The Life and Times of John Steele

"Radicalized by the starving poverty of industrial Glasgow during the "Hungry Forties," Irish-born John Steele embraced a teetotaler brotherhood, radical political reform and listened sympathetically to Utopians on Glasgow Green. This was the background for his 1843 conversion to Mormonism, driven by paradisal fervor to build an egalitarian Kingdom where Christ would rule in the last days. A study of his life tells an unparalleled story of one of the United States' most successful Utopian experiments and a wondrous array of half-forgotten mystical, magical and folk customs, while also uniquely illuminating the construction of the Mormon Kingdom"--

Kerry William Bate's work has appeared in Utah Historical Quarterly, Oral History Review, American Genealogist, Utah Holiday, Sunstone, and Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought. He has authored or co-authored four books, including The Women: A Family Story.