I owe a great debt to all who have documented Joseph Smith’s life, particularly those who were his contemporaries.
Among modern polygamy researchers, I owe a particular debt to Todd Compton for his 1997 In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith, Brian Hales for his 2013 Joseph Smith’s Polygamy, and Ugo Perego, for his ongoing genetic research into the paternity of the children born to the women who covenanted with Joseph Smith. Andrew Ehat, George D. Smith, Gary Bergera, and Richard S. Van Wagoner have contributed greatly to knowledge of polygamists other than Joseph Smith. Don Bradley’s analysis of the Fanny Alger relationship is exceptional. Michael Quinn has done much to illuminate the existence of documents unavailable to geographically-disadvantaged researchers.
I am indebted to recent biographers of key Nauvoo figures, including Andrew Smith for his The Saintly Scoundrel: The Life and Times of Dr. John Cook Bennett, Kyle Walker for his William B. Smith: In the Shadow of a Prophet, and the inimitable Richard Bushman for his Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling. I am indebted to Valeen Tippets Avery and Linda King Newell for their biography Mormon Enigma: Emma Hale Smith and the extensive raw material in their research papers that did not make it to the final book.
In thanking each of these, I am necessarily also indebted to each of the individuals who assisted them in their researches. Further, I am indebted to Susan Easton Black, Fred E. Woods, William G. Hartley, and others who documented Early LDS members, Mormon Migration, and Mormon Pioneer Overland Travel. I am particularly indebted to the many individuals who have made their ancestors’ stories public via Family Search and other ancestor-oriented websites.
Finally, I owe a great debt to Bruce Nielson and the fine folks at millennialstar.org for inviting me to put my research before an audience of thousands, ultimately leading to the book you have before you now.