author
William Alexander Linn
1846–1917
A journalist and historian with a sharp eye for American religious and political history, he is best known for The Story of the Mormons, a detailed early-20th-century account of the Latter-day Saint movement.
1 Audiobook
The Story of the Mormons, from the Date of Their Origin to the Year 1901
by William Alexander Linn
About the author
Born in Sussex, New Jersey, in 1846, William Alexander Linn studied at Phillips Academy and Yale before building a career in journalism. He later qualified for the bar in New York, but writing and public affairs remained at the center of his work.
Linn wrote on both politics and history, and his books include The Story of the Mormons and Horace Greeley: Founder and Editor of The New York Tribune. His work reflects the interests of a seasoned newspaperman: energetic, argumentative, and deeply engaged with the public debates of his time.
He died in 1917. Today he is remembered mainly for his historical writing, especially his close study of Mormon origins and 19th-century American life.