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Fifty Important Mormon Books

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Fifty Important Mormon Books REVIEWS Because of the great number of Church magazines and other periodicals and the variety of authors and subject matter they contain, they are not included on the list. This FIFTY IMPORTANT MORMON BOOKS does not diminish the importance of such periodicals as The Evening and the Morning Star, The Millennial Star, Times and Seasons, The Journal of Discourses, The Seer, The Juvenile By Curt Bench Instructor, The Improvement Era, The Relief Society Magagme, The Ensign, and the indepen- dent publications of recent decades: BYU Studies, Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, and SUNSTONE. Conspicuously absent from the list are the all-time most important and influential works-the LDS Standard Works: The Bible, The Book of Mormon, the Doctnne and Covenants, and The Pearl of Great Price, (including the Book of Commandments and the Joseph Smith Translation of the Bible). I have tried to be as objective as possible in my selections by seriously considering (where known) such cnteria as (1) number of titles and editions of those titles by given authors, (2) approximate sales figures, (3) area of distribution, (4) size of the Church or other population at the time of publication, (5) use of authors’ materials within the Church, (6) amount of reference to those authors’ works by others both in and out of the Church, and (7) the amount of time books have remained in print and demand for them when "out of print." But such data are often difficult to gather, and I have not attempted an exhaus- tive study. A list of the books which have had a significant influence on the To help create this list, I wrote to thirty- development of Mormon history, theology, and literature eight people who have distinguished them- selves in Mormon history or literature. I received and tabulated twenty-one responses, and their consensus is reflected in the list, but the selection process was subjective and THE IDEA OF DECIDING WHICH ology, or literature over a sustained period of ultimately mine. Mormon books are important is perhaps time. I have divided the fifty books into five presumptuous, certainly difficult, but I hope To be included on this list of fifty each categones and I will briefly discuss and ela- useful. By important, I generally mean the work had to be a book (or set of books) or borate on a few of the titles in each category. work has had significant impact on or a major pamphlet published between 1830 and 1980 Entries are arranged chronologically (not contribution in one of the five specific cate- -the first 150 years of the Church. It is too ranked in importance) and are referenced to gories described below. "Important" does not early to measure the influence of a work their number on the complete list. necessarily mean best or the most well-written printed in the last decade. We need the book nor the most informative or most inspir- distance and added perspective that time, HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY careful reflection, and judgment afford those ing. The books on this list have all had a signi- THESE works have made significant impact ficant influence on Mormon culture or the LDS individuals who ultimately decide-those who church, lVlany have had a great effect on the are affected by the work. Besides, 150 years and an important contribution to the study of development of Mormon historiography, the- is a nice round number. Mormon history and the lives of Latter-day The author of the work did not have to Saints. Biographical Sketches of Joseph Smith and His CURT BENCH is the proprietor o[Benchmark be LDS, but the item itself had to be generally Progenitors ... (#1) by Lucy [Mack] Smith, Books, which deals in fine and rare LD5 concerned with Mormonism as it relates spe- Joseph Smith’s mother, 1853. Lucy Mack books. An earlier version of this paper was cifically to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and no other groups or Smith’s dictated memoirs were published by presented in ]989 at the Sunstone Sym- Orson Pratt in Liverpool in 1853. However, posium XI in Salt Lake City. churches. OCTOBER 1990 PAGE 54 according to Peter Crawley and David Whit- M.y History, it is probably the most influential has usually been in print during its 130 year taker, authors of Mormon Imprints in Great Bri- book printed about the Mormons in this life. In their fine bibliographic work, A Mor- tain and The Empire, 1836-1857, century.’’2 mon Fifty, Peter Crawley and Chad Flake Brigham Young objected to Bio- Robert Flanders calls Brodie’s work "a describe this "masterly work" as "Mormon- graphical Sketches on the grounds that recognized standard work on Mormon origins ism’s earliest comprehensive synthetical it contained too many significant and early history" and says in that respect it work," saying "its scope is complete.’’