A Frontier Life
Jacob Hamblin, Explorer and Indian Missionary
Format:Paperback
Publisher:University of Utah Press,U.S.
Publishing:15th Dec '25
£31.00
This title is due to be published on 15th December, and will be despatched as soon as possible.
Winner of the Juanita Brooks Prize in Mormon Studies
Winner of the Evans Biography Award, the John Whitmer Historical Society Best Biography Award, and the Francis Armstrong Madsen Best Book Award
Frontiersman, colonizer, missionary to the Indians, and explorer of the American West, Jacob Hamblin has long been one of the most enigmatic figures in Mormon history. In this defining biography, Todd Compton examines and disentangles many of the myths and controversies surrounding Hamblin. His Grand Canyon adventures and explorations as a guide alongside John Wesley Powell are well documented, as are his roles as a missionary, cultural liaison, and negotiator to the Indian tribes of southern Utah and Arizona. Hamblin struggled in this latter role, sometimes unable to bridge the gulf between Mormonism and Indian culture. He disavowed violent conflict and ceaselessly sought peaceful resolutions where others resorted to punitive action. He strove above all for mutual understanding in the absence of conversion.
A Frontier Life provides a rich narrative that fleshes out a picture of a sometimes vilified figure, particularly in regard to his connection to the infamous Mountain Meadows Massacre, where Compton provides nuanced discussion clarifying Hamblin’s post-massacre role—he was not present at the massacre, but reported on it to both Brigham Young and military investigators. Compton’s engagement with Mormon historiography and previous Hamblin portrayals will make this work of particular interest to both scholars and students. The casual reader will take pleasure in learning of a true pioneer who lived life at the geographical, cultural, and spiritual boundaries of his era. This dramatic, entertaining biography is a truly significant contribution to Mormon history.
“A magnificent new biography which will immediately become not only the standard biography of Jacob Hamblin, but also one of the greatest biographies in the fields of Mormon and Utah history. Exhaustively researched and documented, and judiciously interpreted.”—Gary Topping, editor of If I Get Out Alive: World War II Letters and Diaries of William H. McDougall Jr. (The University of Utah Press, 2007)
"Todd Compton comes at the current project with previous experience in the biographer's craft. His eye for detail, obvious in his previous writing projects, is evident here also. Jacob Hamblin's eventful life has finally received a fitting chronicle."—Association for Mormon Letters
“Although many authors have analyzed the life of Jacob Hamblin, none have succeeded to the degree that Todd M. Compton has. He has done a masterful job of researching and documenting the totality of Hamblin’s experiences, examining and disentangling many legends and controversies and offering cogent, insightful interpretations of the key moments in his life. In sum, this work represents the most scholarly treatment of Jacob Hamblin to date.”—BYU Studies Quarterly
“Compton’s biography is a masterful addition to our understanding of the conflicted, often paradoxical, but always religiously devoted Jacob Hamblin.”—New Mexico Historical Review
“The biography includes 127 pages of notes that are valuable and of great interest to the careful reader looking for scholarly references and additional insights into the life and times of Jacob Hamblin. The extensive nature of the notes demonstrates the wide-ranging research on which the book is based. …This book is a most valuable historical contribution.”—Utah Historical Quarterly
“Compton’s biography, the first full-length scholarly treatment of Hamblin’s life, presents a positive reevaluation, while not ignoring the frontiersman’s flaws. Compton expertly analyzes Hamblin’s evolving attitudes toward Indians, showing how the missionary gradually became the ‘Apostle to the Lamanites.’” —The Juvenile Instructor: A Mormon History Blog
“A valuable, fresh study of a remarkable frontiersman.”—Western Historical Quarterly
“A major contribution to American history. … A Frontier Life opens valuable new perspectives on the Mormon Indian frontier and has much to teach its most experienced students.”—Sunstone
ISBN: 9781647692711
Dimensions: 254mm x 178mm x 46mm
Weight: 1270g
666 pages