In May 1839, Prophet Joseph Smith and his followers—driven out of New York, Ohio, and Missouri—established a Mormon settlement on the fever-ridden swamps of Commerce, Illinois. Three years later, the holy city they called Nauvoo had become the largest city in Illinois—about four times the size of Chicago. Nauvoo had its own militia, it's own newspaper, and the members of the Church of the Latter Day Saints were the most powerful voting block in the state. By 1846, the boom town had become a ghost town and the Mormons were once again moving West. NIGHTFALL AT NAUVOO is the story of a frontier town and its colorful, controversial founding fathers. The author also wrote the short story "A Situation of Gravity" on which Disney based "The Absent-Minded Professor."