Life of Heber C. Kimball, an Apostle: The Father and Founder of the British Mission

Heber C. Kimball was the man who brought Mormonism to Britain, and this 19th-century biography tells his remarkable story. Born into Vermont poverty, Kimball rose to become one of the original Twelve Apostles of the LDS Church, a close confidant of Joseph Smith, and the unlikely architect of a missionary enterprise that would reshape the faith's future. Whitney's account follows Kimball from his humble beginnings through the trials of early Mormonism, persecution, exile, and the desperate westward march, rendering intimate portraits of the Prophet Joseph Smith and Brigham Young through Kimball's eyes. The book's heart lies in Kimball's 1837 British Mission, where a shoemaker from Utah single-handedly sparked a conversion movement that sent thousands of British converts flooding to America. Whitney writes with the reverent certainty of a believer, but his detailed chronology and firsthand accounts offer historians an invaluable window into the forging of a religious movement. This is essential reading for anyone seeking to understand how a fringe American sect became a global faith.