"Harrell’s prose is impressive, his imagery captivating, and his plot turns unexpected. He is unrivaled among LDS authors.” —Thomas F. Rogers, author of Huebener and Other Plays

As he approaches the end of a long and distinguished career, veteran historian Brigham D. Madsen turns an eye toward his final research subject, himself, with equal candor, aware of the same possibility for controversy, that has characterized his other works. Raised in Pocatello, Idaho, at a time when automobiles were just coming into fashion, Madsen's first real encounter with the outside world was on a Mormon mission to...

Abraham H. Cannon was the fourth son of early Mormon insider, apostle, publisher and pioneer George Q. Cannon. Because of his father's prominence, he was introduced to the highest realms of Church and Utah territorial leadership at an early age--an advantage which set the stage for Abraham to make significant historical contributions himself. As a bonus to modern historians, his diaries flow like few others from the late nineteenth...

Terry Walker is an even-tempered, successful mathematics professor, comfortable with his world—the order and predictability of it. He likes the kind of life one lives in a quiet Salt Lake City subdivision.

As historians continue to sort through the beginnings of Mormonism, Dan Vogel's comprehensive inventory of all relevant primary documents is an unparalleled achievement. In this first of a multi-volume series, Joseph Smith's family--Emma, Katharine, Lucy, Joseph Sr., William, and others--recount how they became convinced of his high calling, feeling "the spirit of God like a burning fire shut up in bones." These narratives are carefully presented in their...

In this ground-breaking book, D. Michael Quinn masterfully reconstructs an earlier age, finding ample evidence for folk magic in nineteenth-century New England, as he does in Mormon founder Joseph Smith's upbringing. Quinn discovers that Smith's world was inhabited by supernatural creatures whose existence could be both symbolic and real.

Her Side of It by Marilyn Bushman-Carlton, a collection of very fine poetry about a woman’s quiet rebellion against stupidity, her occasional conformity (although by choice), and the poet’s thoughts about social convention, family interactions, religion, aphrodisiacs, and exotic places. All themes that collide with the domesticated realities of the Salt Lake City suburbs. The poet helps us find rhythm, language, and love among housework, parenting, and occasional...

These diaries cover a decade, 1880-1898, in which Roberts was active in Utah as a young church leader. They are his apprenticeship years when he developed the skills that would characterize the rest of his career. Besides illuminating the character of the man himself, they also add much to our knowledge of this pivotal time in history.

The majority of Smith's wives were younger than he, and one-third were between fourteen and twenty years of age. Another third were already married, and some of the husbands served as witnesses at their own wife's polyandrous wedding. In addition, some of the wives hinted that they bore Smith children—most notably Sylvia Sessions's daughter Josephine—although the children carried their stepfather's surname.

In 1886 John Nuttall was famously on the polygamy "underground" with LDS President John Taylor. The revelation confirmed the continuance of polygamy less than a year before the Manifesto would reverse that determination. In 1889 the issue of concern was a federal challenge to Mormon citizenship because of suspicion that Mormons swore an oath of vengeance against the United States as part of the temple ceremony.