Scoundrel's Tale: The Samuel Brannan Papers (Kingdom in the West, V. 3)

A fat compendium of letters and articles by Brannan (1819-89), who published newspapers for the young Mormon church in New York, sailed to California to start a colony, split with the church, became wealthy in business, and generated a reputation for living wildly and donating freely to good causes. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)