Over the past thirty years, an enormous amount of research has been conducted into Mormon origins—Joseph Smith's early life, the Book of Mormon, the prophet's visions, and the restoration of priesthood authority. Longtime LDS educator Grant H. Palmer suggests that most Latter-day Saints remain unaware of the significance of these discoveries, and he gives a brief survey for anyone who has ever wanted to know more about these issues.

Breathe Life into Your Life Story is an essential read for anyone who aspires to write a life story—but not just any story, one your family and others will actually WANT to read.

Is there anything new under the sun? No, says the preacher in Ecclesiastes. Yes, says Signature Books. There is a new book out, and it's a good one—458 pages of the most interesting discussion of current LDS topics you could find anywhere. Edited by Stephen C. Taysom, Professor of Religious Studies at Cleveland State University, it contains essays by fifteen contributors in what the editor calls the most important...

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.

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.

The first Latter-day Saint temple ceremonies were performed, not in Kirtland, Ohio, but on the second floor of Joseph Smith’s Red Brick Store in Nauvoo, Illinois. For nearly four years beginning in 1842, the prophet’s modest mercantile functioned as the de facto temple—the site of the first washings, anointings, endowments, and sealings. In contrast, the grand edifice known as the Nauvoo Temple was in operation for only two months...

Available for the first time fifty years after the author's death, Studies of the Book of Mormon presents this respected church leader's investigation into Mormonism's founding scripture. Reflecting his talent for combining history and theology, B. H. Roberts considered the evident parallels between the Book of Mormon and Ethan Smith's View of the Hebrews, a book that predated the Mormon scripture by seven years. If the Book of Mormon...

Recognized as a Mormon classic twenty years after its release,The Backslider features longstanding Christian conflicts played out in a scenic, sparsely populated area of southern Utah.

L. Ron Hubbard—best-selling science fiction writer, former naval officer, and people's philosopher—did not initially intend to found a new religion. But neither did he object when followers organized a church based on his teachings. The resulting movement has attracted millions of adherents from around the globe.

Award-winning researcher and writer Devery S. Anderson has brought together in this volume a comprehensive collection of documents relating to Mormon temple worship. These are official communications, most of them never before presented to the general public, limited only by what would be inappropriate to discuss publicly. They include rulings by the First Presidency on changes to the ceremonies, letters to temple and stake presidents and bishops reminding them...