Books Reviewed:

1. Glen M. Leonard. Nauvoo: A Place of Peace, A People of Promise.

2. Robert V. Remini. Joseph Smith.

3. Dean C. Jessee. comp and ed. Personal Writings of Joseph Smith.

4. Armand L. Mauss. All Abraham's Children: Changing Mormon Conceptions of Race and Lineage.

5. Donna Toland Smart, ed. Exemplary Elder. The Life and Missionary Diaries of Perrigrine Sessions, 1814-1893.

6. Jeffrey S. O'Driscoll. Hyrum Smith: A Life of Integrity.

7. Don S. Colvin. Nauvoo Temple: A Story of Faith.

8. James B. Allen, Ronald W. Walker, and David J. Whittaker. Studies in Mormon History, 1830-1997: An Indexed Bibliography; with a Topical Guide to Published Social Science Literature on the Mormons [by] Armand L. Mauss and Dynette Ivie Reynolds

9. Leland Homer Gentry. A History of the Latter-day Saints in Northern Missouri from 1836 to 1839.

10. Dan Vogel and Brent Lee Metcalfe, eds. American Apocrypha: Essays on the Book of Mormon.

11. LaMar C. Berrett, general editor. Sacred Places: Ohio and Illinois, A Comprehensive Guide to Early LDS Historical Sites.

12. A. E. Cannon. Charlotte's Rose.

13. Craig L. Foster. Penny Tracts and Polemics: A Critical Analysis of Anti-Mormon Pamphleteering in Great Britain, "'1837-1860.

14. Robert D. Anderson. Inside the Mind of Joseph Smith: Psychobiography and the Book of Mormon.

15. Colleen Whitley, ed. Brigham Young's Homes.

16. Edward Leo Lyman and Larry Lee Reese. The Arduous Road: Salt Lake to Los Angeles, the Most Difficult Wagon Road in American History.

17. Reid L. Neilson, ed. The Japanese Missionary Journal of Elder Alma O. Taylor 1901-10.

18. Alexander L. Baugh. A Call to Arms: The 1838 Mormon Defense of Northern Missouri.

Glen M. Leonard. Nauvoo: A Place of Peace, A People of Promise. Salt Lake City/Provo, Utah: Deseret Book/Brigham Young University Press, 2002. xxiii, 828 pp. Photographs, maps, notes, bibliography, index. $39.95 cloth. ISBN 1-57008-746-6
Buy it now!

Reviewed by Alma R Blair (Reviewed April 2004)

Glen Leonard's Nauvoo: A Place of Peace, A People of Promise is the most important contribution to the general history of Nauvoo since Robert Flanders's Nauvoo: Kingdom on the Mississippi (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1965) and Marvin Hill's Quest for Refuge: The Mormon Flight from American Pluralism (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1989). Leonard's Nauvoo surpasses those works in the scope of subjects covered and brings new information to bear on important topics but does not replace Flanders or Hill. The section covering post-Mormon Nauvoo is excellent. Most "faithful" Mormon readers will welcome Leonard's themes and treatment of Joseph Smith and his city. More critical readers will be both pleased and frustrated.

His main theme is that the Saints rejected the democratic individualism and republicanism of Jacksonian America in favor of a covenant, theocratic community. Leonard's emphasis on the pervasive influence of religion in all aspects of Nauvoo life is a welcome perspective. More suspect is his declaration:

Because the enduring legacy of Mormon Nauvoo for those who care the most about its history is religious, it makes sense to tell the story from the perspective of revelations and doctrine. That is what we [sic] have chosen to do.... The story of spiritual yearnings necessarily plays out on a stage where political strains, economic realities, and social strivings in everyday life interact with the Latter-day Saint world view.... The real story of the Church in Nauvoo is essentially one of a people of faith. (xxiii-xix)

Throughout the book I have allowed the Saints themselves to speak, to share their feelings about the meaning of the unfolding drama that defined the Nauvoo years. (xxi)

This approach presents a danger of writing parochial, hagiographic history and abrogating the historian's responsibility to interpret the past from a larger perspective than that held by the participants.

Leonard develops two subthemes: the Saints' actions were directed by a search for their own safety and justice, and questionable political activities such as voting as a bloc or trying to have Nauvoo declared a kind of U.S. territory were essentially defensive, not expansive or aggressive. He is less successful in presenting the extent of the fear and reasons for the antagonism of non-Mormons and dissenters. Their negative reactions are usually attributed to cultural disparities, unfortunate misunderstandings, or a lack of spiritual maturity.

For instance, he suggests that those who opposed control of temporal affairs by the church "in a religiously motivated (communal) plan to share with the poor were not prepared, either by political upbringing or religious maturity, to live [the plan.] In their concern over theocratic government, they appealed to the traditions of their political fathers. They preferred the safe haven of republican society and the secular, collected community" (12). It could be argued that it was the non-dissenting Saints who lacked religious maturity and sought a "safe haven" in a prophet-directed, controlled, and intolerant society. Oliver Cowdery was driven from Far West, Missouri, in 1838 under threat of physical harm for, among several charges, criticizing "what he called `a kind of petty government, controlled and dictated by ecclesiastical influence, in the midst of this national and state government"' (12) and for selling his land in Jackson County, Missouri, against Smith's counsel. Ironically, shortly after Cowdery's expulsion, the Prophet encouraged the Saints to sell their land in Missouri to salvage what resources they could.

In his discussion of Joseph Smith's experiences in Liberty jail in the winter of 1838-39, Leonard accepts Joseph's disclaimer that he knew nothing about the Danites' raids on non-Mormons (a much-debated point), and postulates that a softer, gentler Joseph emerged who "claimed no ill feeling toward those who had wronged him or the church" and who counseled the Saints "`to have patience, and ... bear with all manner of afflictions; that ye do not revile against those who do cast you out"' (16). Leonard says that the "inspired guidelines" in Smith's letters "defined the ecclesiastical organization of the church as noncoercive." He seems to see no disparity between these points and the problem of Joseph's role in determining what would constitute "strident internal opposition" leading to excommunications in Nauvoo. Nor does Leonard raise the question, as others have, of whether Smith might personally fit the pattern he had learned "by sad experience that it is the nature and the disposition of almost all men, as soon as they get a little authority, as they suppose, they will immediately begin to exercise unrighteous dominion" (18).

Leonard had access to the voluminous research done under the direction of T. Edgar Lyon and to a wealth of new scholarship. He has added many details to our understanding of Nauvoo's merchandising and commerce, agricultural and industrial character, class structure, social activities, and entertainment. The maps showing Nauvoo land purchases, locations of stakes, areas outside Nauvoo where the Saints were concentrated, and names of important towns are very useful, although some are difficult to read. The Nauvoo Legion's size, organization, armaments, drilling fields, and uniforms are given in detail, as is significant information on the legion's relationship to the state and county militia system.

Leonard's most impressive contribution is his treatment of the Nauvoo Charter. He suggests that, instead of adopting a municipal form of government, the Saints combined styles of governance used in their "quorums" and in Church meetings, similar to New England town meetings. For sixteen months the high council ran Commerce and Nauvoo, filling legislative and judicial functions in both religious and secular affairs. The chartered city council tended to follow these models, and "the lines between church and state sometimes blurred" (91). "In all of these municipal arrangements," Leonard argues, "it was in their use rather than their definition that Nauvoo city officials offended their neighbors" (103).

He also points to the existing confusion in the nation over the relative powers of local, state, and federal governments, with local home rule a popular position. He contends that the charters of Springfield, Galena, and Quincy enabled the city councils "in their jurisdiction" in "effect" to "pass ordinances that contradicted state law, as long as those ordinances did not conflict with the state or national constitution" (102-3). It was not illogical, therefore, for Joseph Smith to ascribe wide jurisdiction to Nauvoo's government.

Despite these generally positive contributions, Leonard's Nauvoo is apologetic in tone. Joseph Smith is treated with uniform deference, not as a leader who may have made major mistakes or had serious character flaws.

For example, an early revelation establishing a communal, common stock system as God's economic plan was modified in two later revelations. Leonard outlines the changes but omits the fact that legal challenges forced a rewriting of the early revelation. By Nauvoo there had been a complete policy reversal. Leonard describes that Smith "preached for an hour, `designing to show the folly of common stock. In Nauvoo,' he said, `every one is steward over his own."' Adds Leonard, "The prophet had concluded that the leveling effect of the New Testament ideal could not be realized in the world of ordinary men" (143). A more critical writer, rather than accepting Joseph's revelations at face value as being from God, might wonder about external influences involved in the formulation and modification of revelations, and might explore the pragmatic nature of Joseph's prophetic character.

