The Undaunted

The Undaunted By: Gerald N. Lund


This book was amazing, I usually don't read books like this but WOW. A good part of my life I lived down in Southern Utah in a small town called Monticello. I also lived in Moab for a time and I have always known that those towns down in that area were settled by the Mormon pioneers but I never gave much thought about it. I have even seen the Hole-in-the-rock when I was boating on Lake Powell. But i have never really thought about how hard it was for them to cross from Escalante to Bluff. this book helped me to understand better the struggles, sorrow, faith and triumph of the Mormon pioneers as they try and make this journey. A lot of the families mentioned in this book were actual families who made this trek. Including one family who joined the LDS Church in Palmyra New York and came after a lot of persecution and being kicked out of their homes numerous times made it to Utah and established Salt Lake City. The thing that shocked me most was that at most of the places mentioned I have seen and been there myself not even realizing the events that happened here. This book has given me a deep respect for these pioneers and what they went through to establish homes and to help make Utah what it is today. If you would like to learn more about these pioneers there is a website at
http://www.undaunted-thenovel.com/ or if you would like to learn more about the Mormon pioneers or the LDS church please visit http://www.lds.org/ or http://www.mormon.org/