Porter Rockwell A Biography

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

While principally a bigraphy of gunfighter Orrin Porter Rockwell, this lackluster book by the author of Rockwell: U.S. Marshall is also a history of the Mormons from the early days of the sect almost to the end of the 19th century. A farmer and a neighbor of Joseph Smith, founder of Mormonism, Rockwell became an early convert and journeyed with the Saints, as they called themselves, from New York to their several stops in the Midwest and finally to Salt Lake City. The guerilla fighter and bodyguard to Smith earned the nickname ``The Destroying Angel,'' a sobriquet that was reinforced when Rockwell got to Utah and became an Indian fighter, hunter of cattle rustlers, bodyguard to Brigham Young and, in general, the Mormon muscleman. Photos not seen by PW. (Nov.)