santa Cruz Bagley studied writing with Page Stegner and history with John Dizikes. He graduated from UCSC between Richard White and Patty Limerick, two of the leading lights of the "New Western History." While at UCSC he received the California State Scholar and President’s Scholar awards. He considers an integral part of his education a trip he took in 1969, on a homemade raft built of framing lumber and barrels, down the Mississippi River
from Rock Island, Illinois
to New Orleans. After graduation he spent three years in North Carolina
studying the local Bluegrass music
and culture, and playing in bands.
After college, Bagley worked as a laborer, carpenter, cabinet maker, and country musician for more than a decade. In 1979 he founded Groundhog Records to release his long playing record, "The Legend of Jesse James." In 1982 he abandoned music and hard labor to take a writing position at Evans & Sutherland, a pioneering computer graphics firm. He worked in various hi-tech ventures until 1995, when he started his career as a professional historian. He has written more than twenty books, and in 2008 historian David Roberts dubbed him the "sharpest of all thorns in the side of the Mormon historical establishment."
Although he was raised as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon or LDS Church), Bagley is now a "retired Mormon." He has publicly stated that he "never believed the theology since [he] was old enough to think about it." However, he is friends with believers and considers himself a "heritage Mormon," valuing his pioneer lineage.
Bagley works and lives and works in Salt Lake City, Utah. He is the father of two children, Cassandra and Jesse, and the grandfather of Noah and Megan Barrett
.
, for two years.
Continuing its hundred-year tradition of letting the people of the West recount their own history, in 1997 the Arthur H. Clark Company launched a new historical series, KINGDOM IN THE WEST: The Mormons and the American Frontier. Bagley is editor of this projected 15-volume series. The series presents essential source documents that look at the West through Mormon eyes and the Mormons
through Western eyes. Published volumes describe the Mexican War
, the conquest of California and the gold rush
, the Brigham Young
pioneer party of 1847, European visitors to “Zion,” Mormon polygamy
, the Utah War, and the Mountain Meadows Massace. Eleven volumes have appeared, most recently Michael W. Homer’s On the Way to Somewhere Else: European Sojourners in the Mormon West; B. Carmon Hardy’s Doing the Works of Abraham: Mormon Polygamy, Its Origin, Practice, and Demise; William P. MacKinnon’s At Sword’s Point: A Documentary History of the Utah War of 1857; and Bagley and David L. Bigler’s Innocent Blood: Essential Narratives of the Mountain Meadows Massacre.
, the Mormon History Association
, Sunstone Magazine
, the Oregon-California Trails Association, the Communal Studies Association, and the Center for Studies on New Religions. He participated in Claremont McKenna College
’s “The American West” lecture series. Mr. Bagley was a Research Associate at Yale University
’s Beinecke Library in 2000 and was the library's Archibald Hanna Jr. Fellow in American history in 2009. During the 2008 academic year, he and author Stephen Trimble served as Wallace Stegner Centennial Fellows at the University of Utah's Tanner Humanities Center. He has worked as a historical consultant for National Geographic magazine, the National Park Service
, the Wyoming
State Historical Preservation Office, the Nevada Humanities Council, and for more than a dozen documentary films including A&E Television's Mountain Meadows Massacre and The Mormon Rebellion, and PBS's, The Mormons. He has worked on historical interpretive design for the Bureau of Land Management
.
and the Utah Westerners.
He established The Prairie Dog Press in 1991 to publish A Road from El Dorado. The press eventually expanded into a consulting business that has handled book design and typesetting, publishing, historical research, and contract writing. The press has worked with the National Park Service, the Bureau of Land Management, the Marriott Library
, the History Channel, and PBS.
deals with the Mountain Meadows massacre
and has won numerous awards, including a Spur from Western Writers of America and best book awards from the Denver Public Library and the Western History Association. The New York Review of Books
described the study as “an exhaustive, meticulously documented, highly readable history that captures the events and atmosphere that gave rise to the massacre, as well as its long, tortuous aftermath. Bagley has taken great care in negotiating the minefield presented by what remains of the historical record.”
