Ultimately these utopian views proved unfeasible. As the church neared bankruptcy, President David O. McKay found it necessary to relieve Moyle of all administrative responsibilities. Even so, Moyle's influence can be seen today. His can-do spirit and aggresiveness left an imprint on the visible church around the world, as well as in the increased pride of its membership. His unyielding commitment to growth and his indomitable confidence in the future attest to his remarkable faith, however unorthodox his methodology was.

In Poll's narrative, readers are treated to a rare glimpse of Elder Moyle's life and an understanding of the times, such is seldom afforded modern readers of LDS literature. For instance, in 1909 when young Henry began his three-year mission to Europe, it was at a time when the continent was still ruled largely by monarchs. He saw Kaiser Wilhelm II riding through the street in state and saw King George V arrive at his coronation. Proselyting was illegal in much of Europe, and once the polizei disrupted a church service to escort Henry from the podium.

The church was different then. As an example, missionaries had very few guidelines—something Moyle would later rectify. But as it was, he and the other elders traveled extensively on sight-seeing excursions, spent prolonged periods away from their companions, and attended public dances. Henry spent the last year of his mission stydying engineering at the University of Freiberg.

Poll's treatment of this period includes a fascinating look at Moyle's family: Alberta's resistance to being "a general authority's wife," her musical talent, and her sometimes independent-minded opinions. When the Moyles left Salt Lake City's downtown mansions in favor of the wide-open suburban landscape, they were among the first to do so.

For his part, Henry found personal interests in professional boxing, opera—to which he was exposed in Germany—and other pastimes. While an apostle he sat on corporate boards of Consolidated Freightways, Phillips Petroleum, and other firms. He arranged church travel to coincide with business, and took family members with him to visit friends, to shop, and to attend cultural events.

"Convinced of the validity of Mormonism," writes Poll, "President Moyle left the finer points of theology to others" and "concentrated on making the church an effective force for good in the lives of its members. Quick in sizing up situations and devising solutions," he was, as one associate observed, "a worker, a mover, who got things that needed doing done." In his diary, Moyle "spelled out a blend of Protestant ethic and noblesse oblige," and he spoke of "an enthusiasm and appreciation for the work at hand." In reality, "his talent and drive carried him to great influence and disappointment," writes Poll. At his funeral, Apostle Harold B. Lee contrasted Moyle's "deep-seated spirituality" to his "bulldog tenacity." As the biographer concludes, "President Moyle may sometimes have pushed too aggressively," but he "pushed mainly in the right direction.

Richard D. Poll, Ph.D., University of California Berkeley, was a professor of history at Brigham Young University for twenty-two years (1948-70) and vice president of Western Illinois University for five. He wrote History & Faith: Reflections of a Mormon Historian and Howard J. Stoddard: Founder, Michigan National Bank; co-authored Hugh B. Brown: His Life and Thought; and co-edited Utah's History. He was a contributing author to Personal Voices: A Celebration of Dialogue. He died in 1994.

Stan Larson, Ph.D., University of Birmingham (England), is curator for the Utah History, Philosophy, and Religion Archives, Marriott Library, University of Utah. He is the editor of two volumes of Apostle Rudger Clawson's diaries (A Ministry of Meetings: The Apostolic Diaries of Rudger Clawson and Prisoner for Polygamy: The Memoirs and Letters of Rudger Clawson at the Utah Territorial Penitentiary, 1884-87) and of Seventies president B. H. Roberts's The Truth, The Way, The Life, An Elementary Treatise on Theology: The Masterwork of B. H. Roberts. His other publications include Quest for the Gold Plates: Thomas Stuart Ferguson's Archaeological Search for The Book of Mormon and Unitarianism in Utah: A Gentile Religion in Salt Lake City, 1891-1991. His master's thesis at Brigham Young University was on the Book of Mormon; his dissertation was on the Revelation of St. John.