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Riding in the Shadows of Saints: A Woman's Story of Motorcycling the Mormon Trail
“In the ten years that I’ve been riding, I’ve been asked often why I ride a motorcycle. I have struggled but failed to come up with a satisfactory one-sentence answer for those who seem genuinely interested. Lately, however, the most logical answer seems to be, ‘I grew up Mormon.’ ”
This is the story of Jana Richman’s journey on a motorcycle across the Mormon trail in search of her roots and an understanding of the faith that brought peace to five generations of women before her.
Mormonism is one of the fastest growing religions in the United States, and one of the least understood. Written with searing candor and a beguiling lack of sentimentality, Riding in the Shadows of Saints is rich in history and detail regarding the origins, beliefs, rituals, and social mores of the Mormon culture. Richman, born into the Mormon Church but no longer a member, explores the meaning of faith and the perils of middle-age motorcycling with equal aplomb.
Four generations ago, seven of Richman’s eight great-great grandmothers walked all or part of the 1,300-mile Mormon trail, from Nauvoo, Illinois, on the Mississippi River to Salt Lake City. Traveling on faith and little else, they endured unfathomable hardships—bitter cold, extreme heat, mud, icy river crossings, blizzards, buffalo stampedes, disease, hunger, and exhaustion—never stopping until they reached their promised land where they could be free to practice a religion that few outsiders understood and many violently condemned. Between the years 1846 and 1866, about 50,000 Mormons traveled the Mormon trail, burying more than 6,000 of the faithful along the way.
One hundred and fifty years later, Jana Richman packs maps and a laptop computer on the back of a motorcycle and follows their route, searching for the peace and faith the women before her carried with so much confidence. She also searches for a clearer understanding of how her devoutly Mormon mother is able to reconcile an independent spirit and enormous inner strength with her intense belief in a patriarchal institution.
Traveling blue highways into the nation’s heartland, visiting graveyards, chatting with missionaries, and soaking in the rituals of the faith she so casually shrugged off as a teenager, Richman begins to unravel her family’s mysteries and confront her own long-held prejudices about the Mormon Church.
This is the story of Jana Richman’s journey on a motorcycle across the Mormon trail in search of her roots and an understanding of the faith that brought peace to five generations of women before her.
Mormonism is one of the fastest growing religions in the United States, and one of the least understood. Written with searing candor and a beguiling lack of sentimentality, Riding in the Shadows of Saints is rich in history and detail regarding the origins, beliefs, rituals, and social mores of the Mormon culture. Richman, born into the Mormon Church but no longer a member, explores the meaning of faith and the perils of middle-age motorcycling with equal aplomb.
Four generations ago, seven of Richman’s eight great-great grandmothers walked all or part of the 1,300-mile Mormon trail, from Nauvoo, Illinois, on the Mississippi River to Salt Lake City. Traveling on faith and little else, they endured unfathomable hardships—bitter cold, extreme heat, mud, icy river crossings, blizzards, buffalo stampedes, disease, hunger, and exhaustion—never stopping until they reached their promised land where they could be free to practice a religion that few outsiders understood and many violently condemned. Between the years 1846 and 1866, about 50,000 Mormons traveled the Mormon trail, burying more than 6,000 of the faithful along the way.
One hundred and fifty years later, Jana Richman packs maps and a laptop computer on the back of a motorcycle and follows their route, searching for the peace and faith the women before her carried with so much confidence. She also searches for a clearer understanding of how her devoutly Mormon mother is able to reconcile an independent spirit and enormous inner strength with her intense belief in a patriarchal institution.
Traveling blue highways into the nation’s heartland, visiting graveyards, chatting with missionaries, and soaking in the rituals of the faith she so casually shrugged off as a teenager, Richman begins to unravel her family’s mysteries and confront her own long-held prejudices about the Mormon Church.
320 pages, Hardcover
First published July 19, 2005
3 people are currently reading
78 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
May 17, 2008
Wasn't expecting much when I picked this up but Jana Richman's memoir of her motorcycle ride following the Mormon Trail from Nauvoo to SLC was surprisingly moving. I also didn't expect to have my faith strengthened by the writings of a Jack Mormon feminist, but there it is. Her musings got a bit repetitive, but I never got bored by her exploration into her pioneer legacy and the faith that moved her ancestors into the American West. Great book on the West, the idea of faith and the power of family heritage.
