Cultures In Conflict

The most extensive and thorough account yet of the struggle between Mormons and non-Mormons in frontier Illinois, Cultures in Conflict presents a wide selection of historical documents - a number of which never have been published - concerning a mini civil war that erupted during the 1840s. John Hallwas and Roger Launius introduce these documents with probing but balanced discussions of the causes that underlay the conflict. They note the relationship of attitudes and events in Hancock County, Illinois, to the contemporary national scene and describe the individuals - from obscure local citizens to celebrated national figures - who participated in or commented on the strife that escalated into political and judicial oppression, vigilante action, property destruction, and killings by both sides.
Cultures in Conflict chronicles the rise of a theocratic kingdom at Nauvoo, the increasingly strident response of non-Mormons, the repression of dissident Mormons at Nauvoo, the famous double murder of Joseph and Hyrum Smith at Carthage, the subsequent civil war in Hancock County, and the forced exodus of Mormons from Illinois. Especially important is the historical information on the often overlooked two-year period between the Smith murders and the departure for the West of the majority of Mormons.
Hallwas and Launius conclude that conflicting cultural myths made compromise and accommodation difficult and almost inevitably drew neighbors toward violence. Their documentation and analysis of that process provides an intimate glimpse into a seminal period in the evolution of both the Mormon Church and the Mississippi frontier.