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Mormon People (2012)

by Matthew Bowman(Favorite Author)

3.85 of 5 Votes: 3

ISBN

1299180930 (ISBN13: 9781299180932)

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

Random House

review 1: Interesting description of the church (i.e. religious belief system) that is characterized more by evolving precepts based on the leaders' 'revelations' rather than a core set of theological principles. Hence the book does a reasonable job at explaining how the mainstream LDS church has evolved from the 1820's to present day. For balance, a read of "No Man Knows My History" about Joseph Smith by a niece of a former church president would add considerable cultural perspective and detail to the origins of the church not otherwise possible in Bowman's treatise.
review 2: Bowman doesn't shy away from controversial historical and cultural problems in Mormonism, including polygamy, excluding blacks from the priesthood, correlation, feminism/ERA/September 6, etc.The ... moreorganization into chronological periods is useful in making sense of what often appears nonsensical out of context (well, even in context there is still plenty of nonsense). His document sources for the polygamy time period are quite interesting. Some great moments:Quoting Spencer W Kimball: "When threatened, we become anti-enemy instead of pro-kingdom of God; we train a man in the art of war and call him a patriot, thus, in the manner of Satan's counterfeit of true patriotism, perverting the Savior's teaching: 'Love your enemies.'"Discussing Mormon arts . . ."Unabashedly sentimental and celebratory of its Mormon faith, Saturday's Warrior is full of reasonably catchy 1970s-style light pop music." haha, *guffaw*He is certainly an approachable and witty historian. less

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