Review of Books on the Book of Mormon 1989–2011 Volume 12 Number 2 Article 18 2000 Writing History Must Not Be an Act of “Magic” Rhett S. James Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/msr BYU ScholarsArchive Citation James, Rhett S. (2000) "Writing History Must Not Be an Act of “Magic”," Review of Books on the Book of Mormon 1989–2011: Vol. 12 : No. 2 , Article 18. Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/msr/vol12/iss2/18 This Mormon Studies is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals at BYU ScholarsArchive. It has been accepted for inclusion in Review of Books on the Book of Mormon 1989–2011 by an authorized editor of BYU ScholarsArchive. For more information, please contact
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[email protected]. Title Writing History Must Not Be an Act of “Magic” Author(s) Rhett S. James Reference FARMS Review of Books 12/2 (2000): 395–414. ISSN 1099-9450 (print), 2168-3123 (online) Abstract Review of Early Mormonism and the Magic World View (1998), by D. Michael Quinn. WRIT ING HISTORY MUST NOT B E AN ACT OF " M AG IC" Rhell S. In Illes Quinn's Contribution and This Review's Design Michael Quinn's revised and enlarged 1998 ed ition of Early D Mormonism (llId the Magic World View makes its finest contri bution as a resource about how se lected Americans believed in "magic" within the complex of cultural va rieties found in the nine teenth and twentieth centuries. Quinn shows himself an energe tic collec tor of in fo rmation, and h is magic corpus wi ll be of interest to anth ropologists and folklorists.