"Ever since 1857, the Mormon Church has vehemently exempted itself and Brigham Young from any complicity in this crime against humanity. Church-approved histories embrace this interpretation when they mention it at all. The official church historians and custodians of the massive church archives have carefully avoided the issue. Parts of the archives have been "lost," restricted, sanitized, and even manufactured. Mormon historians who probe beyond the prescribed limits face isolation at best, excommunication at worst," wrote distinguished Western historian Robert M. Utley. "Such is the prospect for Will Bagley." Utley proved prophetic, for multiple criticisms of Bagley's work and appeared in LDS Church-related publications ranging from the Deseret News to BYU Studies. "Will Bagley has made a major contribution to western American history. Already, the church counterattack has begun," Utley predicted. "He is likely to take some painful personal hits, but his scholarship will withstand the professedly scholarly hits."
Based on his professional experience in the computer business, Bagley has writen a history of LexisNexis
with the company's first general counsel. He has suspended his historical writing to return to work in the computer graphics industry to make a living wage and eventually provide material for the second volume of a trilogy, "The Machine of Time: Chronicles of the Computer Age," which he jokingly calls his “DigitIliad.”
Biography
William Grant Bagley was born to Lawrence Miles Bagley and Margene Bailey Bagley on May 27, 1950 in Salt Lake City. From the age of nine he was raised in Oceanside, CaliforniaOceanside, California
-2010:The 2010 United States Census reported that Oceanside had a population of 167,086. The population density was 3,961.8 people per square mile...
, where his father was a long-serving mayor in the 1980s. His younger brother Pat Bagley
Pat Bagley
Patrick "Pat" Bagley is a liberal American editorial cartoonist and journalist for The Salt Lake Tribune in Salt Lake City, Utah, and an author and illustrator of several books.-Biography:...
became the notable Salt Lake Tribune editorial cartoonist and they are the uncles of professional surfer Dusty Payne. Bagley attended Brigham Young University
Brigham Young University
Brigham Young University is a private university located in Provo, Utah. It is owned and operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints , and is the United States' largest religious university and third-largest private university.Approximately 98% of the university's 34,000 students...
in 1967-68, and then he transferred to University of California at Santa Cruz (UCSC), where he obtained his B.A. in History
History
History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...
in 1971. At Santa Cruz Bagley studied writing with Page Stegner and history with John Dizikes. He graduated from UCSC between Richard White and Patty Limerick, two of the leading lights of the "New Western History." While at UCSC he received the California State Scholar and President’s Scholar awards. He considers an integral part of his education a trip he took in 1969, on a homemade raft built of framing lumber and barrels, down the Mississippi River
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...
from Rock Island, Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
to New Orleans. After graduation he spent three years in North Carolina
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
studying the local Bluegrass music
Bluegrass music
Bluegrass music is a form of American roots music, and a sub-genre of country music. It has mixed roots in Scottish, English, Welsh and Irish traditional music...
and culture, and playing in bands.
After college, Bagley worked as a laborer, carpenter, cabinet maker, and country musician for more than a decade. In 1979 he founded Groundhog Records to release his long playing record, "The Legend of Jesse James." In 1982 he abandoned music and hard labor to take a writing position at Evans & Sutherland, a pioneering computer graphics firm. He worked in various hi-tech ventures until 1995, when he started his career as a professional historian. He has written more than twenty books, and in 2008 historian David Roberts dubbed him the "sharpest of all thorns in the side of the Mormon historical establishment."
Although he was raised as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon or LDS Church), Bagley is now a "retired Mormon." He has publicly stated that he "never believed the theology since [he] was old enough to think about it." However, he is friends with believers and considers himself a "heritage Mormon," valuing his pioneer lineage.
Bagley works and lives and works in Salt Lake City, Utah. He is the father of two children, Cassandra and Jesse, and the grandfather of Noah and Megan Barrett
Publications
Bagley has published extensively over the years and is still active. He is the author and editor of twenty books and of many articles and reviews in professional journals, such as the Western Historical Quarterly, Utah Historical Quarterly, Overland Journal, The Journal of Mormon History, and Montana The Magazine of Western History. His column, "History Matters", appeared every Sunday for four years (2000–2004) in The Salt Lake TribuneThe Salt Lake Tribune
The Salt Lake Tribune is the largest-circulated daily newspaper in the U.S. city of Salt Lake City. It is distributed by Newspaper Agency Corporation, which also distributes the Deseret News. The Tribune — or "Trib," as it is locally known — is currently owned by the Denver-based MediaNews Group....
.