May 5, 2017
I don't know that this would be a 4 star book for most people. It is for me because the author is in that rare space of someone who left a religion, but is not bitter, angry or openly antagonist toward the religion she left. There is a sadness, love and gratitude for the good things she took away in spite of the tenants she does not agree with. I could relate to her position so well, and was grateful to see the awkward line she straddles of being neither in, but not against, a very polarizing religion.
I have never written an author, but I felt compelled to write her, simply because I was so personally moved by hearing an experience so close to mine.
I have never written an author, but I felt compelled to write her, simply because I was so personally moved by hearing an experience so close to mine.
February 22, 2022
In 2001, Jana Richman rides a motorcycle along the Mormon Trail from Nauvoo, Illinois to Salt Lake City. Although raised as a Mormon, Richman (now in her 40s) has left the Church but still connects to her pioneer ancestors who made this journey in the 19th century. Richman notes the history of the places she visits but also muses on faith, her own upbringing (especially her relationships with her devout mother and difficult father), and the choices she's made in life. Unfortunately, the result is a mishmash of genres (autobiography? history? religious? travel?), plus I found it extremely repetitious.
September 19, 2017
I was drawn into this book because I too am a female who rides a motorcycle :) I found it thought provoking as the author diagnoses her mother-daughter relationship and questions in a very realistic and positive way my religion as she magnifies the events of the past. I'm disappointed with her personal choice she makes in the end, but she is free to choose. Grateful I am that she didn't go on a typical anti-Mormon discourse or usual sound bites, instead she kept it positive.
July 18, 2012
This was exactly the right book at exactly the right time. I’m so grateful I found it. If you need a shot of summer courage, try Riding in the Shadows of Saints.
I didn’t know much about the Mormon trail. And I’ve never ridden a motorcycle across-country alone. But Jana Richman decided—at age 45—to write about riding along the route her ancestors took from Illinois to Utah 150 years ago, and she does it with humor, daring, humility and grace.
It doesn’t hurt that my ancestors were Mormon pioneers. The accomplishments and trials Richman describes in Riding in the Shadows of Saints were all the more interesting for that. No one but Mormons would stop along their 1,300 mile trek West to build stopover cities along the way for the faithful to follow: homes built in a day, ferries constructed, and at one stop, more than a thousand acres of land were “cleared, plowed, planted and fenced” in one week before the lead group moved on Westward. A thousand acres. I planted a quarter acre once, and paid a crew to clear it before I started. Industry and wholehearted engagement, amidst spectacular sacrifice and loss and suffering. That is at the heart of the Mormon pioneer. 50,000 of them tried the journey Richman rode in 2001, through rain and wind and mud. But they rode in wagons or pushed handcarts, with the fresh, furious venom of the Gentiles, who cast them out of Illinois, pushing them onward. That sort of stamina and resolve don’t simply vanish. They haunt their progeny for generations.
Richman shows, beautifully, the strength of her great-great grandmothers on the trail, and the less showy but dearly and truly lived bravery of her mother. “My mother’s strength was not to be found in assertiveness and activism, but in unrestrained love, compassion, and understanding.” That love extends continually to her apostate daughter who “can’t ever seem to find the obvious path.”
Riding the Mormon Trail on a BMW R 1100 R is not an obvious path. I laughed and read with deep interest, teared up and shouted hoorah a few times, as Richman survived her cross-country trip: a love letter to her foremothers. Until we love and honor our ancestors, we are lost. Get found. Read Riding in the Shadows of Saints.
I didn’t know much about the Mormon trail. And I’ve never ridden a motorcycle across-country alone. But Jana Richman decided—at age 45—to write about riding along the route her ancestors took from Illinois to Utah 150 years ago, and she does it with humor, daring, humility and grace.
It doesn’t hurt that my ancestors were Mormon pioneers. The accomplishments and trials Richman describes in Riding in the Shadows of Saints were all the more interesting for that. No one but Mormons would stop along their 1,300 mile trek West to build stopover cities along the way for the faithful to follow: homes built in a day, ferries constructed, and at one stop, more than a thousand acres of land were “cleared, plowed, planted and fenced” in one week before the lead group moved on Westward. A thousand acres. I planted a quarter acre once, and paid a crew to clear it before I started. Industry and wholehearted engagement, amidst spectacular sacrifice and loss and suffering. That is at the heart of the Mormon pioneer. 50,000 of them tried the journey Richman rode in 2001, through rain and wind and mud. But they rode in wagons or pushed handcarts, with the fresh, furious venom of the Gentiles, who cast them out of Illinois, pushing them onward. That sort of stamina and resolve don’t simply vanish. They haunt their progeny for generations.
