The Life and Times of John Steele

From radical reformer to Mormon pioneer and mystic

Among the founders of Salt Lake City, Parowan, and Las Vegas, and an explorer of Zion National Park and the Grand Canyon, John Steele's legacy is etched across the American West. The Life and Times of John Steele follows the remarkable journey of this Irish-born convert to Mormonism from his birth into scarcity through his final days in Kanarraville, Utah.

A fervent believer in utopian ideals, Steele sought to build an egalitarian Kingdom of Christ in the last days, becoming a key figure in early Utah history. His multifaceted roles—missionary, city founder, militia major, justice of the peace, and self-taught doctor using folk medicine, charms, and the occult—make his story unique. This meticulously researched biography offers new insights into pivotal events such as the Mountain Meadows Massacre and the communal economics of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, drawing from Steele’s extensive personal diaries and papers to bring his complex, colorful life and times to light.