As another example, Leonard points out that political opposition consolidated against the Saints in the 1843 congressional election when religion was directly injected into the campaign. Joseph had long contended that he did not control the Saints' votes; but, Leonard notes, the Saints understood that "union" meant agreement in politics as well as in doctrine. So, although Joseph had promised his personal vote to the Whig candidate, the Saints shifted their vote to the Democratic candidate (Hoge), after Smith told his followers:

I have not come to tell you to vote this way, that way, or the other.... The Lord has not given me Revelation concerning politics. I have not asked the Lord for it. I am a third party [and] stand independent and alone.... Brother Hiram [Smith] tells me this morning that he has had a testimony that it will be better for this people to vote for [H]oge and I never knew Hiram say he ever had a revelation and it failed.... (Let God speak and all men hold their peace). (299)

Leonard's conclusion is frank and tantalizing:

The Latter-day Saint effort to protect their rights through bloc voting for their political friends ... created the very problem the Saints had hoped to prevent. The citizens of western Illinois reacted against what they saw as untenable political and religious threats. In a religion that merged earthly and heavenly kingdoms, attempts to publicly separate them failed, and the Saints themselves shared in both the causes and the consequences of that failure. (300)

The reader is left to wonder, however, whether, Leonard saw this development as only a tactical error or whether there really might be a fundamental conflict between the two systems.  Also, the extent of Smith's responsibility for Nauvoo's political debacle is not clearly delineated in the discussion. Surely the Prophet should have known that his support of Hyrum's revelation could not be tolerated in the larger society. It would appear that Joseph was, at the least, politically naive in this instance. And although Joseph honestly claimed to love and support the U.S. Constitution, he was unable to see how his ideas of the covenant community might clash with the Constitution's separation of religion and state. In this situation, as in Smith's insistence on his interpretation of the Nauvoo Charter and his willingness to violate Illinois laws forbidding polygamy, the question of hubris arises.

Issues that presently are sensitive to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are smoothed over in the narrative, and solutions are found where debate still reigns in the historical community. For instance, Leonard points to attempts to control liquor by the drink in Nauvoo but neglects to mention that the early laws were primarily concerned with "hard" liquor, that consumption of beer, ale, and wine was common among the Saints, that Smith gave permission to Theodore Turley to build a brewery next to the Mansion House and allowed Orrin Porter Rockwell to install a bar in the

Mansion House, that laws became less restrictive over time, and that in December 1843 the city council authorized Smith to sell spirits in his house in any quantities he thought wise. By 1844 anyone who could afford the expensive license could sell liquor by the drink.

Leonard also avoids the controversy over the Book of Abraham by never discussing non-Mormon Egyptologists' conclusions that Smith's papyri have nothing to do with Abraham. Instead, he suggests that we do not know how Joseph translated the papyri, except that it was by revelation and quotes an article from The Encyclopedia of Mormonism:

Studies of Egyptian temple rituals since the time of Joseph Smith have revealed parallels with Latter-day Saint temple celebrations and doctrine, including a portrayal of the creation and fall of mankind, washings and anointings, and the ultimate return of individuals to God's presence. Moreover, husband, wife, and children are sealed together for eternity, genealogy is taken seriously; people will be judged according to their deeds in this life, and the reward for a just life is to live in the presence of God forever with one's family. It seems unreasonable to suggest that all such parallels occurred by mere chance. (258)^[1]

Leonard concludes: "This explanation satisfies Joseph Smith's revelatory promise of a linking of both ‘ancient things’ and `things which have been kept hid from before the foundation of the world'" (258).  However, the explanations do not satisfy non-Mormon objections that the "parallels" are broadly drawn, that Egyptian rituals are not those found in Latter-day Saint endowment ceremonies, that scholarly translations of the papyri by non-Mormons show they have no connection with Abraham, and that Smith's identification of figures and his Egyptian alphabet are incorrect.

Leonard's discussion of the Council of Fifty, a group responsible for making economic and political preparations for the Kingdom of God to be established at Christ's second coming, only obliquely mentions, and never explains, Smith's being crowned "king" and other members of the Council "princes." Instead, Leonard says that the council was "organized under a monarchical pattern with Joseph Smith as standing chairman over a cabinet of ministers" (326). Leonard's hesitancy is somewhat justified since the exact role the members expected to play is uncertain. However, the Saints envisioned real, functioning government in the future with priesthood-holders as officers and foresaw a time when the Church would have to step in to save the nation. The titles may, therefore, have been more than symbolic. Editors of the Nauvoo Expositor feared that they were, proclaiming that they wanted no "king or lawgiver" over them except Jesus Christ. The matter was potentially dangerous to Nauvoo given Americans' historical sensitivity toward kingship, John C. Bennett's exposes, and rumors about a filibuster by Aaron Burr and James Wilkinson. Leonard's statement that dissenters caused problems by spreading "reports that Joseph Smith and his followers were being made kings and queens in secret ceremonies" (360) likely referred to endowment ceremonies rather than to offices in the Council of Fifty.

Leonard treats non-Mormons and dissenters more sympathetically and accurately than have many earlier Mormon writers but still places them uniformly in the wrong. After noting that Smith frequently counseled patience toward those who disagreed with him, Leonard writes: "Several Nauvoo residents struck such a strident tone of dissonance in their private and public behavior that decision makers could no longer tolerate the threat to harmony and righteousness in the gathered community. . . . Ultimately, the open resistance of these few led to the legal crisis that ended in the murder of Joseph Smith and Hyrum Smith" (342). This seems an unfair characterization of the dissenters who did not count polygamy as "righteousness" and who disagreed with some of the new doctrines on theological principles. Leonard deceptively charges that "many" of them had been denied sealings because of immorality and so "turned against the Lord's spokesman and His church" (343). It can be argued that, rather than striking "a strident tone of dissonance," they brought into the light of day Smith's new doctrines and practices that so profoundly troubled them, including the deep secrecy with which he tried to keep them shrouded. Joseph and Hyrum told the city council that the Nauvoo Expositor was twisting the truth and that the only polygamy Joseph discussed pertained to "the order in ancient days" (364); such statements were clearly falsehoods deliberately designed to destroy the character of the dissenters and legitimatize the destruction of the paper.

In the interests of historical accuracy, Leonard should also have mentioned that charges of immorality on the part of "apostates" are suspect and that William and Jane Law were not notified of their church trial and could not defend themselves. At some point readers might expect an admission that, for whatever reasons seemed good to them at the time-and no doubt out of a sense of desperation-Church leaders nevertheless acted illegally and unethically.

Although Nauvoo: A Place of Peace, a People of Promise lacks candor at critical times, it makes many important contributions and gives a scholarly view of Nauvoo through Mormon eyes that is well worth reading.

ALMA R. BLAIR {alblair@grm.net) taught Latter Day Saint history at Graceland University, Lamoni, Iowa, for thirty-nine years and has instructed student guides at the Joseph Smith Historic Center in Nauvoo for twenty-eight years. He has had responsible roles in the restoration of the Mansion House and Liberty Hall (the Joseph Smith III home in Lamoni). He has also been active as a member and officer in the Mormon History Association and the John Whitmer Historical Association.

Buy it now!

Robert V. Remini. Joseph Smith. New York: Penguin Putnam, 2002. xv, 190 pp. Sources, bibliography, index. $19.95 cloth. ISBN 0-670-03083-X Buy it now!

Reviewed by Thomas G. Alexander (Reviewed April 2004)

Like a breath of fresh air, Robert Remini's Joseph Smith has wafted in among the horde of recently published tomes. In contrast to recent works such as Richard Abanes's One Nation Under Gods: A History of the Mormon Church (New York: Four Walls Eight Windows, 2002), Will Bagley's Blood of the Prophets: Brigham Young and the Massacre at Mountain Meadows (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2002), Sally Denton's American Massacre: The Tragedy at Mountain Meadows, September 11, 1857 (New York: Knopf, 2003), and Jon Krakauer, Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith (New York: Doubleday, 2003), each of which argues in one way or another that violence epitomizes Mormonism, Robert Remini finds Joseph Smith "unquestionably the most important reformer and innovator in American religious history" (ix). Moreover, instead of relying on critical secondary sources or affidavits from Mormon haters, Remini decided "after considerable thought ... to present (Joseph's) ... religious experiences just as he described them in his writings and let readers decide for themselves to what extent they would give credence to them" (x).

Moreover, Remini consulted with scholars who have engaged in intensive research on Joseph Smith and his work. These include such authorities as Richard Bushman, Scott Faulring, Ronald Esplin, Dean Jesse, William Hartley, Grant Underwood, and John Welch.

Still, readers should not expect a full-scale biography. Like other books in the Penguin Lives series, this work provides a short overview of the subject's life. The editors undoubtedly chose Remini because he is an expert on the Jacksonian era when Joseph Smith did his work. Most significant are Remini's multi-volume biography of Andrew Jackson, his biographies of other political leaders, and his general works.

Since Remini knows the early nineteenth century intimately, instead of labeling Mormonism a bizarre sect, he places the religion and Smith within the Second Great Awakening, the extraordinarily rich and diverse religious milieu of the time. He recognizes, for instance, that folk magic flourished during this period as an aspect of culture compatible with other religious experience. Moreover, he points out that intense – and to the twenty-first century sensibility, alternative – religious experiences occurred frequently.

