The Photograph
April 26, 2018The magazine picture xeroxed a duplicate print
in my brain. Its caption Mother
cradles child dying of starvation
turned my thumb toward the page corner
DiaBLOGue
Mormonism in the Nineteen-Seventies: The Popular Perception
April 26, 2018Perhaps more than the members of any other religious sect, Mormons are preoccupied with their public image. It may be argued that such preoccupation is a form of narcissism unworthy of the Restored Gospel, but…
Illustrated Periodical Images of Mormons, 1850-1860
April 26, 2018Image history—how the Mormons were viewed by others—has been a fruitful approach used by several historians during the past decade.
My Fifty Years in Journalism
April 26, 2018Can a Mormon boy from the cow country of the West reasonably aspire to a writing career in the mainstream of our national life? What roads are open to him? Must he sacrifice his faith…
From Antagonism to Acceptance: Mormons and the Silver Screen
April 26, 2018Mormons have been involved in films ever since Hollywood became a magic word. Church members first tried to influence the Hollywood establishment, then went on to create their own film industries; finally, today a corps…
Nostrums in the Newsroom
April 26, 2018Nineteen Hundred and Seventy-Six was not a dull year for the 127-year-old Deseret News. Melvin Dummar, a Box Elder County service station operator, was named, along with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,…
The Church as Broadcaster
April 25, 2018The Mormon Church is a formidable broadcast institution. Through subsidiary corporations and institutions it owns sixteen radio and television stations, a sophisticated international broadcast distribution system, a Washington news bureau, a cable TV system and production and consulting divisions.
The Church as Media Proprietor
April 25, 2018Small wonder that churches use the mass media as a broad-based platform for information and persuasion. The communications marvels of our century make it possible for the LDS Church to reach a wide audience indeed,…
Canyon Eden | Emma Lou Thayne, Never Past the Gate
April 25, 2018A serious novel about children usually is fascinating to adults. Emma Lou Thayne’s first novel, Never Past the Gate, is a zestful story with a mature theme. Ostensibly a lighthearted, nostalgic narrative of a family’s…
Anthology That Sings | Neal E. Lambert and Richard H. Cracroft, eds., 22 Young Mormon Writers
April 25, 2018These five short stories and twenty-four poems are marked by talent, self-consciousness and unevenness. The stories are more consistently accomplished than the poetry, with one exception I will discuss later. I began at the beginning…