Editorial work
He served as editor of News from the Plains, the newsletter of the Oregon-California Trails AssociationOregon-California Trails Association
The Oregon-California Trails Association is an interdisciplinary organization based at Independence, Missouri, United States. OCTA is dedicated to the preservation and protection of overland emigrant trails and the emigrant experience....
, for two years.
Continuing its hundred-year tradition of letting the people of the West recount their own history, in 1997 the Arthur H. Clark Company launched a new historical series, KINGDOM IN THE WEST: The Mormons and the American Frontier. Bagley is editor of this projected 15-volume series. The series presents essential source documents that look at the West through Mormon eyes and the Mormons
Mormons
The Mormons are a religious and cultural group related to Mormonism, a religion started by Joseph Smith during the American Second Great Awakening. A vast majority of Mormons are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints while a minority are members of other independent churches....
through Western eyes. Published volumes describe the Mexican War
Mexican–American War
The Mexican–American War, also known as the First American Intervention, the Mexican War, or the U.S.–Mexican War, was an armed conflict between the United States and Mexico from 1846 to 1848 in the wake of the 1845 U.S...
, the conquest of California and the gold rush
Gold rush
A gold rush is a period of feverish migration of workers to an area that has had a dramatic discovery of gold. Major gold rushes took place in the 19th century in Australia, Brazil, Canada, South Africa, and the United States, while smaller gold rushes took place elsewhere.In the 19th and early...
, the Brigham Young
Brigham Young
Brigham Young was an American leader in the Latter Day Saint movement and a settler of the Western United States. He was the President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1847 until his death in 1877, he founded Salt Lake City, and he served as the first governor of the Utah...
pioneer party of 1847, European visitors to “Zion,” Mormon polygamy
Polygamy
Polygamy is a marriage which includes more than two partners...
, the Utah War, and the Mountain Meadows Massace. Eleven volumes have appeared, most recently Michael W. Homer’s On the Way to Somewhere Else: European Sojourners in the Mormon West; B. Carmon Hardy’s Doing the Works of Abraham: Mormon Polygamy, Its Origin, Practice, and Demise; William P. MacKinnon’s At Sword’s Point: A Documentary History of the Utah War of 1857; and Bagley and David L. Bigler’s Innocent Blood: Essential Narratives of the Mountain Meadows Massacre.
Activity
As a member of the Utah Speakers Bureau, Will Bagley has made dozens of presentations throughout the state. He has given academic papers at the annual conventions of the Western History AssociationWestern History Association
The Western History Association was organized in 1961 at Santa Fe, New Mexico, to "promote the study of the North American West in its varied aspects and broadest sense." Included in the field of study are the American West and western Canada. The Western History Association is headquartered at...
, the Mormon History Association
Mormon History Association
The Mormon History Association is an independent, non-profit organization dedicated to the study and understanding of all aspects of Mormon history to promote understanding, scholarly research, and publication in the field...
, Sunstone Magazine
Sunstone Magazine
Sunstone is a magazine published by the Sunstone Education Foundation, Inc., a 501 nonprofit corporation, that discusses Mormonism through scholarship, art, short fiction, and poetry. The foundation began the publication in 1974 and considers it a vehicle for free and frank exchange in The Church...
, the Oregon-California Trails Association, the Communal Studies Association, and the Center for Studies on New Religions. He participated in Claremont McKenna College
Claremont McKenna College
Claremont McKenna College is a private, coeducational liberal arts college and a member of the Claremont Colleges located in Claremont, California. The campus is located east of Downtown Los Angeles...
’s “The American West” lecture series. Mr. Bagley was a Research Associate at Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
’s Beinecke Library in 2000 and was the library's Archibald Hanna Jr. Fellow in American history in 2009. During the 2008 academic year, he and author Stephen Trimble served as Wallace Stegner Centennial Fellows at the University of Utah's Tanner Humanities Center. He has worked as a historical consultant for National Geographic magazine, the National Park Service
National Park Service
The National Park Service is the U.S. federal agency that manages all national parks, many national monuments, and other conservation and historical properties with various title designations...
, the Wyoming
Wyoming
Wyoming is a state in the mountain region of the Western United States. The western two thirds of the state is covered mostly with the mountain ranges and rangelands in the foothills of the Eastern Rocky Mountains, while the eastern third of the state is high elevation prairie known as the High...