Following the discussion of the religious context, he moves to consider Joseph Smith's family and the First Vision. Although he tells the story much as a Latter-day Saint might, he is quite open about Smith's money-digging and other occult activities. Moreover, like Richard Bushman, Joseph Smith and the Beginnings of Mormonism  (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1984),  Remini believes that Smith gave up the occult activities as his religious condition changed. Remini then turns to Joseph's experiences with Moroni and to the Book of Mormon. Far from considering the Book of Mormon chloroform in print as Mark Twain did or a delusion as Alexander Campbell asserted, Remini considers the book "an extraordinary work in several particulars" (71). These include its rapid translation, its religious narrative coupled with political and military history, and such features as the sermons and prophecy it contains. Furthermore, Remini understood that in chronicling "bringing the Gospel to the Americas ... (the Book of Mormon) is a story that people of the Jacksonian era could easily relate to and understand" (72). Moreover, while Campbell criticized the book for addressing the "great religious questions and controversies that raged within the Burned-Over District" (73), Remini sees it as a positive feature. He seems quite fair in his treatment of events surrounding the book, presenting, for instance both Martin Harris's version of the visit with Professor Charles Anthon and Anthon's later contradiction of Harris's memory.

Following the discussion of the coming forth of the Book of Mormon, Remini turns to the early history of the Church in New York and the developments in Kirtland. Using the methodology he promised, Remini details revelations such as the three degrees of glory, the inspired revision of the Bible, and the gathering. The author's familiarity with the Jacksonian era facilitates his comparison with other communitarian experiments. The narrative considers rightly such negative experiences as the attacks on Joseph Smith and the failure of the Kirtland Safety Society as well as the struggles and success in constructing the Kirtland Temple.

Succeeding chapters consider the horrors of Far West. Remini describes Joseph as encouraging the activities of the Danites but repudiating the organization after it "grew more and more violent" (129). The narrative chronicles Lilburn Boggs's infamous extermination order, the flight of the Saints from Missouri, and the jailing and eventual escape of Joseph and his associates.

In describing the Nauvoo period, Remini tells of the community's development under Joseph's leadership and his incarceration and murder. Joseph Smith's return after escaping, Remini argues, "resonates with a clear echo of Christ in Gethsemane" (169). Desiring the cup to pass from him, Smith went peaceably to jail, tried to defend himself, but finally died a martyr to his beliefs.

In evaluating Joseph Smith, those who supported him, and those who opposed his work, Remini rightly emphasizes first that the Church was a religious organization which generated antagonism in part because it rejected many contemporary teachings. Beyond this, he recognizes that Mormon economic cooperation and clannishness generated opposition. Remini attributes Smith's assassination to "the simple reason that his political activities had become extremely dangerous to the citizens of the surrounding towns" (177). "His murder," Remini argues, "was a political act of assassination" (178).

Remini ends with an evaluation. The church Joseph founded has succeeded far beyond contemporary expectations. Nevertheless, he acknowledges that Smith had "human frailties." He "craved recognition and appreciation" for his work (180). Still, though a "man of little formal education," he possessed "striking intellectual power" (180). Finally, Remini again attributes much of Joseph's success to the context in which he worked -- the Jacksonian era and the Second Great Awakening – which also engendered the "religious bigotry" that eventually "brought about the violent death of a decent man who claimed to be a prophet of God" (181-82).

Clearly the strength of Remini's work lies not in his telling of the life of Joseph Smith. Most of the information about Smith's life which Remini presents has been told elsewhere. Rather, he helps readers by placing Joseph within the context of the time in which he lived and worked. Remini understands the Jacksonian period and the Second Great Awakening, and as such he emphasizes their creativity, religiosity, contentiousness, and violence.

THOMAS G. ALEXANDER is the Lemuel Hardison Redd Jr. Professor of Western American History at Brigham Young University.

Buy it now!

Dean C. Jessee, comp and ed. Personal Writings of Joseph Smith. Rev. ed. Salt Lake City/Provo, Utah: Deseret Book/Brigham Young University Press, 2002. xxix, 751 pp. Front matter, photographs, maps, biographical register, bibliography, index. Cloth: $32.95; ISBN 1-57345-787-6 Buy it now!

Reviewed by Ronald E. Romig (Reviewed April 2004)

This updated and revised edition of Dean Jessee's celebrated 1982 volume offers readers nearly all of the personal writings of Joseph Smith – whether written in his own hand or dictated to a scribe – in a single resource. The revision includes photographs of original documents, journal entries, letters and other source materials that reveal much about the life and character of Joseph Smith Jr.

Those fortunate enough to personally know Dean Jessee are aware that he is both a dedicated professional and a caring human being. Because he has devoted his life to making quality source materials available to the scholarly and wider community, all of his publications are worthy of note. Jessee deserves much credit for refining what has become a now-familiar genre of historical Mormon source materials. Jessee's work provides a model of excellence worthy of emulation.

Since this is a revised edition, readers will probably find the overall organization and content familiar. Jesse continues to provide a straightforward, chronological arrangement of Smith's writings. These offerings reveal the development and growth of Smith's ideas and their expression. Jessee's goal is, as it has ever been, to provide the best transcription of Smith's holographic material possible. And he succeeds, with admirable attention to detail. He has studied and worked with these historical sources perhaps longer than any other person. His work builds upon and extends earlier publications of portions of Joseph's writings made available by H. Michael Marquardt, Joseph Smith's Diaries (Salt Lake City: Modern Microfilm (Utah Lighthouse), ca. early 1980s) and Scott H. Faulring, An American Prophet's Record. The Diaries and Journals of Joseph Smith (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1987).

As a personal friend and long-time admirer of Dean Jessee's work, I asked him directly why researchers would want or need a revised edition of his earlier work in their libraries. He answered that Personal Writings had been "out of print for several years." Furthermore, "reprinting provided another opportunity to improve the format, share current interpretations of familiar content, make needed corrections throughout, and remove some mistakes." Perhaps the most notable correction was to remove six Hofmann forgeries included in the first edition. Even though subsequent scholarship and events have cleared up all speculation about their origins, their presence in the first edition could have been confusing to some.

This second edition, while removing the forgeries, adds six items not included in the 1982 edition:

To the Reader, March 1830; To the Elders of the Church, September-December 1835; To Heber C. Kimball and Brigham Young, 16 January 1839; To the Wilkinson Family [February 1840]; Resolution, March 1842; Proclamation, 11 June 1844.

Further, (Jessee explains) the book's format and content has been improved in the following areas: endnotes were changed to footnotes; a biographical register was added to identify people mentioned in the text (pages 657-703); journal dates were set off from the entries; and republication allowed for the comparison of the text of the documents against the original manuscripts one more time. (xvi)

Then there are the wonderful maps! Maps in this edition were upgraded and improved. Utilizing contributions directly from Larry Porter, James L. Kimball, Mark L. Staker, Donald L. Enders, and Max H. Parkin and informed by an ever-improving body of geographical literature emerging from the larger Mormon scholarly community, the maps prove a valuable resource. They are the most current series of Church history maps now available. The maps alone are worth the price of the book. Map artwork was generated by computer, by Richard Erickson, the art director at Deseret Book Company who also may be credited with the overall design of a very attractive book, and by Robert Erickson (relationship not specified). But no matter how carefully an editorial team rechecks every detail, there are always unintended problems. In this instance, Jessee explained apologetically to me that the maps of Kirtland and Palmyra "were cannibalized somehow after the final proof."

Jessee has faithfully presented the content of Smith's writings, while allowing the reader to come to his or her own conclusion about much of its meaning. Both editions of Personal Writings include a remarkable letter from Smith to Sidney Rigdon, 27 March 1843. Jessee notes: "By 1843 Rigdon's influence had diminished, due partly to his ill health and partly to a strained relationship that developed between him and the Prophet. Joseph was convinced that Rigdon was practicing `deception and wickedness' against him and the Church stemming from Rigdon's position as Nauvoo postmaster":

(e)ver since soon after the first appearance of John C. Bennet in this place. There has been something dark & my(s)terious hovering over our business concerns that are not only palpable but altogether unaccountable in relation to the Post office, and Sir from the very first of the pretensions of John C Bennet, to secure to me the Post office, (which, by the by I have <never> desired, if I could have justice done me in that department,) <without my occupancy> I have known, Sir, that it was a fraud practiced upon me, and of the secret plottings & conniving between him & yourself in relation to the matter the whole time, as well as many other things which I have kept locked up in my own bosom but I am constrained at this time, to make known my feelings to you. (580-81)

Jessee's commentary provides insights into the context of the episode but leaves the reader wondering about the quality of the interpersonal interactions that prompted the exchange.

Therefore, my only concern with the work is that, while Jessee's accurate and insightful footnoting provides an invaluable resource tool, his annotations tend to be both neutral and frustratingly reserved; furthermore, they draw too exclusively on internal LDS scholarship. The Community of Christ Archives has been pleased to have the opportunity to contribute to this effort by making primary Smith materials available to supplement this collection but would have been even happier at finding the occasional inclusion of nonsympathetic interpretations of Smith's experiences. Such an approach would have allowed a deeper, richer context within which to discuss Smith's activities. A tendency to focus on some issues while minimizing others may well succeed in hiding his moments of human failing but may also actually obscure the true scope of Joseph Smith's triumphs.

