Building a Global Zion: The Life and Vision of David O. McKay

Called as an apostle in 1906, David O. McKay devoted the remaining sixty-four years of his life to serving in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, including nineteen as church president. That lengthy tenure, combined with his warmth, extensive personal ministry, broadmindedness, deep spirituality, and unprecedented global travel made him one of the church’s most beloved and influential leaders of all time. When he died in 1970, roughly 60 percent of the church’s membership had known no other church president. Memories of McKay’s teachings and ministry remain a taproot for the spiritual convictions and values of many Latter-day Saints.

Brian Q. Cannon’s biography offers a fresh perspective on important features of McKay’s life, showing how his mission to Scotland, round-the-world tour as an apostle, and service as president of the European Mission shaped his global vision and priorities. Building a Global Zion illuminates previously underappreciated facets of McKay’s reach, including his crusades against alcohol consumption and political corruption, his long-term administration of missionary work, his spiritual impressions, his personnel decisions, and his mediation of interpersonal impasses in administrative settings. Cannon carefully reconstructs facets of McKay’s vast ministry to individuals, highlights distinctive themes of his teachings, and explores challenges that confronted McKay’s associates as his health and acuity waned.

Brian Q. Cannon is the Lemuel Hardison Redd Jr. Professor of Western American History at Brigham Young University. He served as chair of the BYU history department for six years and directed the Charles Redd Center for Western Studies at BYU for fifteen years. A past president of the Mormon History Association and the Agricultural History Society,  he is an honorary fellow of both the Utah State Historical Society and the Agricultural History Society. The Western History Association honored him with the Gordon M. Bakken Award of Merit in 2020. He is the author of four books, coeditor of three, and more than forty articles and book chapters regarding rural history, Western American history, Latter-day Saint history, and social and cultural history.