~ They errors and a large part of the edi- is "unparalleled in the field, and may remain point out that it must have appealed to tion.., was ultimately destroyed. It so for some time, a guide to those who under- Brigham Young, for during the twenty-two seems clear that equally irritating to take less ambitious studies." However, he years after it was published, a time when vir- Brigham Young was Lucy Smith’s faults her for her own "anti-Mormon intellec- tually no other LDS books were being printed, favorable treatment of William Smith tual orientation" and "zeal to create the grand Key to the Science of Theology went through who had become an outspoken and ultimate expos{ of Mormonism.’’~ three additional editions. opponent of the Utah Church. For good or ill, Brodie’s book has had an The Articles of Faith (#19) by James E. Despite a small number of minor enormous and widespread impact on the Talmage, 1899. This book is an expansive errors, Lucy Smith’s history-the first perception of Joseph Smith and Mormonism treatise on the Articles of Faith-probably the Mormon biography-remains an within and without the Church. Published by nearest thing to a Mormon creed we have. invaluable source for the life of Joseph ~ a prominent national publishing house, the Historian Thomas Alexander wrote, "The Smith. book has enjoyed brisk sales for nearly fifty impact of The Articles of Faith on doctrinal This book has since been revised twice and years; remarkably, it is still in print and still exposition within the Church was is in print under the title History of Joseph Smith only in a hardbound edition. Most people enormous.’’r b.y His Mother. who know of any book about Joseph Smith B. H. Roberts and John A. Widtsoe also Essentials in Church History (#4) by Joseph know about this one. added several very significant doctrinal Fielding Smith, 1922. This polemical history Great Basin Kingdom (#9) by Leonard Arr- treatises which explored many theological was written by the Church historian and ington, 1958. This scholarly and objective areas in greater detail and with more authority member of the Council of the Twelve in an treatment of Church history from its incep- than had generally been done before. I have era when memories of public denunciation tion to 1900 was written by the man Davis featured Elder Roberts’s Sevent_y’s Course in of the Church were fresh. It was a time of ver- Bitton called "the single most important Mor- Theology (#20), a series of five Seventy’s bal and written attack and counter-attack. mon historian of his generation.’’’ A scholar Quorum manuals that were widely studied, There were few friendly histories written by in economic history, Arrington expanded and The Gospel: An Exposition of its First Prin- or about Mormons. There was no one-volume numerous articles and his dissertation and ciples (#18) which went through a number of Church history for use by members. Elder produced Great Basin Kingdom, the first editions. Elder Widtsoe’s Melchizedek Smith produced this volume in 1922 and substantive examination of the relationship priesthood manuals Rational Theology (#23) painted a very positive picture of the Restored between the Church’s religious and secular and Priesthood and Church Government are Church and a very dark one of apostates who concerns. Historian James B. Allen calls the included in the list. left the fold and gentiles who persecuted the book a "model of both thoroughness and A Marvelous Work and a Wonder (#27) by Saints. What the book lacks in historical scholarly integrity" and says Arrington "added LeGrand Richards, 1950. If for nothing else, accuracy and objectivity, it makes up for in a dimension to Mormon history that could this book must be on the list for the countless fervor and longevity. This book, which has never again be ignored or dismissed by those copies printed and read. Many hundreds of gone through many editions, was used exten- who would take that history seriously.’’~ thousands of copies have been sold, given sively for over fifty years in various Church In this book, Amngton set a new standard away, and read by Mormons and non- settings such as Melchizedek priesthood in Mormon historiography, one which has Mormons. It has influenced countless conver- quorums, seminaries, and institutes, and was had enormous impact in that field. He has sions to the Church and is probably second required reading for all missionaries for many influenced new generations of historians and only to the Book of Mormon in terms of years. One may dispute the book’s value as readers of Mormon history, including myself. an accurate Church history text, but one can- copies distributed for missionary purposes.
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