This little book was a collection of short biographies of various Latter-Day Saints and non-LDS who faced intense trials because of their involvement with the church. Most of them were pretty short, but there was a bibliography at the end of each profile. The most interesting to me were the stories of Thomas L. Kane and Alexander Doniphan, both men who never joined the LDS church, but who stood by as a friend when the Saints were persecuted and first driven from Missouri under threat of death, then from Illinois, and finally threatened again once they reached what became known as Utah. The other story I really enjoyed was that of Lot Smith. I hadn't read much about him before, but he was a daring and resourceful man. He was the one most responsible for turning away Johnson's Army when they came to fight the LDS in Utah, and he did it without the loss of a single life.

However, the style was not great and it was occasionally too preachy for me. Too much speculation, as well, about what a person might have done or said or thought. Some of that is, I suppose, inevitable, but with some of the profiles, there was too much guesswork and not enough fact.

Recommended for Latter-Day Saints or those interested in the church and its history. ( )