George D. Smith

GEORGE D. SMITH is a founder of Signature Books and the author of books and articles on American and Mormon history. He edited An Intimate Chronicle: The Journals of William Clayton (1991,1995), Faithful History: Essays in Writing Mormon History (1992), Religion, Feminism, and Freedom of Conscience (1994, a joint publication with Prometheus Books), and consulted on the award-winning film for PBS, "Mormons: Missionaries to the World" (1988). He has published in numerous journals. With an AB degree from Stanford and an MBA from New York University, he is a married father of five, living in San Francisco.

The Facsimile Found: The Recovery of Joseph Smith’s Papyrus Manuscripts: An Interview with Dr. Fischer

Articles/Essays – Volume 02, No. 4

DIALOGUE: On Monday, November 27, 1967, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City presented a number of documents to President N. Eldon Tanner of the First Presidency, who accepted them on behalf of…

Opposition in All Things | Constantin Costa-Gavras, dir., and Franco Solinas, A State of Siege

Articles/Essays – Volume 08, No. 2

At the time that Costa-Gavras’ new film, A State of Siege was cancelled at the American Film Institute’s inaugural festival at its new movie theater in Washington’s Kennedy Center, it was described as “rationalizing political…

Moral Tales for Our Times | Eric Rohmer, dir., Chloe in the Afternoon

Articles/Essays – Volume 08, No. 2

Chloe is the last and one of the most evocative of Eric Rohmer’s “Six Moral Tales.” The previous stories include La Collectioneuse, My Night at Maud’s, Clair’s Knee, and two shorter works for television. These…

The Negro Doctrine — An Afterview

Articles/Essays – Volume 12, No. 2

On June 8, 1978, word of a revelation to President Spencer W. Kimball and the ruling councils abruptly removed one of Mormonism’s more uncomfortable teachings and relegated it to the archives. As we bade farewell…

Isaiah Updated

Articles/Essays – Volume 16, No. 2

Dialogue 16.2 (Summer 1983): 39–45
This paper examines Isaiah’s prophecies in their historical context and compares their meaning as a message for his time with the expanded meaning that Christians — and specifically Mormons — have since applied to them thousands of years later.

“Is There Any Way to Escape These Difficulties?”: The Book of Mormon Studies of B.H. Roberts

Articles/Essays – Volume 17, No. 2

Dialogue 17.2 (Summer 1984): 96–105
In 1979 and 1981, members of the Roberts family gave copies of these works to the University of Utah and Brigham Young University. Roberts’s two studies, with descriptive correspondence, will be published this year by the University of Illinois Press.4

Humanity or Divinity?: The Last Temptation of Christ a film by Martin Scorsese

Articles/Essays – Volume 22, No. 1

Nauvoo Roots of Mormon Polygamy, 1841-46: A Preliminary Demographic Report

Articles/Essays – Volume 27, No. 1

Dialogue 27.1(Spring 1994): 1–72
Smith discusses the importance of plural marriage in Nauvoo to church history. He shows that after Joseph Smith passed away, Nauvoo polygamy numbers rose.

Editing William Clayton and the Politics of Mormon History

Articles/Essays – Volume 30, No. 2

Nauvoo Roots of Mormon Polygamy, 1841-46: A Preliminary Demographic Report

Articles/Essays – Volume 34, No. 1

George Smith Responds

Articles/Essays – Volume 43, No. 2