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Mormon History
A companion volume to their massive bibliography Studies in Mormon History, 1830–1997, this descriptive history by a team of top Mormon scholars provides a comprehensive view of how the writing of Mormon history has evolved since the establishment of the church. Mormon History offers an interpretive survey of Mormon historical writings, from the partisan and often ephemeral history of the nineteenth century through the shift in the twentieth toward a more balanced and professional approach and an emphasis on how the Mormons helped settle the American West. The authors examine Mormon biography and autobiography and discuss social science literature on the Mormons, including studies of social geography, rural sociology, and agricultural economics. Two valuable appendices round out this volume, one on the development and nature of Mormon imprints, the other on conducting historical research in Mormon sources.
- GenresHistory
296 pages, Hardcover
First published April 18, 2001
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About the author
David J. Whittaker
9 books1 followerDavid J. Whittaker is a Mormon historian and bibliographer who is working with the Joseph Smith Papers Project. He has authored or co-authored seven books and about fifty scholarly articles. He was the curator of Western and Mormon history manuscripts for the L. Tom Perry Special Collections Library of the Harold B. Lee Library. He was also a professor of history at Brigham Young University. He received his BA from BYU, his MA from California State University at Northridge, and his PhD from BYU. A native of California, he and his wife have four children.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
February 5, 2021
A number of years ago these three authors did a voluminous, comprehensive bibliography of everything that has ever been written about the Church. I do not have that nor do I think I would even want to peruse such a massive item.
This book is designed as a companion to explain that project and is printed by the Illinois press in connection with the University of Illinois.
It is quite an interesting volume, about 275 pages, half of which are notes so it is very well documented.
They go through and makes sense of their bibliography by describing, in a historical fashion how writing about the church both pro and anti have changed and adapted. They review such categories as sociological,anthropological, political and biographical works and try to make some sense out of legitimate writing about concerns versus blatant lies on the one hand; and legitimate history versus flowery sentimentalism that is as unhelpful as the trash written by the enemies of the church. They also note areas of scholarship that are woefully lacking and that need research.
Reading the footnotes and seeing the amount of work that has gone in to documenting the historical progression of this people is enlightening.
I was not aware of the extent of serious scholarship by non-members regarding the church. There has been quite a bit of work, looking at the people, and how the membership has changed from a mostly rural, regimented and socialized group to a very homogenized, urban population spread all of the world.
It addresses the many needs, concerns, challenges and opportunities which lie before those who associate themselves with the church.
Anyone who would like to review it, but doesn’t want to buy it is welcome to come borrow my copy.
This book is designed as a companion to explain that project and is printed by the Illinois press in connection with the University of Illinois.
It is quite an interesting volume, about 275 pages, half of which are notes so it is very well documented.
They go through and makes sense of their bibliography by describing, in a historical fashion how writing about the church both pro and anti have changed and adapted. They review such categories as sociological,anthropological, political and biographical works and try to make some sense out of legitimate writing about concerns versus blatant lies on the one hand; and legitimate history versus flowery sentimentalism that is as unhelpful as the trash written by the enemies of the church. They also note areas of scholarship that are woefully lacking and that need research.
Reading the footnotes and seeing the amount of work that has gone in to documenting the historical progression of this people is enlightening.
I was not aware of the extent of serious scholarship by non-members regarding the church. There has been quite a bit of work, looking at the people, and how the membership has changed from a mostly rural, regimented and socialized group to a very homogenized, urban population spread all of the world.
It addresses the many needs, concerns, challenges and opportunities which lie before those who associate themselves with the church.
Anyone who would like to review it, but doesn’t want to buy it is welcome to come borrow my copy.
April 14, 2008
An index and resource for LDS history. Having worked for the author, I am a little partial.
June 23, 2011
This book was originally published in 2001, then spent some time online
in the University of Illinois Press free electronic library between 2001
and 2006, and has now been reprinted. It was meant as a companion to the
1,168 page bibliographic "Studies in Mormon History, 1830-1997,"
published in 2000 and apparently still available. The intention of the
book "is to provide a handbook for those starting a study in Mormon
history" (page ix).
