Zion in the Desert

A Not-So-Sanitized History of Utah

By: Jordan Blake Carter

Narrated by: Jimmy Allen Fuller

Welcome to Utah, where wagon ruts meet billion-dollar malls, and sacred prophecy collides with PR campaigns. This is not the version you got in seminary. From red rock petroglyphs and Spanish explorers to polygamist raids, forged scriptures, and ski resorts, Zion in the Desert tells the strange, scrappy, and often uncomfortable history of a state that was never just one thing. The book dives headfirst into the contradictions that shaped Utah: faith and resistance, empire and exodus, miracles and cover-ups. You’ll meet prophets, politicians, martyrs, mobsters, saints, sinners, and a whole lot of people who blurred those lines. You’ll witness the rise and fallout of plural marriage, the Mountain Meadows Massacre, the Utah War (yes, there was one), the billion-dollar Church boom, and the quiet rebellion of modern spiritual wanderers. With irreverent humor and unsanitized honesty, Zion in the Desert explores how one of America’s strangest theocracies became a state, a brand, and a battleground for belief. Perfect for listeners who like their history with bite, curiosity, and no reverence for whitewashed myths.

©2025 Jordan Blake Carter (P)2025 Jordan Blake Carter

fascinating

A fascinating look at the history of Utah and Mormonism. I had never heard of all the 21st century developments in the Mormon church and adjacent groups.