This Mormon Life

New Mountain Meadows Book Reviewed @ BCC

Over at BCC, Brad Kramer and J. Stapley review the new book Massacre at Mountain Meadows.  It will not be published until August.  Their post offers several interesting observations about the strengths and weaknesses of the book.  From what it seems like at this point, there is still not a definitive history of the massacre, but this book will add to the growing scholarly literature in significant ways.  Check it out.

(I plan on reviewing the book for the City Weekly in August or September.  I'll post a link here when it is published.)

The Mormon Church on Trial: Transcripts of the Reed Smoot Hearings

I just did a short preview of this book for City Weekly.  I must say it is an excellent book that opened my eyes to the full extent of how the Reed Smoot hearings was such a pivotal moment in Mormon history.  I would highly recommend it to everyone.  This book is an abridgment of the transcripts with meticulous annotation.  In addition to this book I would recommend the historical analysis by Kathleen Flake in her book The Politics of Religious Identity: The Seating of Senator Reed Smoot, Mormon Apostle.

The William E. McLellin Papers, 1854-1880

In writing for the City Weekly, I never have the space to fully develop a real review that deals with all the issues a book will present.  This is especially true of The William E. McLellin Papers.  It's a great book, but I only had enough space to barely get started.  I would prefer to write a more comprehensive, academic review - so stay tuned for where that may occur, but until then enjoy my shorty, punchy review.

The Sacrament of Doubt by Paul Toscano: A Review

Just wanted to let everyone know that I have started doing some freelance writing for a local weekly paper The City Weekly.  My first work is a book review of Paul Toscano's The Sacrament of Doubt.  Read the review.

A Jack Kerouac-Style LDS Novel?

Zarahemla Books is going to be carving out a interesting niche between the faithful fiction we see published by Deseret Book and "lost generation" type of literary writers who usually leave behind their Mormonism.  Will it succeed?  I hope so.  With more frankness and realism in Mormon fiction is only a good thing.

I got a press release for their upcoming book On the Road to Heaven by Coke Newell.  I wasn't real sure whether I would be interested, but now I must say I am interested.  Check out the release for the full story.

Big Love and September Dawn

I have noticed something interesting over the past few weeks.  The traffic for my blog has increased lately in which 60-75 percent of traffic is coming from search referrals looking for information about the Mountain Meadows Massacre film September Dawn or the HBO show Big Love.  But I'm afraid that there is not really any great information about those subjects on my blog.  But for some reason they keep on coming.

So what I have decided to do is to include a list of books on the subject of Mormon polygamy and the Mountain Meadows Massacre that I think provide reliable, scholarly, and balanced information on the subjects.  Scroll down a little and you will see my list.  I will expand the list as it becomes necessary, and may add other book lists on other LDS subjects that people are insatiably interested in.

New Fiction from Zarahemla Books

Zarahemla Books, the publishers of adventurous Mormon fiction and memoir, has three new books coming out.  Good fiction is sometimes difficult to come by in LDS publishing, but Zarahemla Books is slowing turning that around.  Of the three new books listed below, the Thayer seems the most interesting to me, since he is such a master writer.  Support independent publishing!

Conversations with Mormon Authors

A new feature of This Mormon Life will be to spotlight LDS books, some of which are not getting the attention they deserve.  To start off you should check out Conversations with Mormon Authors, compiled and edited by Chris Bigelow.  Most of these interviews are taken from Irreantum magazine.  If you missed them in Irreantum, then this book is worth picking up. A wide variety of LDS authors and what makes them tick.

"What makes someone a Mormon author? What influences him or her? Can a Mormon produce great writing and remain faithful to the church? What makes good Mormon creative writing? And how do you produce that writing? Twenty-eight authors address these and other questions in the fascinating interviews collected in this book.

Representing the full cultural spectrum, interviewed authors include Richard Dutcher, Eugene England, Brian Evenson, Dean Hughes, Robert Kirby, Neil LaBute, Rachel Ann Nunes, Carol Lynn Pearson, Anne Perry, Levi Peterson, Eric Samuelsen, Darrell Spencer, Anita Stansfield, Douglas Thayer, Brady Udall, Terry Tempest Williams, and a dozen more."

Frankenstein, Joyce, and Blake

Over at my other blog, Alternative Egos, I've been posting some papers I have written for English classes.  I am linking them here, because there are many insightful and thoughtful people in the bloggernacle, I would be interested in getting feedback, and helping me improve my literary analysis skills.  So, hope you enjoy.

Clay by James Joyce
The Literary Alchemy of Frankenstein
London by William Blake

W. Cleon Skousen has Passed Away

Prolific LDS author and teacher W. Cleon Skousen has passed away Jan 9th, 2005.  Details here.  Best known for his books The First 2,000 Years and The Naked Communist, I always enjoyed reading or listening to Skousen, even when I didn't agree with a lot of his ideas.