Chapter One introduces us to 19th century writing, beginning with Eber
D. Howe's anti-Mormon book, "Mormonism Unvailed." It then continues with
LDS pamphleteers, manuscript histories, and newspapers. "The History of
the Church" is described as being "unsurpassed as a nineteenth-century
LDS work...[that] remains a basic research tool for beginning students
of the early Mormon experience" (page 9).
It goes on to talk about "middle way" books, which were written by
non-members, and fit somewhere between "Mormonism Unvailed" and "The
History of the Church," before continuing with LDS authors such as
Andrew Jensen and George Q. Cannon, and the establishment of the George
Q. Cannon and Sons printing press.
In Chapter Two, the first half of the 20th century is looked at. Here
the work of Nephi Anderson and B. H. Roberts is gone into, along with
the Improvement Era and "Essentials in Church History." Academic and
professional historians also did some important work during this time,
such as Richard T. Ely, Lowry Nelson, and Levi Edgar Young. Fawn Brodie,
Dale Morgan, and Juanita Brooks are given a couple of pages each,
referred to as "the three leading historians of Mormonism at
midcentury" (page 51).
Chapter three discusses what Moses Rischin called the "new Mormon
history." Leonard J. Arrington is credited with capturing the spirit of
this writing: "investigating the Mormon past in human or naturalistic
terms without rejecting its divinity." Shortly after this book was
originally published, Louis Midgley showed that Arrington was not
actually the author of that idea, and that he had spent many years
coming up with what it actually meant after he had been credited with
it, since it is an apparent contradiction. (See
http://www.fairlds.org/FAIR_Conferenc... .)
Arrington's work and that of others with him in the the LDS Historical
Department is discussed, along with reactions by leaders such as Boyd K.
Packer and Ezra Taft Benson. After the office was moved to BYU, many
other books and articles were produced, by authors such as Dean C.
Jessee and Thomas Alexander.
The BYU Department of History also made many contributions, as did the
Church Educational System and the College of Religious Education.
Scholars from the RLDS church (this book was written before it was
renamed to "Community of Christ") such as Robert B. Flanders and Richard
P. Howard did some important writing as well.
Space is also given to the work of people such as Jan Shipps, Lowell
Bennion, Lawrence Foster, Richard L. Bushman, and D. Michael Quinn, and
publications such as "Utah History Encyclopedia," as well as
computer-based databases. The beginnings of the Mormon History
Association are related, along with periodicals such BYU Studies,
Dialogue, the John Whitmer Historical Journal, the Improvement Era and
Ensign, and Sunstone.
Chapter Four discusses the challenges of Mormon biography. It gives a
history of LDS biographies, especially those of Joseph Smith and Brigham
Young. It talks about how biographies have changed over the centuries.
It touches on biographies of women, dissenters, and schismatics, as well
as autobiographies. It then outlines what the authors feel is still left
to be done: "the lives of the rank and file," women, and more LDS
leaders. And "the writing of LDS autobiographies is just getting
started" (page 140).
Chapter five was written by Armand L. Mauss. It talks about social
science literature. He points out that the studies on Mormons that have
been done outside the church have not yielded reliable data, having
either come from flawed samples or shortcomings in research methods, and
that Utah cannot be used to represent the church.
He talks about the church's Research Information Division, which does
produce reliable research, but is used internally by church leaders, and
very little information that has been produced has been made available
publicly. It has made contributions, however, by training young social
scientists and giving "a degree of legitimacy to the social scientific
perspective on religion, always suspect in the minds of conservative
church leaders and members" (page 163).
Mauss also covers continuing as well as newly developing directions in
LDS social science, such as family life, values, politics, racial and
ethnic relationships, and the roles of modern women. He then discusses
neglected topics: Mormon missiology; consequences of the exportation of
the Mormon religion; social stratification; organizational studies; and
deviance, discipline, and self control.