Notwithstanding such modest reservations, Jessee may be justifiably proud of this outstanding edition. Significantly, the revised edition of Personal Writings again makes available in print nearly all of Smith's significant holograph writings. Furthermore, the revision clearly accomplishes its goals, improving accuracy and furnishing a considerably more reader friendly edition. Scholars and interested readers will not want to be without a copy close at hand.

RONALD E. ROMIG (rromig@CofCrisht.org) is Community of Christ Archivist, Independence, Missouri.

Armand L. Mauss. All Abraham's Children: Changing Mormon Conceptions of Race and Lineage. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2003. xvi, 343 pp. Figures, tables, appendices, references, index. Cloth: $36.95; ISBN: 0-252-02803-1 Buy it now!

Reviewed by Bron B. Ingoldsby (Reviewed April 2004)

This eagerly awaited book is a distillation of the work and thought, over the course of his career, of Armand Mauss, emeritus professor of sociology, Washington State University, on the topic of race in the LDS Church. Since researching his dissertation in 1970, he has investigated the attitudes and behaviors of Mormons toward certain racial/ethnic groups, particularly Native Americans, Jews, and African Americans. While he provides the reader with an historical chronology of these evolving attitudes, he does so within a sociological framework or interpretation of those materials.

Those who enjoyed his The Angel and the Beehive: The Mormon Struggle with Assimilation (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1994) and others of his writings will want to read this book as well and will not be disappointed. In the first two chapters, Mauss explains the gradual development of the concept of lineage identity among Mormons. In his view, this process was cultural rather than revelatory. The Book of Mormon appears to identify the early Saints as "Gentiles" assigned to bring the full gospel back to the Lamanites, or Native Americans of Jewish descent.

However, Mormonism's founder, Joseph Smith, received other revelations that led him to believe that his family and those of other early Church members were of the leading Israelite tribe of Ephraim. Actual Gentiles who converted to the true religion would also become Israelites as well. As Mauss explains: "The Mormon prophet Joseph Smith was among those who took literally the relationship between lineage and blood, declaring in an 1839 sermon that converts from Gentile lineages would miraculously undergo an actual change of blood, making their conversion a somewhat more physical experience than would be the case for those converts of literal Israelite descent" (23).

The majority of early Church converts were either descended from or residents of Western Europe, Great Britain, and Scandinavia. They brought with them fairly commonly held ideas, among them the notion that they were a superior race which included descendants of some of the "lost tribes" of Israel. Eventually, most Mormons came to believe that humans are born into mortal lineages which reflect the talents and faithfulness they developed in the premortal existence, each having certain birthrights and destinies, with the chosen Israelites at the favored end of the continuum and the cursed descendants of Cain at the other.

Mauss documents that present-day Church leaders now make almost no reference to favored lineages and that Mormons now hold a view similar to the rest of Christianity-which is that all who follow God's laws, regardless of background, are "Abraham's children" by virtue of their faith. How did this doctrinal development occur historically? Mauss's central thesis is that the root cause driving the change has been the Church's missionary focus. Early Mormons believed that descendants of chosen Israel would find themselves irresistibly attracted to the gospel message; success in northwestern Europe supported the Mormon founder's beliefs that that is where the Israelite descendants, particularly of Ephraim, had clustered. Worldwide expansion of proselyting efforts has resulted in a number of adjustments in Mormon lineage beliefs as successes have not always occurred where they were expected. Mauss quotes Andrew Jenson, assistant Church historian: "We are of Israel, and ... when our genealogy is revealed in detail, it will lead us back ... to England and thence to Scandinavia and Germany, and from there to ... that part of Asia where the Ten Tribes were lost" (28). He went on to indicate that lack of missionary success with the Latin and Oriental peoples was due to their lack of Israelite blood. Later successes in those very areas, however, have led to a more recent redefinition of lineage. By the 1950s, Church Patriarch Eldred G. Smith had declared lineage to mean simply "the tribe through which the promises of inheritance shall come" (35).

In chapters 2-5, Mauss details the Church's struggle to find the true Lamanites. Early Mormons clearly expected North American Native Americans to convert and become "civilized" in large numbers. This never happened, and Church members over time came to see them in the same basically negative ways shared by other Euro-Americans. During the 1950s-1970s, under the leadership of Spencer W. Kimball, first an apostle and later Church president, the Church sustained another major effort to convert Native Americans; but Indian seminary, placement, and BYU programs were eventually evaluated as not cost effective and were eliminated.

In recent decades, however, the lack of interest by North American Indians has been counterbalanced by dramatic missionary successes in Latin America, with significant LDS populations in countries such as Mexico, Brazil, and Chile. Mauss explains that the Church's missionary efforts in Latin America and Polynesia merged nicely with these people's needs to construct their own identities, which would help distinguish them in positive ways from that of the Europeans who had colonized their countries. Mauss explains: 

LDS converts throughout Latin America have been able to use the Lamanite identity to claim a special or divine distinction in contrast to both their Hispanic colonial conquerors and their Anglo-Mormon coreligionists. Already in 1972, Latin American Mormons were being encouraged to do so in the official church magazine itself. . . . Polynesian Mormons have made similar uses of their constructed Israelite heritage for more than a century. Despite a rather tenuous basis in the Mormon canon for the Polynesian claim to such an identity, the claim has been widely embraced among Mormons in both North America and Polynesia. (149-50)

These new members have been happy to assume the Lamanite identity as one that is uplifting for them, and U.S. Mormons are pleased to have finally found someone to fit their Book of Mormon expectations. 

Readers who are old enough to remember living through many of these various LDS ethnic boundary shifts will enjoy Mauss's retracing of them. I remember as a young Book of Mormon reader, trying to understand how we white Mormons were both Gentiles and Israelites. I pondered the failures of the many programs designed for Native Americans and was excited to learn of Book of Mormon geographic theories which placed the Nephites and Lamanites in Mesoamerica, rather than North America. During my own proselytizing mission in South America, I met many devout Latter-day Saints who were thrilled to identify themselves as Lamanites. I would have enjoyed it if Mauss had been able to add a few more pages on how this identity was also transported from the Book of Mormon American shores to those of the islands of Polynesia.

In Chapters 6-7, Mauss discusses Mormon attitudes toward the Jews.  Here Church members tend to have a more favorable view than Christians in general. Instead of seeing them as those who "killed Christ" and need to be converted, Mormons identify with them as fellow Israelites who have a special latter-day mission in their part of the world. As a result, according to Mauss, they are one of only two groups that the Mormons have purposefully chosen not to proselytize. (The second group was those of black African descent.) The few exceptions included short-lived programs in California and New York by Apostle LeGrand Richards and swimsuit designer Rose Marie Reid.

Mauss shares sociological research which indicates that Mormons have significantly lower rates of anti-Semitism than do other groups, much of it summarized in the appendices. Unfortunately, a printer error in Appendix C resulted in the diagrams for C.1 and C.4 being switched. The titles are correct, but the path models themselves need to be interchanged.

Chapters 8-9 recount the historical development of the concept that African lineage was "cursed," and recent events surrounding the ending of that curse by Spencer W. Kimball in 1978 with its consequences. Mauss explains the origins of the Church's decision to deny priesthood ordination and temple access to those of black African ancestry. He also addresses the confusion and controversy during the time of the civil rights movement and the range of "racialist" (his term) views by Mormons. I think that many readers will find this section less detailed than they had hoped for. It would have benefitted, for instance, from a more detailed explanation of the doctrinal/scriptural supports that the Church used in defending its priesthood ban.

However, the story of how that ban ended in 1978 and the role played by missionary work in Brazil and other places in that decision is fascinating. Those who served LDS missions before 1978 may remember the difficulties of coming across good people who might have "the blood," with virtually no help from Church headquarters on how to deal it with. The unofficial books, articles, and stories that circulated attempted to explain and support the ban; but in the end, it all still sounded racist. As a young man, I was shocked when I read James Michener's Hawaii (New York: Random House, 1959), which included this outsider's view of Mormon beliefs: "Do you know why the Mormons had so much success in these islands? They admit frankly, `In heaven there are only white people.' I suppose you know that a nigger can't get a place to sleep in Salt Lake. So they tell us that if we are real good on earth and we love God, when we die God's going to make us white, and then we'll go to heaven and all will be hunky-dory" (837).

