"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

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...

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...

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...

Mormon polygamy began in Nauvoo, Illinois, a river town located at a bend in the Mississippi about fifty miles upstream from Mark Twain's Hannibal, Missouri. As Joseph Smith married some thirty-eight women, he introduced this "celestial" marriage form to his innermost circle of followers. By early 1846, nearly 200 men had adopted the polygamous lifestyle, with an average of nearly four women per man—717 wives in all, with more...

In the eleven years since the New Mormon Studies CD-ROM was first released, computers have bulked up to about eight times as much RAM and fifteen times the speed. Taking advantage of these developments, the 2009 edition has greater computational capacity and is quicker. The content has not changed—only the software has. You will find that you can enjoy the same ease of installation and functionality as with your original...

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...

This book marks the publication of the first, full translantion of the so-called Joseph Smith Egyptian papyri translated into English. The papyri were acquired by members of the LDS Church in the 1830s in Kirtland, Ohio, and rediscovered in the mid-1960s in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. They served as the basis for Joseph Smith's “Book of Abraham,” published in Nauvoo, Illinois, in 1842 and later...

Two legislative bodies governed the Mormon community of Nauvoo, Illinois in the 1840s. The high council with its origins in Ohio began as a religious community's effort plan events and to settle disputes. In Nauvoo it was formalized as the governing body for the church. The city council gathered to pass ordinances on loose animals, impose taxes, and regulate alcohol, and more importantly, protection against arrest for Mormons, which...

Curt Bench's thorough introduction traces the publishing history of the revelations, which first appeared in a serialized form in The Evening and the Morning Star beginning in 1832 in Independence, Missouri, and continued through 1833 in Kirtland, Ohio. The volume contains parallel columns comparing the text of the 1832-33 revelations to those printed in 1833 in Independence as A Book of Commandments.