State Historical Preservation Office, the Nevada Humanities Council, and for more than a dozen documentary films including A&E Television's Mountain Meadows Massacre and The Mormon Rebellion, and PBS's, The Mormons. He has worked on historical interpretive design for the Bureau of Land Management
Bureau of Land Management
The Bureau of Land Management is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior which administers America's public lands, totaling approximately , or one-eighth of the landmass of the country. The BLM also manages of subsurface mineral estate underlying federal, state and private...
.
Leadership
Will Bagley is a former member of the Board of Directors of the Utah Rivers Council, Westerners International, and the Oregon-California Trails Association. He currently serves on the boards of the Friends of the Marriott Library at the University of UtahUniversity of Utah
The University of Utah, also known as the U or the U of U, is a public, coeducational research university in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. The university was established in 1850 as the University of Deseret by the General Assembly of the provisional State of Deseret, making it Utah's oldest...
and the Utah Westerners.
He established The Prairie Dog Press in 1991 to publish A Road from El Dorado. The press eventually expanded into a consulting business that has handled book design and typesetting, publishing, historical research, and contract writing. The press has worked with the National Park Service, the Bureau of Land Management, the Marriott Library
J. Willard Marriott Library
J. Willard Marriott Library is the library of the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, Utah. It was named for J. Willard Marriott, the founder of Marriott International. The library building is over and houses over 3 million volumes. The University of Utah Press is a division of the Marriott...
, the History Channel, and PBS.
Honors
- 1991 Evans Manuscript Prize.
- Wagon Award 1993. Highest award for service to the Utah Crossroads Chapter of the Oregon-California Trails Association (OCTA).
- 1997 Steven F. Christensen Best Documentary Award from the Mormon History AssociationMormon History AssociationThe Mormon History Association is an independent, non-profit organization dedicated to the study and understanding of all aspects of Mormon history to promote understanding, scholarly research, and publication in the field...
. - 1997 T. Edgar Lyon Award for Best Article of the Year from the Mormon History Association.
- 1998 First Place, Non-Fiction Book, and Publication Prize, Utah Arts CouncilUtah Arts CouncilThe Utah Division of Arts & Museums is an agency of the state government of Utah, responsible for the promotion of the arts and Utah museums. It is a division of the Utah Department of Community and Culture...
Original Writing Competition. - 1999 National Certificate of Appreciation for special efforts in historic preservation, Oregon-California Trails Association.
- 2000 Steven F. Christensen Best Documentary Award from the Mormon History Association.
- 2001 Utah Military History Award from Utah State Historical Society.
- 2002 For the book Blood of the ProphetsBlood of the ProphetsBlood of the Prophets: Brigham Young and the Massacre at Mountain Meadows by Will Bagley is an award-winning history of the Mountain Meadows massacre...
. Utah Arts Council’s Original Writing Competition Publication Prize, the Western Writers of AmericaWestern Writers of AmericaWestern Writers of America, founded 1953, promotes literature, both fiction and non-fiction, pertaining to the American West. Although its founders wrote traditional western fiction, the more than five hundred current members also include historians and other non-fiction writers as well as authors...
’s Spur AwardSpur AwardThe Spur Award is an annual literary prize awarded by the Western Writers of America. Founded in 1953 with only four categories , the award today has expanded to include the following categories:...
, the Denver Public LibraryDenver Public LibraryThe Denver Public Library is the public library of the city of Denver, Colorado in the United States. Its administrative headquarters is on the 7th floor of the Central Library in Downtown Denver. , the library system had 2,519,977 items in its collection, and a library card base of 417,616 local...
’s Caroline Bancroft History Prize, Westerners International’s Best Book Award, the John Whitmer Historical AssociationJohn Whitmer Historical AssociationThe John Whitmer Historical Association "is an independent scholarly society composed of individuals of various religious faiths who share a lively interest in ......
’s Smith-Petit Best Book Award, and the Western History AssociationWestern History AssociationThe Western History Association was organized in 1961 at Santa Fe, New Mexico, to "promote the study of the North American West in its varied aspects and broadest sense." Included in the field of study are the American West and western Canada. The Western History Association is headquartered at...