Rather than denounce the previous doctrine as incorrect, Church leaders have taken the approach of simply not discussing it anymore. On this point, Mauss steps out of his usual position of objective observer:

The identification of blacks with Cain, however, has never been officially dropped or even mildly disavowed by church leaders. At least the traditional notions about the origin and significance of that lineage are no longer repeated in official discourse or literature. Yet they remain scattered throughout authoritative church books from the past that continue to be reprinted under the auspices of the church.... As long as the folklore about Cain continues to circulate among white Mormons, many of them will continue to impose an identity on blacks that will greatly complicate racial relationships and church growth; black Mormons, for their part, can never be quite sure how white Mormons look upon them. (275)

I really did like this book. My biggest complaint is Mauss's overuse of the word invidious. Chapter 10 is an excellent summary of the process of identity construction by the Mormon people for themselves and for others in relation to them. As missionary work around the world made it more difficult from the 1950s on to sustain a coherent framework for where Israel really was, geographically or theologically, these views gave way to a more universal interpretation. Mauss concludes: "Old notions from early Mormonism (and early America) simply could not be sustained in the face of the manifest eagerness of various peoples to embrace the Mormon message. This purging of the preoccupation with lineage has been the gift of the world's peoples to Mormonism" (268).

BRON B. INGOLDSBY (bingoldsby@byu.edu) is an associate professor in the School of Family Life, Brigham Young University, where his research focuses on cross-cultural family relations.

Donna Toland Smart, ed. Exemplary Elder. The Life and Missionary Diaries of Perrigrine Sessions, 1814-1893. Provo, Utah: BYU Studies/Joseph Fielding Smith Institute for Latter-day Saint History, 2002. ix, 362 pp. Photographs, map, notes, bibliography, index. Cloth: $18.95; ISBN 0-8425-2509-2 Buy it now!

Reviewed by Carol Cornwall Madsen (Reviewed April 2004)

One of the richest legacies of the Mormon experience is the large collection of personal writings by the well known and the lesser known. Perrigrine Sessions is one of the latter. His diary tells the story of the "daily living and dying of men and women both weak and valiant," as William Mulder once characterized the unnoted Saints of early Church history. "Their story is not epic," he wrote "except as life and many days together give it sweep – it is the sweep of daily existence, the great movement that is the result of countless little movements."^[2] His life, like so many others, was a tributary to the mainstream of Mormon history, being best remembered as the founder of Bountiful, Utah, and as the son of his better-known mother, Patty Bartlett Sessions, a midwife and diarist.^[3]  Born in Newry, Maine, in 1814, Perrigrine was converted to Mormonism in 1835 at age twenty-one and became an unwavering believer and obedient follower, serving seven missions, marrying eight women, fathering fifty-five children, settling the second community in Utah, and serving the Church throughout his adult life.

He followed the westward odyssey of the Church, traveling to Kirtland, Ohio, where he met Joseph Smith, and then to Far West, Missouri. He experienced the expulsion from Missouri and noted that the liberation of Joseph Smith from Liberty jail "gave us much joy... (and) caused our drooping spirits to revive as we were like sheap with out a shepherd that had been scattered in a cloudy and dark day" (43). In 1839, Perrigrine filled a one-year mission to Maine and in 1843 served another. Although his chronicle is largely cursory, it is enlivened by intermittent forays into colorful writing: "As the Saints met together," he wrote on one occasion, "the Devils with his imps came also and howld like Missouri Preachers/mobers by druming on tinpans and jumping jim Crow" (64).

In the trek west, Sessions was appointed a captain of fifty, traveling in the "big" company which followed Brigham Young's vanguard expedition. Three days after arriving in the Valley in September 1847, he took his family north to establish Sessions' Settlement, now Bountiful. In 1852 he served another mission, this time to Great Britain. He and seventy other men traveled to Europe with the assignment to preach the gospel and introduce the principle of plural marriage, which had just been publicly announced. His graphic description of the arduous journey back across the plains and harrowing voyage to England invites respect for those who served missions during that period. Suffering from ill health for most of his mission, he returned home in 1854 with chronic problems from which he never fully recovered. Yet he served four more missions, all to Maine, where he labored to convert family members. He served his last mission when he was seventy-two. Afterward, he wrote only sporadically until his death seven years later in 1893.

Perrigrine Sessions left eight diaries, some of them rewritten as memoirs, covering the years 1834 to 1893 and including an extensive "geneanology." Following the dictum of Wilford Woodruff, Sessions was energetic in keeping an account of his missionary experiences but was less diligent in recording his life between missions. There is little mention of his wives and families and only brief references to his life in Bountiful. Donna Smart has wisely arranged the diaries/memoirs in chronological order, divided them into 13 chapters, and provided an explanatory introduction to each chapter. She has included ancillary information in boxed inserts, much of it from the "History of Bountiful" written by Perrigrine's son Carlos, and amplified by letters, articles from the Millennial Star, brief biographies of Perrigrine's wives, and other related documents. These inserts are sometimes placed within a chapter, occasionally interrupting the flow of the diary, but appear more often at the beginning or end. They provide the social environment in which Perrigrine lived and worked, which is missing from the diaries. The footnotes are exhaustive, sometimes overwhelming the terse notations in the diaries. They also account for a good portion of the book.

Perrigrine's record of his 1852-54 British mission is the centerpiece of the book, comprising a third of this published collection. He was appointed president of the Manchester Conference with duties that included preaching, supervising the elders and the branches, and chastising, if not excommunicating, wayward converts. His diary is often numbingly repetitious, recording his almost daily journeys on foot to each village and giving meaning to the term "traveling elder." A week in July 1853, for example, begins:

Thursday 14 to Stock port and preacht to the Saints ... staid to brother Antony Rites Friday 15 Visited many of the Saints and staid to brother Dunns Saturday 16 to Ashton and staid to brother Lees health poor had a soar mouth Sunday 17 preacht twise to Ashton with good Atention and a good spirit prevailed thence to Stely Bridg preacht to a small congragation and the Most of them saints thence to Dutonfield. (204)

Perrigrine then returned to Antony Rites and "slept with him and his Wife as they have but one bed in the house" (208).

Occasionally he describes a place, person, or event in memorable terms, demonstrating his eye for detail and imagery which well rewards the patient reader. He remembered his grandfather, for example, as a man "who never made any pretensions to christianity and was never daubed with the untempered morter of sectarianism" (17). He took two full pages to describe a visit to Belle Vue Gardens in Manchester: "On the borders of the pond of water is plesent walks with their borders adorned with the finest trees that gro in the world with their fruit and flours and in the sides of these walks are summer houses with tables for you to take some refreshments on and sit and read or Amuse your self as you please with a good brass band of Musick" (208). Obviously, the urban pleasures of this industrial city were, to this Bountiful, Utah man, a heady experience.

Donna Smart is to be congratulated for bringing to life one of the "ordinary" Saints through his own writing. She has given meticulous attention to detail in identifying the names, places, and references in the diaries. She has included a simple map of the towns near Newry, Maine, and Manchester, England, both useful in following the route of this itinerant preacher. Exemplary Elder reflects J. Reuben Clark's book, To Them of the Last Wagon, affirming the value of the followers as well as the leaders in the process of "kingdom building."^[4]   Far more missionary experiences were patterned after Perrigrine's than Wilford Woodruff's. As a man in the trenches rather than on the hilltop, he represents the thousands whose stories still lie hidden in unseen diaries.

CAROL CORNWALL MADSEN (ccm@comcast.net} is a senior research historian at the Joseph Fielding Smith Institute for Latter-day Saint History, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah.

Jeffrey S. O'Driscoll. Hyrum Smith: A Life of Integrity. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2003. xix, 444 pp. Illustrations, maps, notes, chronology, appendix, bibliography, index. Cloth: $29.95; ISBN 1-57008-857-8 Buy it now!

Reviewed by Richard K. Behrens (Reviewed April 2004)

As his first book, Jeffrey O'Driscoll has undertaken the massive if not monumental task of systematically documenting all of Hyrum Smith's contributions to the Restoration. A medical doctor, O'Driscoll, has previously delivered papers at the Sperry and Book of Mormon Symposia at BYU and has served on the LDS Church Writing Committee.

O' Driscoll's stated objective in this biography is to update "Pearson H. Corbett's biography of Hyrum Smith that has been a useful resource for four decades but additional source material and the need for documentation invited another opportunity to write on Hyrum's life" (xviii). In addition to Hyrum's writings published in the Millennial Star and Times and Seasons, O'Driscoll has also, in many cases for the first time, quoted from the Hyrum Smith diaries and account books recently donated to Brigham Young University, the patriarchal blessings he gave recorded in the blessing book later taken over by William Smith, and various letters and affidavits. O'Driscoll's biography of Hyrum grew out of an original effort, suggested by an anonymous descendant of Smith's, to gather all of his words recorded directly or indirectly, to better identify his contribution to the Restoration. The end result, however, is to define a relationship of near parity between Hyrum Smith and his younger brother, the prophet Joseph Smith, while carefully not allowing Hyrum to ever get very far ahead of Joseph in any circumstance. Hyrum's role is always that of totally reliable first-level support for all of Joseph's efforts. Whenever Hyrum does appear to get ahead of Joseph on a particular issue or in a new situation, O'Driscoll readily and deftly transfers control back to Joseph with Hyrum being chastened on occasion.

