Adventures of a Church Historian details how Leonard J. Arrington opened up archival resources and presided, for a time, over an unprecedented era of enlightenment as he and those working under his aegis produced path-breaking works of Mormon scholarship. Arrington was the first professional historian and the first noncentral authority to serve as church historian of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a position he held from 1972 to 1982. Arrington's church appointment came at a crucial point in LDS history, when the institution was being transformed from a regional church whose ecclesiastical hierarchy directly presided over its congregants into a modern, worldwide church with an elaborate bureaucracy. His description of conducting research in the LDS Church Archives in the days of Elder Joseph Fielding Smith and Brother A. Will Lund provides a rare glimpse into the inner workings of the LDS First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. Riveting chapters on the actions of the controversial Historical Department reveal details of Arrington's release and replacement as the old system gave way to the new.
Leonard Arrington, who died in 1999, is considered by most, if not all, serious scholars of Mormon and western history as the single most important figure to write on LDS history. Great Basin Kingdom is perhaps his greatest work. A classic in Mormon studies and western history, Great Basin Kingdom offers insights into the 'underdeveloped' American economy, a comprehensive treatment of one of the few native American religious movements, and detailed, exciting stories from little-known phases of Mormon and American history. This edition includes thirty new photographs and an introduction by Ronald W. Walker that provides a brief biography of Arrington, as well as the history of the work, its place in Mormon and western historiography, and its lasting impact.
Brigham Young comes to life in this superlative biography that presents him as a Mormon leader, a business genius, a family man, a political organizer, and a pioneer of the West. Drawing on a vast range of sources, including documents, personal diaries, and private correspondence, Leonard J. Arrington brings Young to life as a towering yet fully human figure, the remarkable captain of his people and his church for thirty years, who combined piety and the pursuit of power to leave an indelible stamp on Mormon society and the culture of the Western frontier. From polygamy to the Mountain Meadows Massacre to the attempted preservation of Young’s Great Basin Kingdom, we are given a fresh understanding of the controversies that plagued Young in his contentious relations with the federal government. Brigham Young draws its subject out of the marginal place in history to which the conventional wisdom has assigned him, and sets him squarely in the American mainstream, a figure of abiding influence in our society to this day.
In this second volume of Leonard Arrington's diaries, the narrative takes him from initial enthusiasm and self-confidence to discouragement in late 1976 when he considered whether to offer his resignation.
Originally written by the father-daughter team Leonard J. Arrington and Susan Arrington Madsen, this revised edition was recently updated by daughter and granddaughter Susan Arrington Madsen and Emily Madsen Jones. Expanded to include all the mothers of the latter-day prophets through President Thomas S. Monson, and enhanced with photographs throughout, this book is filled with stories about the mothers of the latter-day prophets.
Adventures of a Church Historian details how Leonard J. Arrington opened up archival resources and presided, for a time, over an unprecedented era of enlightenment as he and those working under his aegis produced path-breaking works of Mormon scholarship. Arrington was the first professional historian and the first noncentral authority to serve as church historian of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a position he held from 1972 to 1982. Arrington's church appointment came at a crucial point in LDS history, when the institution was being transformed from a regional church whose ecclesiastical hierarchy directly presided over its congregants into a modern, worldwide church with an elaborate bureaucracy. His description of conducting research in the LDS Church Archives in the days of Elder Joseph Fielding Smith and Brother A. Will Lund provides a rare glimpse into the inner workings of the LDS First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. Riveting chapters on the actions of the controversial Historical Department reveal details of Arrington's release and replacement as the old system gave way to the new.
The best history of the Latter-Day Saints addressed to a general audience now includes a new preface, an epilogue, and a bibliographical afterword. "This is without a doubt the definitive Mormon history".--Library Journal.
Leonard Arrington, who died in 1999, is considered by most, if not all, serious scholars of Mormon and western history as the single most important figure to write on LDS history. Great Basin Kingdom is perhaps his greatest work. A classic in Mormon studies and western history, Great Basin Kingdom offers insights into the 'underdeveloped' American economy, a comprehensive treatment of one of the few native American religious movements, and detailed, exciting stories from little-known phases of Mormon and American history. This edition includes thirty new photographs and an introduction by Ronald W. Walker that provides a brief biography of Arrington, as well as the history of the work, its place in Mormon and western historiography, and its lasting impact.
Brigham Young comes to life in this superlative biography that presents him as a Mormon leader, a business genius, a family man, a political organizer, and a pioneer of the West. Drawing on a vast range of sources, including documents, personal diaries, and private correspondence, Leonard J. Arrington brings Young to life as a towering yet fully human figure, the remarkable captain of his people and his church for thirty years, who combined piety and the pursuit of power to leave an indelible stamp on Mormon society and the culture of the Western frontier. From polygamy to the Mountain Meadows Massacre to the attempted preservation of Young’s Great Basin Kingdom, we are given a fresh understanding of the controversies that plagued Young in his contentious relations with the federal government. Brigham Young draws its subject out of the marginal place in history to which the conventional wisdom has assigned him, and sets him squarely in the American mainstream, a figure of abiding influence in our society to this day.
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