He ends his chapter with a statement that I wonder if he would still
agree with today: "All things considered, it seems unlikely that the
first decades of the twenty-first century will see the same rate of
growth in social science literature on the Mormons that occurred in the
final decades of the twentieth century" (page 182).
Appendix A and Appendix B go back over some of the same ground covered
earlier in the book, listing books and other sources of value to
historians. Appendix A evaluates "Mormon imprints" (although it also
talks about some anti-Mormon titles and other works published by non-LDS
publishers). It gives a history of publishing by the LDS church,
including scriptures, periodicals, hymnals, and almanacs. Appendix B
lists reference works, bibliographies, indexes, and even the
familysearch.org web site as places to help find things to aid in
research. A statement by Bernard De Voto that "a complete bibliography
of articles on Mormonism by qualified scholars would hardly fill one
page" (page 250) is indeed proven wrong.
In all, this book is a thorough (in some cases, perhaps too thorough)
walk through the writing of the history of the church up through the
close of the twentieth century. I found it to be very interesting and I
learned many things from it. However, it is rather unfortunate that it
was not updated when it was reprinted. Not only are the same
typographical errors still intact from the first printing ten years ago
(as verified by the archived e-book version at archive.org), but a great
deal has changed in the last ten years, and I believe the changes have
definitely been significant enough to warrant at least an additional
appendix, if not an actual revision to the text.
Although the book is very useful for an amateur historian (such as
myself) - or even still for a student, as was intended - to get up to
speed on what has gone on before us, I'm afraid the book's own
description of some outdated bibliographies now applies to itself: a
"useful signpost...to the past journey of Mormon scholarship, telling of
its quantity and quality when...[it] was produced." Still, I highly
recommend this book for anyone interested in Mormon history or Mormon
book collecting who wants to know more about the context in which the
literature was produced.
in the University of Illinois Press free electronic library between 2001
and 2006, and has now been reprinted. It was meant as a companion to the
1,168 page bibliographic "Studies in Mormon History, 1830-1997,"
published in 2000 and apparently still available. The intention of the
book "is to provide a handbook for those starting a study in Mormon
history" (page ix).
Chapter One introduces us to 19th century writing, beginning with Eber
D. Howe's anti-Mormon book, "Mormonism Unvailed." It then continues with
LDS pamphleteers, manuscript histories, and newspapers. "The History of
the Church" is described as being "unsurpassed as a nineteenth-century
LDS work...[that] remains a basic research tool for beginning students
of the early Mormon experience" (page 9).
It goes on to talk about "middle way" books, which were written by
non-members, and fit somewhere between "Mormonism Unvailed" and "The
History of the Church," before continuing with LDS authors such as
Andrew Jensen and George Q. Cannon, and the establishment of the George
Q. Cannon and Sons printing press.
In Chapter Two, the first half of the 20th century is looked at. Here
the work of Nephi Anderson and B. H. Roberts is gone into, along with
the Improvement Era and "Essentials in Church History." Academic and
professional historians also did some important work during this time,
such as Richard T. Ely, Lowry Nelson, and Levi Edgar Young. Fawn Brodie,
Dale Morgan, and Juanita Brooks are given a couple of pages each,
referred to as "the three leading historians of Mormonism at
midcentury" (page 51).
Chapter three discusses what Moses Rischin called the "new Mormon
history." Leonard J. Arrington is credited with capturing the spirit of
this writing: "investigating the Mormon past in human or naturalistic
terms without rejecting its divinity." Shortly after this book was
originally published, Louis Midgley showed that Arrington was not
actually the author of that idea, and that he had spent many years
coming up with what it actually meant after he had been credited with
it, since it is an apparent contradiction. (See
http://www.fairlds.org/FAIR_Conferenc... .)
Arrington's work and that of others with him in the the LDS Historical
Department is discussed, along with reactions by leaders such as Boyd K.
Packer and Ezra Taft Benson. After the office was moved to BYU, many
other books and articles were produced, by authors such as Dean C.