Hyrum's relationship with Joseph is initially defined by his attendance on Joseph while Joseph was recovering from leg surgery as a child in 1813-16. That relationship steadily builds through family economic challenges, through the Book of Mormon's preparation (1827-30), and through the Church's dynamic growth and persecutions, finally culminating in the martyrdom of the two brothers (1844). It is refreshing to see this relationship from Hyrum's perspective. Though Hyrum always defers to Joseph as the ultimate spiritual authority on matters to be decided, his readiness to act and to take appropriate independent initiative is widely portrayed but carefully contained.

O'Driscoll systematically organizes the recorded events of Hyrum's life and encourages further research into the earlier enabling events that contributed to his later success. O'Driscoll uses some of the new material that has become available on Smith's early education which begins to foreshadow his Palmyra roles as school teacher and trustee. Further use of new material may have been helpful in better understanding his later assignments on building projects in Kirtland and Nauvoo and possibly even in identifying contributions to the evolution of Mormon doctrine.

Of particular interest are the numerous situations in which the brothers were able to rely upon each other. For example, the longest time they were ever separated was the five months from October 1839 to March 1840 when Joseph and Sidney Rigdon went to Washington, D.C., seeking redress for persecutions in Missouri. During that time, Hyrum was given total responsibility for resettling the Missouri refugees in Illinois and organizing their new settlement around Nauvoo, Illinois.

O'Driscoll tells the Restoration story through Hyrum Smith's words, relying on the records of others present with Hyrum at a specific event when Hyrum made no recorded comment. Therefore the text is rich in building a contemporary assessment of Hyrum's role in the early Church. For example, O'Driscoll relates this Nauvoo anecdote, recorded in Wilford Woodruff's journal:

At one meeting in Joseph's home, Hyrum stood by the dormant fireplace, delivered a lengthy discourse about the scriptures and said, "We must take them as our guide alone." As he sat down, Joseph requested Brigham to speak. "I had become pretty well charged with plenty of powder and ball.... I felt like a thousand lions," Brigham recalled. He took the various books of scripture, piled them on top of each other, and said, "I would not give the ashes of a rye straw for all those books for my salvation without living oracles. I should follow and obey the living oracles for my salvation instead of anything else."

Hyrum, the Patriarch and assistant president of the Church, had been soundly and publicly corrected by the president of the Twelve, but Hyrum did not chafe, balk, or complain. The mantle of leadership rested softly upon him. His mild manner yielded neither guile nor pride. When President Young finished, "Hyrum got up and made a confession for not including oracles." In Brigham's words, "Hyrum arose and made handsome apology, and confessed his wrong which he had committed in excess zeal, and asked pardon." Is it any wonder that Joseph loved Hyrum so much? (250-51)

O'Driscoll credits Hyrum with many high-performance achievements which have often been lost in past presentations. For example, Brigham Young is often given credit for bringing Artemus Millet from Canada to work on the Kirtland Temple, but the author more correctly states that Young converted Millet and Hyrum then called him to come to Kirtland to work on the temple (86-87). O'Driscoll's twenty-five-page appendix, "The Teachings of Hyrum Smith," displays the depth and breadth of Hyrum's thought.

Hyrum is depicted as the ultimate in faithful service-as someone who completed all of his assignments as well as many previously assigned to others, such as his appointment to the temple committee after the death of Elias Higbee. There seem to be few, if any, matters of substance that the brothers do not thoroughly discuss and upon which they do not come to a final agreement. In the case of plural marriage, however, it takes four pages of text to describe their coming to agreement (288-291). O'Driscoll quotes Hyrum's assessment of Joseph: "There were prophets before, but Joseph has the spirit and power of all the prophets" (380; from History of the Church 6:346).

O'Driscoll succeeds in focusing attention directly on Hyrum and his actions. Hyrum is seen as a true complement to Joseph, not just a supplement. However, Hyrum frequently seems to be given assignments for which he has no apparent preparation, and at times the reader is left groping for linkage between events through time. What qualified Hyrum to be a school teacher and trustee, Mason initiate, and building project overseer. Where did he learn to quote Josephus (350)? Perhaps a better understanding of his years at Moor's School (Dartmouth College's precollegiate department) when integral aspects of the curriculum included Christianizing the Indians, their Israelite origin, ancient scripture study, Arminian theology, and the concept of multiple peopled worlds would further illuminate Hyrum Smith's contributions to Mormon theology and mission. Other underweighted preparatory experiences may include Hyrum's Presbyterian and Masonic training in Palmyra.

The presentation of the book itself is of high quality, with useful maps, illustrations, and a chronology of Smith's life. The index has some shortcomings, lacking, for instance, the Josephus reference. The front cover rendering from Hyrum's death mask suggests a gentler countenance than traditional portraits that suggest a more hardened administrator. The back cover painting by Lee Greene Richards depicts Joseph teaching chiefs and braves of the Sac and Fox Indian tribes after being introduced by Hyrum. The selection of this illustration incidentally reinforces the fact that among Hyrum's schoolmates at Moor's School were Indians who could read the New Testament in Greek and Cicero and Virgil in Latin.

RICHARD K. BEHRENS (r.k.behrens@att.net) a graduate of Dartmouth College who did his graduate work at Northwestern University, is preparing a book on Hyrum Smith's schooling at Moor's School and its curriculum for 1754-1817. He has presented his findings at conferences of the Mormon History Association and the John Whitmer Historical Association, among others.

Buy it now!

Don S. Colvin. Nauvoo Temple: A Story of Faith. Provo, Utah: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 2002. ix, 308 pp. Photographs, drawings, notes, appendix. Cloth: $29.95; ISBN 1-59156-014-4 Buy it now!

Reviewed by William Shepard (Reviewed April 2004)

Nauvoo Temple: A Story of Faith is intelligently written, a beautifully constructed book published by the Religious Studies Center at Brigham Young University in 2002 to coincide with the dedication of the restored Nauvoo Temple. Obviously, this book was designed to tell the world about the faith, sacrifice, and dedication of the Mormons who constructed the original temple and to let the readers share a vicarious identification with the original builders.

In his preface, Colvin reveals the scope and limitations of his book: "The text brings together in more complete form than previously published the pertinent information relating to the temple's construction, varied uses, and eventual fate" and "the most detailed and pertinent information and descriptions regarding the external and internal physical feature of the Nauvoo Temple" (viii). Both summations are correct. The descriptions of the temple are this book's strength, making it a valuable addition to our knowledge of temple building at Nauvoo. Colvin also forthrightly states his own attitude toward the subject, one which would be at home at a testimony meeting: "I do possess strong convictions and a firm testimony that the hand of God attended the construction of this great temple. It is my observation that God's Spirit guided this work and was clearly manifested in meetings and ordinances conducted within this sacred building. I came away from this experience with my faith deeply enriched" (ix). While I respect this position, as a historian I cannot help feeling that such an unquestioning faith-affirming position is a limitation both on the kinds of information Colvin has sought and the conclusions he has drawn from it.

This book is limited in range as it contains only 305 double spaced pages, numerous drawings, photographs, other illustrations, and notes. The period of Mormon settlement at Nauvoo is covered in ten pages and the "building program" of the temple in only fifteen. These abbreviated historical chapters introduce the reader to the meat of the book: chapters on the spiritual blessings, construction, uses, and dimensions of the temple. Following chapters include descriptions of the temple's dedication and its destruction. Finally, Colvin gives an interesting overview about how the plans for the restored temple were formulated, the process of acquiring the temple site, and the ultimate completion of the temple.

Although several chapters are too generic and compressed to convey significant historic information, the one on "Spiritual Blessings" is valuable for any reader interested in learning more about theological innovations at Nauvoo. Colvin explains: "Revelation through the Prophet Joseph Smith concerning gospel principles and ordinances, much of which was associated with the temple, was the most important thing happening during the Nauvoo period of Church history" (111). His explanations about such doctrines and practices as "man's destiny and relationship to deity" and "eternal marriage" closely associate the historical practices with modern temple ceremonies.