Richman shows, beautifully, the strength of her great-great grandmothers on the trail, and the less showy but dearly and truly lived bravery of her mother. “My mother’s strength was not to be found in assertiveness and activism, but in unrestrained love, compassion, and understanding.” That love extends continually to her apostate daughter who “can’t ever seem to find the obvious path.”
Riding the Mormon Trail on a BMW R 1100 R is not an obvious path. I laughed and read with deep interest, teared up and shouted hoorah a few times, as Richman survived her cross-country trip: a love letter to her foremothers. Until we love and honor our ancestors, we are lost. Get found. Read Riding in the Shadows of Saints.
August 11, 2016
This is written by a woman who decided to ride her motorcycle along the route that many of the Mormon pioneers took west from Nauvoo to Salt Lake City. Most of Richman's Great-Great-Grandmothers had made this treacherous journey, at great cost to themselves and loved ones, driven by faith and a desire to be with their fellow saints. She tries to understand the motivations of these women since she left the Mormon church long ago and dismissed many of the women in church as weak or submissive. However, in her forties she felt drawn to her history, her ancestors, to the land of Utah, to her mother and grandmothers whom she recognized as having a resolute strength, and to the Mormon people themselves. The book follows along the highways west and Richman switches between travel vignettes on the road, her grandmothers' travels and trials, Mormon culture she observes, her reflections on faith and God, and her own story of growing up on a ranch in rural Utah with strained family relationships.
It is a very emotional journey for her (she admits to crying practically the whole way through) and some of that was heightened because she is on the road during September 11th, 2001. Sometimes I felt a little annoyed by her high emotions, but then I remember that we were all very shaky and emotional during that time. She also made riding a motorcycle sound exhilarating but difficult and dangerous and it made me a little scared for my in-laws who go on long rides.
I found this book interesting and touching although a little self-indulgent and repetitive. I'm not sure how many people would enjoy it who didn't have a connection to Utah or the Mormon church, but I found it to be an interesting look at the pioneers and the church from a slightly different perspective. She was both an outsider from the faith, but an insider from her history, and she tries to embrace them both.
It is a very emotional journey for her (she admits to crying practically the whole way through) and some of that was heightened because she is on the road during September 11th, 2001. Sometimes I felt a little annoyed by her high emotions, but then I remember that we were all very shaky and emotional during that time. She also made riding a motorcycle sound exhilarating but difficult and dangerous and it made me a little scared for my in-laws who go on long rides.
I found this book interesting and touching although a little self-indulgent and repetitive. I'm not sure how many people would enjoy it who didn't have a connection to Utah or the Mormon church, but I found it to be an interesting look at the pioneers and the church from a slightly different perspective. She was both an outsider from the faith, but an insider from her history, and she tries to embrace them both.
July 20, 2013
I enjoyed reading this book because I enjoyed Jana Richman's perspective on life. She left the Mormon church as a teen, and this is her story of going through the trail that her female ancestors took to get to Salt Lake. She still does not feel that the LDS church is right for her, but I admired her respect for it anyhow.
However, I found the story kind of dull. About two thirds the way in, I was tempted to stop reading because it was very slow moving. Nothing seemed to be really happening and she didn't go very in depth about how she could apply what she learned from her ancestors, which seemed to be the point of the book.
Overall, it was a fun read, and I am now tempted to get a motorcycle and ride cross country!
However, I found the story kind of dull. About two thirds the way in, I was tempted to stop reading because it was very slow moving. Nothing seemed to be really happening and she didn't go very in depth about how she could apply what she learned from her ancestors, which seemed to be the point of the book.
Overall, it was a fun read, and I am now tempted to get a motorcycle and ride cross country!
July 6, 2008
Semi-autobiographical account of Jana Richman's life through reflections as she rides her new motorcycle along the Mormon trail. Fairly well-written, somewhat thought provoking, despite expressing views and convictions at odds with my own. It is also replete with her own angst, anxieties, and negative thoughts. A times I liked it, at other times I wanted to hurl it across the room in the general direction of my fireplace. If she would lighten up a bit and not take herself so seriously, it would be a better book. It is not really a motorcycle book, but rather a self-involved book about the fears, doubts, anxieties, and anger of one woman.
January 15, 2014
I loved this book. I was really interested, at the time in doing some research and study of the Mormon Trail and happened upon this book in my search. Boy was I ever thrilled. The internal struggle with her career and falling away from the Mormon Church was fascinating. She gave some real insight to church history and the geography of the Pioneers on the trail... Very funny in several places.... She was extremely humbled by her mother and grandmothers testimonies but she could not bring herself to go back to the church wherein she was raised. This was by far the most "Left-Field" read I have experienced. She actually helped strengthen my testimony of the Church.