’s John W. Caughey Prize for the year’s most distinguished book on the history of the American West. - 2007 Utah Arts Council Original Writing Competition, Second Place, Biography, Always a Cowboy: Judge Wilson McCarthy and the Rescue of the Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad
- 2008 Utah Arts Council Original Writing Competition, Second Place, Novel, RiverRiverA river is a natural watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, a lake, a sea, or another river. In a few cases, a river simply flows into the ground or dries up completely before reaching another body of water. Small rivers may also be called by several other names, including...
- 2008 Wallace Stegner Centennial Fellowship from the Tanner Humanities Center at the University of UtahUniversity of UtahThe University of Utah, also known as the U or the U of U, is a public, coeducational research university in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. The university was established in 1850 as the University of Deseret by the General Assembly of the provisional State of Deseret, making it Utah's oldest...
. - 2009 Archibald Hanna Jr. Fellowship in American History, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript LibraryBeinecke Rare Book and Manuscript LibraryYale University's Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library was a 1963 gift of the Beinecke family. The building was designed by architect Gordon Bunshaft of the firm of Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill, and is the largest building in the world reserved exclusively for the preservation of rare books...
at Yale UniversityYale UniversityYale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
. - 2010 Merrill Mattes Award for Excellence in Writing, The Oregon-California Trails Association, with Rick Grunder, for “‘I Could Hardly Hold the Pen’: Phebe Ann Wooley Davis’s Hard Road to Utah and Back, 1864-1865.” Overland Journal 27:3 (Fall 2009).
- Choice Magazine’s Outstanding Academic Titles of 2010, So Rugged and Mountainous: Blazing the Trails to Oregon and California, 1840–1848.
- 2011 Western Heritage Award (The Wrangler), for So Rugged and Mountainous: Blazing the Trails to Oregon and California, 1840–1848.
List of books by Will Bagley
- Editor, A Road from El Dorado: The 1848 Trail Journal of Ephraim Green (Salt Lake City: The Prairie Dog Press, 1991).
- Editor, Frontiersman: Abner Blackburn’s Narrative (Salt Lake City: University of Utah PressUniversity of Utah PressThe University of Utah Press is the independent publishing branch of the University of Utah and is a division of the J. Willard Marriott Library. Founded in 1949 by A. Ray Olpin, it is also the oldest university press in Utah...
, 1992). - Roderic Korns and Dale L. Morgan, eds., West from Fort Bridger: The Pioneering of Immigrant Trails across Utah, 1846–1850, revised and updated by Will Bagley and Harold SchindlerHarold SchindlerHarold Moroni "Hal" Schindler was an American journalist and historian, known for his articles and books on the American west...
(Logan: Utah State University Press, 1994). - Pat BagleyPat BagleyPatrick "Pat" Bagley is a liberal American editorial cartoonist and journalist for The Salt Lake Tribune in Salt Lake City, Utah, and an author and illustrator of several books.-Biography:...
and Will Bagley, This is the Place: A Crossroads of Utah’s Past (Carson City, Nevada: Buckaroo Books, 1996). A children’s book exploring Utah history. - Editor, The Pioneer Camp of the Saints: The 1846 and 1847 Mormon Trail Journals of Thomas Bullock (Spokane, Washington: The Arthur H. Clark Company, 1997).
- Bagley, Will, Scoundrel's Tale: The Samuel BrannanSamuel BrannanSamuel Brannan was an American settler, businessman, and journalist, who founded the "California Star" newspaper in San Francisco, California...
Papers (Arthur H. Clark Company, February 1999) - Editor, with David L. Bigler, ‘‘Army of Israel: Mormon Battalion Narratives Spokane, Washington: The Arthur H. Clark Company, 2000.
- Bagley, Will, ed. “A Bright, Rising Star”: A Brief Life of James Ferguson, Sergeant Major, Mormon Battalion; Adjutant General, Nauvoo Legion. Spokane, Washington: The Arthur H. Clark Company, 2000.
- Bagley, Will. Blood of the Prophets: Brigham Young and the Massacre at Mountain Meadows. Norman: University of Oklahoma PressUniversity of Oklahoma PressThe University of Oklahoma Press is the publishing arm of the University of Oklahoma. It has been in operation for over seventy-five years, and was the first university press established in the American Southwest. It was founded by William Bennett Bizzell, the fifth president of the University of...