The real value of the book, however, is in the chapters on "exterior features," "early sketches," "architectural drawings of William Weeks," and "interior features." These chapters provide a wealth of information not readily available in any other publication. They help the reader better understand the magnificence of the Nauvoo Temple. Drawings and photographs used in conjunction with clearly explained commentary take the reader through the temple's measurements and physical features. Colvin's style of writing brings each area of the temple to life. For example, here is his description of the front vestibule:

Entrance from outside the temple was gained by climbing a flight of ten steps. As [Lyman O.) Littlefield entered the building in 1845, he left this observation: "Now let us examine what is properly called the first story.... We enter this at the west end, passing through either of three large open doors or arched pass-ways, each of which is nine feet seven inches wide and twenty one feet high. Passing through these we are standing in a large outer court, forty-three feet by seventeen feet wide." The area from the floor to the ceiling was 25 feet in height, identical to the main interior area of the first story (see Figure 7.1). On each end of this 43-foot-long outer lobby were stairwells, each 17 feet deep and 18 feet 6 inches long. These areas were separated from the open court by stone partition walls. Each wall had doors that opened into the large spiral staircases. Adding together the spacious outer court along with the stairwells on each side (43 feet plus 181/2and 181/2) results in a total interior width dimension of 80 feet (see drawing of the first story floor plan and vestibule area, Figure 8.7). (195)

My main criticism of Nauvoo Temple: A Story of Faith is that it perpetuates the myth the temple was built without controversy and that the behavior of the Nauvoo Mormons was uniformly beyond reproach. Such an approach is not objective history and diminishes the true scope of the achievement by denying elements of its reality. For example, Colvin did not explain the controversy stemming from (LDS) Doctrine and Covenants 124:31-32 which stipulated that if the temple was not completed "in a sufficient time . . .. ye shall be rejected as a church, with your dead, saith the Lord your God."^[5]  As a second example, William Clayton's important journal is frequently cited, but Colvin conspicuously omits the 26 December 1845 entry: "There was a necessity for a reformation of this sort, for some men were doing things which ought not to be done in the Temple of the Lord. Some three or four men and perhaps more, had introduced women into the Temple, not their wives, and were living in the side rooms, cooking, sleeping, tending babies, and toying with their women."^[6] Another omission is Hosea Stout's journal entry of 30 September 1845 which described Illinois militiamen searching the temple for the bodies of two Gentiles, Phineas Wilcox and Andrew Daubenheyer, whom they believed the Mormons had murdered.^[7]   These fuller accounts would have supplied a truer picture of the complex realities against which the temple rose on its commanding bluff.

Despite these reservations, I find Nauvoo Temple: A Study of Faith an excellent book which should be widely accepted in the Mormon community.

WILLIAM SHEPARD (shep@speeddial.net), of Strangite heritage, is currently researching crime in Nauvoo and a biography of William Smith. He has participated in the annual conferences of the Mormon History Association and John Whitmer Historical Association, and in Sunstone Symposiums.

Buy it now!

James B. Allen, Ronald W. Walker, and David J. Whittaker. Studies in Mormon History, 1830-1997: An Indexed Bibliography; with a Topical Guide to Published Social Science Literature on the Mormons [by] Armand L. Mauss and Dynette Ivie Reynolds. Urbana: University of Illinois Press in cooperation with the Joseph Fielding Smith Institute for Latter-day Saint History, Brigham Young University, 2000. xiii, 1,152 pp. Cloth: $100; ISBN 0-252-02565-2

Reviewed by John C. Thomas (Reviewed April 2004)

More than thirty years ago, Dale L. Morgan called bibliography the "cutting edge of historianship."^[8]  More recently, Ronald W. Walker, James B. Allen, and David J. Whittaker have observed that bibliographies and other reference works serve as "artifacts" as well as "guides."^[9] Studies in Mormon History is a path-breaking guide that presages great strides for the next generation of Mormon studies. It is also evidence of the progress made in Mormon studies, much of it since Morgan wrote. And a formidable artifact it is: nearly twelve hundred letter-sized pages of reference material, printed in double columns, and weighing about six pounds. The product of "hundreds of thousands of hours of labor," it took fifteen years of work by the authors, more than a hundred research assistants, and the shared insights of another hundred or more scholars (xii). It is a book with a history, and evidence that many people want to understand the Mormon past, present, and future.

The bibliography proper, arranged alphabetically by author, is 459 pages long, and features more than 2,600 books; 10,400 articles and book chapters; 1,800 theses and dissertations; and over 150 task papers and typescripts (ix). Since nearly half of Armand L. Mauss's and Dynette Ivie Reynolds's collection of social science publications overlap with the historical writings, the bibliography integrates both databases.

This is not an elitist collection of work. The authors define "serious scholarship" broadly, and they apply the criterion of "usefulness" liberally – so that all but the most polemical or careless of works are included (x-xi). As a result, some writings figure more prominently than might be expected in a bibliography prepared by academics and published by a university press. To be sure, Leonard J. Arrington's signal contributions fill up over fourteen columns in the bibliography, but the wide-ranging studies carried out under Kate B. Carter, of the Daughters of Utah Pioneers, occupy some seventeen columns. Helpful annotations of many of these studies forced me to reconsider the wisdom of neglecting a source such as Heart Throbs of the West.

I applaud the authors' inclusive approach, as much for its humility as its thoroughness. It seems true to the spirit of the Mormon History Association, if a little foreign to the ethos of the academy. It is a cautionary corrective to the tendency to dismiss an obscure source with a scornful remark about its "amateur" origins. After all, how many flawed works on Mormonism have slipped through the editorial boards of university presses and peer-reviewed journals? The authors acknowledged the likelihood of "lapses or errors" and invited users to "make future editions more accurate" (xiii). To notify the authors of other errors, contact the Joseph Fielding Smith Institute (jfsi@byu.edu), which hosts a web page to update the bibliography (smithinstitute.byu.edu/ref/mormbibhome.asp). (Ironically, even a scholar as well-known as Maureen Ursenbach Beecher, name correctly spelled under her own entries, appears as "Maurine" in the "Sessions, Patty Bartlett" entry where she is the series editor, 372.)

The most important tools in Studies in Mormon History are the "Index to Historical Writings" and "Social Science Topical Guide." These guides will shape research on Mormonism for years to come. Of the two, the "Topical Guide" is much slimmer, a modest eighty-five pages long. Its subject headings also seem to be more conceptually oriented. This, I suppose, reflects both the grander theoretical aims of some social science and the academic origins of the social science bibliography. It indexes only published material, omitting theses, dissertations, and conference papers.

That said, Mauss and Reynolds employed "expansive" selection rules, choosing to include even some "informed social commentary" that most scholars would not consider "social science" (1060). A noticeable consequence is numerous references to articles and essays from Sunstone magazine. As I reviewed several subject headings, I found it ironic that so many Sunstone articles met the compilers' "expansive" criteria, while not a single article published in an "official" Church periodical made the list. It may be that this imbalance reflects the limits of the search strategy, rather than the compilers' judgments about what constitutes "informed social commentary" on subjects such as Mormon religiosity, culture, church government, and family life.

The core of Studies in Mormon History is the 586-page "Index of Historical Writings." Using more than 6,500 subject headings and subheadings, and drawing on their decades of experience and consultation with many unnamed colleagues, the authors have attempted to map the many fields of Mormon historical studies. The approach is decidedly empirical, and it results in a rich if almost chaotic array of leads on people and places. I believe it is the indexing system (and to some extent the annotations in the bibliography) that earns Allen, Walker, and Whittaker the title of "authors," rather than "compilers" or "editors."

Any research project should begin (and perhaps some will end), with a literature review of relevant subject headings in the index. It is important to remember the authors' focus: the "secondary historical literature on Mormon history," largely in English (xi, emphasis mine). Rather than trying to identify and index all the source documents created within the historical drama of the restoration, the authors seek to catalog all that observers and students have written about that drama. What of the many who wrote history from within, as prophets and partisans and "participant observers"? Their role as narrators is acknowledged, but they appear in this book mainly as subjects. For example, Joseph Smith Jr. is listed as author twenty-three times in the bibliography (about one page). But in the index, the studies listed under subjects headed by "Joseph Smith, Jr." stretch on for eighteen pages, arranged in more than a hundred subdivisions. As evidence of how challenging it is to index all that has been written about Joseph, a note warns that "the miscellaneous subdivision is still the largest," and suggests more than a dozen related subjects to investigate (927).^[10]

Despite its emphasis on secondary work, Studies in Mormon History catalogs a lot of primary documents, some in almost "raw" form, others edited to high scholarly standards. It startled me to recognize how many first-person Mormon narratives, male and female, have already made their way into print. In addition to hundreds of personal writings linked to specific names and topics, one could make a fine start by perusing the long lists of references under the headings "Autobiographies" and "Diaries and Journals." And for those who want to dig in archives for unpublished primary material, "Sources" and its specific subheadings is a helpful start.

With so many index headings, some subjects inevitably prove to be duds. But there is good news. First, the cross-referencing system provides verbal pointers to keep a literature review moving. When my first search for a subject came up empty, a little persistence yielded solid leads. Second, those who find that there really are only a few studies on a subject should look upon the lacuna as a call to labor!

Even subjects featuring long lists of studies open up exciting possibilities for research. To cite just two examples, many questions came to mind as I perused eight pages tracing work on various aspects of "Doctrinal History." And even as twenty pages of references surprised me about the wealth of work done on subjects related to Mormon women, they made me think about the definition and evolution of those research fields, and the gaps that remain in the historical record. Studies in Mormon History is both a substantial artifact of the work done so far, and a humane and accessible guide for the work that lies ahead.

JOHN C. THOMAS {Thomasj@byui.edu) teaches in the Department of Religious Education at Brigham Young University-Idaho. He is a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Mormon History.

Leland Homer Gentry. A History of the Latter-day Saints in Northern Missouri from 1836 to 1839. 1965; reprinted, Provo, Utah: Joseph Fielding Smith Institute for Latter-day Saint History and BYU Studies, 2000. xi, 279 pp. Notes, bibliography, index. $19.95 paper. ISBN 0-8425-2469-X Buy it now!