March 19, 2009
A fairly decent account of the author's trip by motorcycle from Nauvoo to Salt Lake City. A lapsed Mormon, Richman is trying to figure out how so many of her female ancestors were able to make this same trip (with handcarts) and stay bound to the Mormon church. I appreciated the tone of the book...Richman questions things in a very realistic way and is not an anti-Mormon whiner. At the end of the book she has figured out some things about herself and her relationship to the Church. Interesting read.
December 31, 2024
Excellent! I absolutely love this book. The author was brought up Mormon, but left the church as a teen. She still does not feel the church is right for her, but deals with it very fairly and admires Mormons. Her biggest complaint about the church is that she feels women are not treated fairly and cannot hold important positions. The book is her story of riding the Mormon trail alone on a motorcycle. She weaves into her story the stories of her female ancestors who walked the trail and stories from her own childhood. I found this to be a great read.
February 14, 2011
As a practicing, believing member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day saints, I enjoyed reading this book for the historical perspective. There were several times I considered not finishing the book, but most of those were during the beginning before the author actually gets on the road. Her attitude made me not want to read it. But one day, I was needing something to read so I picked it up again. Once she gets on the road and starts to really open her heart to her ancestors, then the book got better for me.
January 12, 2014
I read this a few years ago, and I don't know why I didn't write a review at the time, but I didn't. Now the details have been forgotten, but I do remember enjoying reading about this authors' journey along the Mormon trail on a motorcycle. I learned a bit about that mode of travel, but more interesting were her discoveries of the reasons her Mormon ancestors chose the difficult life of establishing themselves in Utah. The author is no longer a active member of the church, but is curious about the motivations of her family members. I liked the unsentimental look at the history she recounts.
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September 27, 2021When I finished this book, I cried. For myself, my mother, Jana, and all women. The funny thing is that I don't know what I was crying about. I wasn't sad, or happy, I was just emotional.
The writing in this book is lovely, the topic elemental. I learned new things about myself as I read, and now have a renewed sense of the importance of history. I have been inspired to connect with my own history more fully.
The writing in this book is lovely, the topic elemental. I learned new things about myself as I read, and now have a renewed sense of the importance of history. I have been inspired to connect with my own history more fully.
October 13, 2007
I had this book on my TBR list for a long time - so long that I forgot what it was about til I looked it up. The author seemed to be more interested in her relatives than the Mormon church at times though. I wish there had been more info about early church members traveling than about her and her mom. It's kind of sad that she doesn't have faith in any kind of belief system.
May 19, 2008
I was hesitant about this book, worried that it would just be more of your average anti-Mormon literature. But I wound up really enjoying it. It was interesting to compare her experiences with my own, having grown up in the same town (although a generation apart). I love that she is able to come to terms with her life without disrespecting her past.
September 12, 2009
A memior of a women, raised as a Mormon, but no longer has the faith of her ancestors. She travels alone on a motorcycle along the Mormon Trail looking to understand the faith of her heritage and family. She is very open about her feelings and thoughts as she describes the trail and hardships her ancestors experienced.
May 19, 2012
Richman writes richly and successfully interweaves her own story with that of her Mormon ancestors. Her unique perspective of her personal history is augmented with the motorcycling parts of her story. She has a lot of things to say about faith and about motorcycling and even non riding non mormons could glean something from the pages.
January 23, 2011
It enlightened me on Morman history. It dealt with issues in families, between mother's and daughters, as well as coming to terms with one's 'self.' As a female rider it was a journey that I appreciated Jane Richman sharing~
June 28, 2013
I only have this book 3 stars because I like her descriptions of motorcycle travel. However she is repetitive and her research is spotty. I know it's not meant to be a historical account but as a historian bad research irks me
March 3, 2008
Very cool book (NF) about the mormon trail from Navoo. A woman's personal journey to review her past and family history.
September 26, 2008
A well written and entertaining hybrid between a travel log, Mormon pioneer history, autobiography, and personal faith examination.
April 26, 2009
I had to add this one because my dad was asking about it. It was super-interesting and strangely compelling. Ask me about it!
September 27, 2015
This story was a great builder of my faith. I also enjoyed the stories of her pioneer ancestors.
January 19, 2016
A ok book. The book was not what I was expecting, which was a let down. If you are into the Mormon history then this is your book.
Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews