An award-winning independent historian based in Seattle, Aird has written widely about Utah and Mormons. Here she recounts the life of Peter McAuslan (1824-1908) as a counter-example to the triumphalist accounts of Mormon converts. Her great-great uncle, he and his extended family became Mormon in Scotland, and migrated to the US in 1853, first to New Orleans, then on to Utah to build the New Zion. Among the stages in her tale are the glens of Loch Lomond, Mormon missionaries, farewell to Scotland, the destroyer rides upon the waves, going home to Zion, murder for apostasy, a year of disruption, and shaking dust from their feet. Annotation 2009 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