Jessee and Thomas Alexander.
The BYU Department of History also made many contributions, as did the
Church Educational System and the College of Religious Education.
Scholars from the RLDS church (this book was written before it was
renamed to "Community of Christ") such as Robert B. Flanders and Richard
P. Howard did some important writing as well.
Space is also given to the work of people such as Jan Shipps, Lowell
Bennion, Lawrence Foster, Richard L. Bushman, and D. Michael Quinn, and
publications such as "Utah History Encyclopedia," as well as
computer-based databases. The beginnings of the Mormon History
Association are related, along with periodicals such BYU Studies,
Dialogue, the John Whitmer Historical Journal, the Improvement Era and
Ensign, and Sunstone.
Chapter Four discusses the challenges of Mormon biography. It gives a
history of LDS biographies, especially those of Joseph Smith and Brigham
Young. It talks about how biographies have changed over the centuries.
It touches on biographies of women, dissenters, and schismatics, as well
as autobiographies. It then outlines what the authors feel is still left
to be done: "the lives of the rank and file," women, and more LDS
leaders. And "the writing of LDS autobiographies is just getting
started" (page 140).
Chapter five was written by Armand L. Mauss. It talks about social
science literature. He points out that the studies on Mormons that have
been done outside the church have not yielded reliable data, having
either come from flawed samples or shortcomings in research methods, and
that Utah cannot be used to represent the church.
He talks about the church's Research Information Division, which does
produce reliable research, but is used internally by church leaders, and
very little information that has been produced has been made available
publicly. It has made contributions, however, by training young social
scientists and giving "a degree of legitimacy to the social scientific
perspective on religion, always suspect in the minds of conservative
church leaders and members" (page 163).
Mauss also covers continuing as well as newly developing directions in
LDS social science, such as family life, values, politics, racial and
ethnic relationships, and the roles of modern women. He then discusses
neglected topics: Mormon missiology; consequences of the exportation of
the Mormon religion; social stratification; organizational studies; and
deviance, discipline, and self control.
He ends his chapter with a statement that I wonder if he would still
agree with today: "All things considered, it seems unlikely that the
first decades of the twenty-first century will see the same rate of
growth in social science literature on the Mormons that occurred in the
final decades of the twentieth century" (page 182).
Appendix A and Appendix B go back over some of the same ground covered
earlier in the book, listing books and other sources of value to
historians. Appendix A evaluates "Mormon imprints" (although it also
talks about some anti-Mormon titles and other works published by non-LDS
publishers). It gives a history of publishing by the LDS church,
including scriptures, periodicals, hymnals, and almanacs. Appendix B
lists reference works, bibliographies, indexes, and even the
familysearch.org web site as places to help find things to aid in
research. A statement by Bernard De Voto that "a complete bibliography
of articles on Mormonism by qualified scholars would hardly fill one
page" (page 250) is indeed proven wrong.
In all, this book is a thorough (in some cases, perhaps too thorough)
walk through the writing of the history of the church up through the
close of the twentieth century. I found it to be very interesting and I
learned many things from it. However, it is rather unfortunate that it
was not updated when it was reprinted. Not only are the same
typographical errors still intact from the first printing ten years ago
(as verified by the archived e-book version at archive.org), but a great
deal has changed in the last ten years, and I believe the changes have
definitely been significant enough to warrant at least an additional
appendix, if not an actual revision to the text.
Although the book is very useful for an amateur historian (such as
myself) - or even still for a student, as was intended - to get up to
speed on what has gone on before us, I'm afraid the book's own
description of some outdated bibliographies now applies to itself: a
"useful signpost...to the past journey of Mormon scholarship, telling of
its quantity and quality when...[it] was produced." Still, I highly
recommend this book for anyone interested in Mormon history or Mormon
book collecting who wants to know more about the context in which the
literature was produced.
July 30, 2011
An extremely useful overview of the history of Mormon history, covering trends from the 1830s to the year 2000, respectively.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews