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Utah historian, author, dies at 96

Brigham Dwaine Madsen had only two books in his Pocatello, Idaho, childhood home — Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels and Sir Walter Scott’s Ivanhoe — and he yearned for more.

Finances were tight, but one Christmas when “Brig” was in fifth or sixth grade, his mother bought a set of encyclopedia through the Book-of-the Month Club. The future professor eventually read all 20 volumes — twice.

Madsen, who died Dec. 24 at 96 of natural causes, had an ever-expanding interest in human events, especially the story of the Shoshone-Bannock Indians, who lived hear his Idaho home.

History was more than a career; it was his life’s work....
Read entire article at Salt Lake Tribune