'Massacre' A Hit in Utah
By Rachel Deahl -- Publishers Weekly, 8/22/2008 7:52:00 AM
The Mormon community has long been defensive about the not-so-pleasant moment in its history known as the Mountain Meadows Massacre. The 1857 incident, in which a Mormon militia killed over 120 people (including children) in southern Utah, has been written about extensively. Nonetheless, Utah denizens seem to have been waiting for Massacre at Mountain Meadows; sales of the just-published history of the event from Oxford University Press have taken off in the state.
The book, by three local LDS scholars (two of whom are directly associated with the church), is going into its third printing after bowing on August 14. Susan Fensten, at OUP, said the press did an initial run of 6,500 and then went back for another 6,000 copies. The press is now waiting on books to arrive from a third run and has over 7,000 backorders.
Fensten, who said the book is "eight years in the making"--the authors delayed the work after discovering new historical information about the event--noted that the authors, who are well known in the Salt Lake City community, have been lecturing and discussing the episode building up to the book's publication.
Thus far OUP has only promoted the book in Utah through TV and radio spots and various newspaper coverage. Fensten thinks that the hot-button nature of the book's topic, combined with the authors' reputations, has helped the title take off in the state. The chains are "just starting to pick up on [the book]," Fensten told PW and OUP will soon start some national promotions.
