During Recess
April 15, 2018Spring sneaked into town while court convened.
One noon, I walk from my office to my
old neighborhood and find it well-kept.
The ditch I’d hurtle galloping home
from school has been curbed and guttered.
DiaBLOGue
sonnet on life’s dangers
April 15, 2018cop and father, he cautioned us of more
than boogeymen and fire, in case of snakes,
freeze where you are, same for skunks and por-
cupines, brave enough to tromp on cracks,
Assimilation and Ambivalence: The Mormon Reaction to Americanization
April 15, 2018In the center of Salt Lake City, two important traditional Mormon symbols confront each other across Main Street: the angel on the temple spire and the beehive atop the now-closed Hotel Utah.[1] While the beehive…
Juanita Brooks, My Subject, My Sister
April 15, 2018I have recently finished writing a biography of Juanita Brooks. The fame of this Mormon housewife and teacher from Utah’s Dixie resides in the definitive books she authored about the Mountain Meadows massacre and its…
Mormonism, Magic and Masonry: The Damning Similarities | William J. Schnoebelen and James R. Spencer, Mormonism’s Temple of Doom
April 15, 2018The lurid title notwithstanding, this little book is not a sequel to Indiana Jones, but rather an expose of damning parallels between Mormonism, magic, and Masonry. The authors (most of the story is Schnoebelen’s, with…
Not Quite a Complete Meal | Edwin B. Firmage, ed., An Abundant Life: The Memoirs of Hugh B. Brown
April 15, 2018Last night I had pizza for dinner. Though I liked the taste, I felt I’d not had quite a complete meal. I also enjoyed An Abundant Life, the oral reminiscences of Hugh Brown Brown, a…
The RLDS Conference | The Conferring Church by M. Richard Troeh and Marjorie Troeh
April 15, 2018Dialogue 22.2 (Summer 1992): 146–147
In The Conferring Church, Richard and Marjorie Troeh present a detailed description of the RLDS conference process.
Drowning in Excess | Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies, Book of Mormon Critical Text: A Tool for Scholarly Reference
April 15, 2018Praise to the mostly anonymous team from F.A.R.M.S. who produced this massive work. They deserve praise first for dedicating so much time and effort to careful research through manuscripts, computer indexes, and printed material. Second,…
A Prophet’s Progress | Dean C. Jessee, ed., The Personal Writings of Joseph Smith, and Scott R. Faulring, An American Prophet’s Record: The Diaries and Journals of Joseph Smith
April 15, 2018No one today knows more about the handwriting, letters, and other documents produced by Joseph Smith, Jr., than Dean C. Jessee. Long a careful student of these primary resources, his comprehensive editing of the Prophet’s writings…
Mormon Woman Historian | Levi S. Peterson, Juanita Brooks: Mormon Woman Historian
April 15, 2018Students of Utah and Mormon historiography ought to be rejoicing at the flowering of literature in that field over recent years. Beginning perhaps in the last decade with Wallace Stegner’s biography of Bernard DeVoto and…