Devery S. Anderson

Letters to the Editor

Review: An Essential Conversation Matthew L. Harris and Newell G. Bringhurst, eds. The Mormon Church & Blacks: A Documentary History

A History of Dialogue, Part One: The Early Years, 1965-1971

For nearly thirty-four years, Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought has occupied a place, defined by former co-editor Allen Roberts, as the “pa triarch (or matriarch)” of independent Mormon scholarship.[1] And notwithstanding an increase of…

A History of Dialogue, Part Two: Struggle toward Maturity, 1971-1982

After Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought was founded by Mormons at Stanford University in 1966, it attracted Latter-day Saint scholars from all over the United States, and soon its success surpassed the expectations of…

A History of Dialogue, Part Three: “Coming of Age” in Utah, 1982-1989

By 1982 Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought had been publishing for sixteen years and had operated at both ends of the U.S. under three different editorships. It was born, flourished for several years, then…

A History of Dialogue, Part Four: A Tale in Two Cities, 1987-92

The late 1980s seemed like an ideal time to edit an independent Mormon periodical like Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought. Linda and Jack Newell of Salt Lake City were about to finish their five-year tenure as editors, and anyone taking over the job could foresee an efficient and successful operation ahead by just continuing what their predecessors had established. Crucial to that success was maintaining the tradition followed from the beginning that Dialogue change hands every five or six years, allowing new blood to provide fresh perspectives and ideas to what was, in actuality, a labor of love. When the Newells stepped down in 1987, they, like their predecessors, looked forward to enjoying the intellectual insights in the journal from a standpoint other than that of sheer exhaustion.