Reviewed by Donald Q. Cannon (Reviewed April 2004)

When Leland Gentry wrote his dissertation on the Mormons in Missouri in the 1960s, he was not alone. In that era several of his colleagues in the Church Educational System (CES) produced doctoral dissertations about the LDS Church which, taken together, constituted a major scholarly contribution to the study of Mormon history. Some of those authors include Gwynn Barrett, C. Kent Dunford, Reed C. Durham Jr., Kenneth W. Godfrey, Leon R. Hartshorn, Robert J. Matthews, Larry C. Porter, Gilbert W. Scharffs, and A. Dean Wengreen.

These dissertations have stood the test of time, as students of Mormon history still consult them regularly. Consequently, the Joseph Fielding Smith Institute for Latter-day Saint History and BYU Studies have begun publishing some of these works. Gentry's study of Missouri is among those recently issued in this new series.

The title of Gentry's dissertation, "A History of the Latter-day Saints in Northern Missouri from 1836 to 1839," succinctly summarizes the parameters of the work. The dissertation consists of four sections: Mormonism's historical background to that point, the Mormon settlement effort in northern Missouri, the Mormon War of 1838, and events after the war (i.e., the incarceration of Joseph Smith and his colleagues in Liberty Jail, the exodus to Illinois, and the Saints' redress efforts).

Gentry's dissertation provides solid coverage on all of these areas and is especially strong in some particular parts. His work on the Danites, for example, is of special interest for two reasons: first, Gentry's work makes several contributions to Danite scholarship; and second, he has emerged as a principal protagonist in the debate over the role of this Mormon military group. As one contribution, he points out that the Danite organization had various names: the Brothers of Gideon, Daughters of Zion, and the Big Fan. He further notes that this paramilitary organization was formed initially to expel Mormon dissenters from Caldwell County; that there were two Danite groups, one in Caldwell County and one in Daviess County at Adam-ondi-Ahman; that Sampson Avard had command of the Caldwell group while Lyman Wight commanded the unit in Daviess County; and that the original purpose of the Danites shifted from expelling dissenters to defending the Saints from the Missouri mobs. He also discusses the dominant role of Sampson Avard and the secretive nature assumed by the Danites under his leadership. In fact, Joseph Smith referred to the Danites as a "Secret Combination," referring to the group's use of secret oaths, covenants, and secret meetings. In regards to Joseph Smith's relationship to the Danites, Gentry maintains that their questionable activities were unknown to the Prophet and resulted from the influences of Sampson Avard. To Gentry, Avard is guilty and Joseph Smith is innocent.

This position has placed Leland Gentry at odds with such later writers as Stephen LeSeuer, who maintains that Joseph Smith had full knowledge of all the activities of the Danites, including their raids against the people of Missouri.

In terms of style, Gentry's dissertation is written in clear, though not particularly exciting, prose. The tone is basically one of conveying the facts, not in stimulating the reader's interest. For example, this passage comes from the introduction to Chapter 11 on the Haun's Mill Massacre:

The most tragic and long-remembered event of the Mormon War was "Haun's Mill Massacre." This tragedy, which terminated in the deaths of seventeen Latter-day Saints, occurred on October 30, 1838, just three days after the appearance of Governor Boggs's "Order of Extermination." Only one brief eye-witness account of the event is available from the non-Mormon point of view. This is due, in part, to the fact that those who participated in the occurrence were careful to conceal their deeds beneath a cloak of secrecy. Two non-Mormon accounts, written in later years by non-participants, have also been located. (153)

Gentry's dissertation on the Mormons in Missouri makes a substantial contribution to our understanding of early Mormonism. Gentry has conducted thorough and careful research, using all available sources. The material presented is forthright and easy to understand. It has stood the test of time – that is, it is still used as a good source for historical research.

The dissertation is generally still the best information available on the subject and will no doubt continue its usefulness for another generation when a projected revision, undertaken by Todd Compton, is published by Greg Kofford Books. In the meantime, more specialized studies have provided closer looks at some aspects of the Missouri experience. In addition to Stephen C. LeSueur's The 1838 Mormon War in Missouri (Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1987) is Alexander Baugh's "`A Call to Arms': The 1838 Mormon Defense of Northern Missouri" (Ph.D. diss., Brigham Young University, 1996), also published in the JFS Institute series. This study places Mormon military efforts in the broader context of U.S. history, particularly how the Latter-day Saints militia contrasted with other state militias.

Since this review has been placed in the broader context of dissertations being published by the Joseph Fielding Smith Institute for Latter-day Saint History and BYU Studies, it would probably be appropriate to comment on this publishing project. The paperback format is both attractive and readable, and makes these studies available in a convenient format. It would have been helpful, however, if the footnote citations and bibliography were updated. Gentry, for instance, abbreviates the seven-volume History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as the "DHC" (Documentary History of the Church). Although this abbreviation was the accepted form at the time he wrote, the preferred short title form is now History of the Church abbreviated as "HC," and the continued use of the older term may cause confusion among contemporary readers. Gentry also referred several times to the manuscript Far West Record, but contemporary readers will be able to find it more conveniently in its published form: Far West Record: Minutes of the Church Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1830-1844, edited by Donald Q. Cannon and Lyndon W. Cook (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1983). Finally, the bibliography and notes should be updated to include the newer studies of the Mormons in Missouri, chief among which is the Baugh dissertation.

In conclusion, the publication of these dissertations is a worthwhile project and Leland Gentry's work is a valuable part of that project. Both the dissertation by Gentry and the new publication series constitute an important contribution to an understanding of Mormon history.

DONALD Q. CANNON {donald_cannon@byu.edu) is a professor of Church history and doctrine at Brigham Young University. Among his books is Encyclopedia of Latter-day Saint History, edited with Arnold K. Garr and Richard O. Cowan (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2000).

Dan Vogel and Brent Lee Metcalfe, eds. American Apocrypha: Essays on the Book of Mormon. Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 2002. xvii, 469 pp. Paper: $21.95; ISBN 1-56085-151-1 Buy it now!

Reviewed by Paul M. Edwards (Reviewed April 2004)

American Apocrypha is the latest in Signature Book's excellent Essays on Mormonism Series. Well produced, edited by serious scholars, and containing essays by nine well-informed authors, this study of the Book of Mormon makes an essential contribution to the understanding of the complexities of Mormonism.

The collection is exactly what it purports to be, a reasoned look at the Book of Mormon. The editors introduce their perspective by stating: "The nature of faith is not what is at question here, but rather the structure of reason and theory" (xiii). The work presented is, almost without exception, outlined with clarity and kindness. I suspect that no one reading this collection would find their belief in the divine origins of the book either strengthened or weakened. However, there is little doubt that, if they pay close attention, they will at least understand the source of concern expressed by so many people. The problems that many have with the Book of Mormon are inherent in the fact that it reflects times, places, and understandings that are not consistent with what we know from other sources about these same times, places, and events.

The essays in this collection, as is often the case, are of varied interest and insight, but I found all of them well crafted and interesting. Each has supplied notes and illustrations to support his or her comments. Edwin Firmage Jr. suggests evidence to question the assumptions of antiquity concerning the book in an essay he calls "A Personal Encounter," while Old Testament scholar David P. Wright proposes a modern source, the King James Version, for the Isaiah passages in the Book of Mormon. Anthropologist Thomas W. Murphy also focuses on the book's claims of antiquity, providing a significant challenge based on patterns of DNA distribution to the popularly held Mormon understanding that Native Americans had Jewish ancestry.

Addressing concerns over the role of the "author" of the Book of Mormon, Susan Staker makes the case for a parallel between the developing message of the book and the Prophet's evolving self-image. Scott C. Dunn discusses the historical significance of "automatic writing" and raises questions about the manner in which one set of such writings might be more or less acceptable than another. Dealing with the authorship of the Book of Mormon, Robert M. Price compares Joseph Smith with the pseudepi- graphists (I wish I'd said that), presenting the possibility that the founder of Mormonism was simply trying to find a way to give ancient authority to new conceptions by the use of well-known Bible stories and American myths.

Vogel has two essays dealing with the environment in which the Book of Mormon made its appearance. In the first, he questions the legitimacy of the claims of the three and eight witnesses that they saw and, in some cases, handled the plates. He argues that their witness was more plausibly based on a visionary, rather than a physical, experience. His second essay also challenges those who would question the connection between the secret practices of an expanding Mormonism with the rites and rituals of early nineteenth-century Freemasonry.

In a delightful essay on B. H. Roberts, George Smith sympathetically documents how this remarkable man, ecclesiastical leader, and apologist began to question the source of the Book of Mormon toward the end of his life because of the vast difficulties he found with its historical and archeological claims.

What constitutes belief remains the penultimate question of men and women of faith. The degree to which the codifications of reason must be sacrificed to the fires of faith is, in itself, a matter of belief. Thus, the universal problem is created for those for whom faith must emerge from, and be ultimately dependent on, a source for which there is so little evidence of legitimacy.