Why Did I Choose to Write a Book About Latter-day Saints?

Beyond the Rio Gila is not about LDS history so much as American history. I think of Larry McMurtry’s Lonesome Dove or Charles Frazier’s Cold Mountain. McMurtry’s book is not about a cattle drive or Frazier’s about the Civil War so much as about people coping with challenges imposed by events – who they were, what they did, how they grew, obstacles they encountered which, if not overcome, would defeat them. It’s about human experience. The reader also learns much about the time period and the particular obstacles people faced at that time and in those circumstances.

In the story I’ve brought to the forefront in Beyond the Rio Gila, religion is a backdrop, not the central player. It helps inform the history, things like motives and goals, but it does not make it. People make history, acting at times in the name of religion, but at its root all stories and history are about people.

I honestly feel that the book chose me more than I chose it. Books have been known to do that. I’d heard that said but would have confessed it to be hocus-pocus until I experienced it. It is a story that needs to be told in the format in which it presented itself to be told in this volume. I’ve done my best to tell it, and in many respects, I feel like I’ve been along for the ride.

To make sure that I didn’t misrepresent the history, I engaged a prominent historian of the era, Will Bagley. I followed any suggestions Will made to make the manuscript more credible. Will was a tremendous help and very good to work with. I am indebted to him for his guidance and his contributions to this work.