We often pay tribute to Karl G. Maeser, whom sensitive students like Talmage and Nelson admired to the point of hero worship, but little has been known of those sources of Maeser’s character, world view, and educational philosophy which qualified him for the trusted calling he received and which formed the basis for his later success as a teacher in Zion. It is the purpose of this essay to illuminate his European background to attempt to put his life’s work in historical perspective.