, 2002. - Bagley, Will. Always a Cowboy: Judge Wilson McCarthy and the Rescue of the Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad. Logan: Utah State University Press, 2008.
- Editor, with David L. Bigler, Innocent Blood: Essential Narratives of the Mountain Meadows Massacre (Norman,Oklahoma:University of Oklahoma PressUniversity of Oklahoma PressThe University of Oklahoma Press is the publishing arm of the University of Oklahoma. It has been in operation for over seventy-five years, and was the first university press established in the American Southwest. It was founded by William Bennett Bizzell, the fifth president of the University of...
, Arthur Clark Co, 2008) - Bagley, Will. So Rugged and Mountainous: Blazing the Trails to Oregon and California. 1812-1848. Norman: University of Oklahoma PressUniversity of Oklahoma PressThe University of Oklahoma Press is the publishing arm of the University of Oklahoma. It has been in operation for over seventy-five years, and was the first university press established in the American Southwest. It was founded by William Bennett Bizzell, the fifth president of the University of...
, 2010
Blood of the Prophets
Bagley's book Blood of the ProphetsBlood of the Prophets
Blood of the Prophets: Brigham Young and the Massacre at Mountain Meadows by Will Bagley is an award-winning history of the Mountain Meadows massacre...
deals with the Mountain Meadows massacre
Mountain Meadows massacre
The Mountain Meadows massacre was a series of attacks on the Baker–Fancher emigrant wagon train, at Mountain Meadows in southern Utah. The attacks culminated on September 11, 1857 in the mass slaughter of the emigrant party by the Iron County district of the Utah Territorial Militia and some local...
and has won numerous awards, including a Spur from Western Writers of America and best book awards from the Denver Public Library and the Western History Association. The New York Review of Books
The New York Review of Books
The New York Review of Books is a fortnightly magazine with articles on literature, culture and current affairs. Published in New York City, it takes as its point of departure that the discussion of important books is itself an indispensable literary activity...
described the study as “an exhaustive, meticulously documented, highly readable history that captures the events and atmosphere that gave rise to the massacre, as well as its long, tortuous aftermath. Bagley has taken great care in negotiating the minefield presented by what remains of the historical record.”
"Ever since 1857, the Mormon Church has vehemently exempted itself and Brigham Young from any complicity in this crime against humanity. Church-approved histories embrace this interpretation when they mention it at all. The official church historians and custodians of the massive church archives have carefully avoided the issue. Parts of the archives have been "lost," restricted, sanitized, and even manufactured. Mormon historians who probe beyond the prescribed limits face isolation at best, excommunication at worst," wrote distinguished Western historian Robert M. Utley. "Such is the prospect for Will Bagley." Utley proved prophetic, for multiple criticisms of Bagley's work and appeared in LDS Church-related publications ranging from the Deseret News to BYU Studies. "Will Bagley has made a major contribution to western American history. Already, the church counterattack has begun," Utley predicted. "He is likely to take some painful personal hits, but his scholarship will withstand the professedly scholarly hits."
Work in progress
Volume 13 of the "Kingdom in the West" series, "Playing with Shadows: Voices of Dissent in the Mormon West," which Bagley edited with Polly Aird and Jeff Nichols, is due out in December 2011. "With Golden Visions Bright Before Them: Trails and the Creation of the Mining West," the second volume of "Overland West: The Story of the Oregon and California Trails," is being copy edited and will appear in 2012.Based on his professional experience in the computer business, Bagley has writen a history of LexisNexis
LexisNexis
LexisNexis Group is a company providing computer-assisted legal research services. In 2006 it had the world's largest electronic database for legal and public-records related information...
with the company's first general counsel. He has suspended his historical writing to return to work in the computer graphics industry to make a living wage and eventually provide material for the second volume of a trilogy, "The Machine of Time: Chronicles of the Computer Age," which he jokingly calls his “DigitIliad.”
External links
- "History Matters", Bagley's Salt Lake Tribune column
- The Will Bagley Papers at the University of UtahUniversity of UtahThe University of Utah, also known as the U or the U of U, is a public, coeducational research university in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. The university was established in 1850 as the University of Deseret by the General Assembly of the provisional State of Deseret, making it Utah's oldest...
's Marriott Library - Mormon Expression interview of Will Bagley part 1
- Mormon Expression interview of Will Bagley part 2
- Dale L. Morgan Lecture