We are pleased to announce that the audiobook edition of Dr. Sara M. Patterson’s recent and highly popular book, The September Six and the Struggle for the Soul of Mormonism, is now available. In it, Patterson argues that the disciplinary actions of six scholars, feminists, and intellectuals in September 1993 was part of a much broader, decades-long cultural and theological debate over the nature of the LDS Church and its Restoration narrative. During those decades, the institutional church invested in and policed a purity system, expecting believers to practice doctrinal, familial, and bodily purity.
Click here to purchase the audiobook through audible and start listening now! Or pick up hardback or ebook editions here.
Reader’s Book of Mormon On Sale at Select Stores
Edited by Robert A. Rees and Eugene England, The Reader’s Book of Mormon is a compact, seven-volume boxed set featuring the text of the 1830 edition of the Book of Mormon, with an introductory essay in each written by a respected literary scholar. Although published several years after England’s death, the set was something he had conceived of and patterned after The Pocket Canons Bible Series. When England realized his illness would prevent him from completing the project, he asked Rees to see it through to completion. Contributors to the seven volumes include Susan Elizabeth Howe, Claudia L. Bushman, William A. Wilson, Robert A. Rees, Douglas Thayer, Linda Hoffman Kimball, and Steve Walker. With the Book of Mormon being the course of study this year in LDS Sunday School classes, this boxed set will greatly enhance your studies or make a great gift.
Though the Reader’s Book of Mormon is out of print, the following Utah-based stores have brand-new copies on their shelves: Benchmark Books in Salt Lake City (801-486-3111), Pioneer Book in Provo (801-225-2665), and Confetti Antiques & Books in Spanish Fork (801-798-0137). These stores are happy to ship books to you.
Latest Podcast Episodes
January’s episode was just released, featuring an exciting panel discussion of D. Michael Quinn’s new memoir, Chosen Path. The panel includes Quinn’s son, Moshe; Equality Utah executive director Troy Williams; historian Sara M. Patterson; and Signature Books director Barbara Jones Brown. The memoir, which Quinn finished before his death, was entrusted to Signature by his family for publication. Quinn was one of the most prolific historians of Mormonism and his many works were groundbreaking studies. His memoir will not disappoint. Learn more about this fascinating read by listening to this episode here or watching it here.
On December 12 we released a Signature Books Podcast and YouTube recording of our tribute event for Lavina Fielding Anderson, who passed away in October. Lavina was an important presence and voice for decades as an editor at the Ensign magazine, Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, and the Journal of Mormon History, and as founder of Editing Inc., where she helped shape numerous articles and books by others. She was also an insightful essayist and author or editor of several books of her own, including Mercy without End: Toward a More Inclusive Church, published by Signature in 2020. She served on the Signature editorial board for forty years. Many who knew her gathered at Signature’s offices on November 30 to share their thoughts about Lavina and what she meant to them, including her son, Christian, and daughter-in-law, Marina. To listen, click here. To watch it on YouTube, click here.
Forthcoming Titles Announced for Winter and Spring
The year 2024 opens with our announcement of several new titles that people will be talking about for years to come. We are excited about an anthology edited by Cheryl L. Bruno, Secret Covenants: New Insights on Early Mormon Polygamy. This collection of twelve historians’ essays promises new information on the Nauvoo era of plural marriage.
Signature is also pleased to announce the publication of To Be a Friend of Christ: The Life of Marion D. Hanks, written by Richard D. Hanks. Elder Hanks, called to the First Council of Seventy in 1953 by church president David O. McKay, served as a general authority for nearly forty years. Author Richard Hanks traces his father’s influence as an advocate for numerous changes in the institutional church, including humanitarian efforts, refugee relief services, missionary community service, a focus on mercy for the sinner, and a churchwide emphasis on “coming unto Christ.” He draws on previously unavailable primary sources—journals, correspondence, notebooks, and recordings—to share this first and only authorized biography of his father.
Another path-breaking anthology will be released this spring. Edited by Kerry Spencer Pray, The Book of Queer Mormon Joy is a collection of essays written by queer Mormons across the LGBTQ spectrum who, when they looked inside themselves, found divinity rather than sin. The essays in this book affirm that trans, nonbinary, intersex, asexual, bisexual, polyamorous, and gay people experience a joy meant for everyone.
If you were a fan of Joseph W. Geisner’s Writing Mormon History, you’ll love its sequel, Writing Mormon History 2: Authors’ Stories Behind Their Works. This title features essays by nineteen historians of the Restoration movement, telling the backstories to their work. Readers will once again feel a tremendous appreciation for the dedication and passion that goes into the making of historical scholarship, and future writers can get a glimpse into what is in store for them when they pursue historical research and writing.
The seventh volume in our Brief Biography series, Bruce R. McConkie: Apostle and Polemicist, by award-winning author Devery S. Anderson, is coming this summer. McConkie, a Latter-day Saint apostle for twelve and a half years, spent nearly forty years in the church’s hierarchy. He was known for his direct and dogmatic preaching style, which won him many friends and not a few critics. His book Mormon Doctrine was one of the most influential and highest-selling titles by a church leader, but also highly controversial. The same can be said of many of his popular speeches. And yet, McConkie the man proved to be far more complex than the stern voice most church members saw and heard at the pulpit.
Finally, our long tradition of publishing poetry continues. This year we are proud to release two books by established poets who are new to Signature. The first, coming next month, is This Insatiable August, a collection by Maureen Clark. Her poems have appeared in numerous journals, including Gettysburg Review, Alaska Quarterly Review, Bellingham Review, Colorado Review, Southeast Review, and Sugarhouse Review.
Darlene Young’s book of poetry, Count Me In, will be available in March. She has published two previous collections, Here (2023) and Homespun and Angel Feathers (2019), which won the Association for Mormon Letters Award for poetry. She is the recipient of the Smith-Pettit Foundation Award for Outstanding Contribution to Mormon Letters and teaches writing at Brigham Young University. She has served as poetry editor of Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought and Segullah. Her work has been noted in Best American Essays and nominated for Pushcart Prizes.
In celebration of National Poetry Month in April, mark your calendars now for an event featuring Signature poets on Tuesday evening, April 16!
Watch for more announcements in your inbox and on social media as each of these forthcoming titles are released.
