New Bio: Brigham Young: Pioneer Prophet

[David T]

Brigham Young: Pioneer Prophet, by John G. Turner is now available for pre-order at Amazon.com.

Here's the book's page at Harvard University Press. It's due out in September.

Looks like the Holy Trinity of Mormon History Biography (currently including Bushman's Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling, Givens and Grow's Parley P. Pratt: The Apostle Paul of Mormonism, and now Brigham Young: Pioneer Prophet )will be complete. Early word from Mormon Studies scholars I am familiar with and respect has been phenomenal. I'm extremely excited.

Says Sam Brown, LDS author of In Heaven as it Is On Earth: Joseph Smith and the Early Mormon Conquest of Death, " It'll be a bit controversial in some sectors perhaps, but it's a wonderful, well-balanced book written by a sympathetic outsider."

This is exactly the book I've been waiting to be written since I finished Rough Stone Rolling. Anyone else excited about this one?

Edited May 1, 2012 by David T

[Log]

Nope. I don't even like RSR. Couldn't see the point in pandering to the outsiders. Now, a book by an outsider pandering to insiders - he cannot help but get it wrong. (Yes, that's prejudice - but long experience justifies dim expectations.)

Edited May 1, 2012 by Log

[Duncan]

What is the background of John G. Turner? is he LDS?, I noticed he is a prof. of History

[David T]

Nope. I don't even like RSR. Couldn't see the point in pandering to the outsiders.

What do you mean 'pandering to outsiders'? Is your complaint that Bushman's book wasn't a complete hagiography?

Edited May 1, 2012 by David T

[Log]

What do you mean 'pandering to outsiders'? Is your complaint that Bushman's book wasn't a complete hagiography?

Am I afraid to come down unequivocally for fear of cutting myself completely out of the academic discussion, like a Jew covering up his Jewishness or a pale African American trying to pass? I say to myself that I confess my belief on the opening page, and from there on I am simply trying to make room for a non-believer. Long ago I said on a radio interview that Fawn Brodie cuts Mormons out of her book. There was no room for believers among her readers unless they accepted the status of idiots and dupes. I didn't want to leave non-Mormons out of my account, so I tried to address them and say, I understand your needs. Do I go so far in this direction in RSR that I play pitty-pat? In my effort to make the Book of Mormon intelligible do I fail to convey my own conviction that it is true? And the same for the revelations and for Joseph Smith's divine calling.

...

I can see now that I could have written the whole book inside this framework. Instead of trying to keep the reader and myself in the same place, creating a common point of view amenable to believer and non-believer alike, I could have taken on the role of guide to a Mormon perspective on the Mormon prophet, acknowledging the differences and saying this is how we look at it. The point of persuasion would be to show the benefits of examining Joseph from a believer's perspective. What can you learn by looking at him through believing eyes that might be lost if you begin with the assumption he had to be a fraud. It would not take many changes to rewrite the book in that way. A few alterations in the introduction, a few others at key points would do the job. At these junctures, I would step forward and say, This is where a Mormon and non-Mormon historian will part company. Here is what you can learn if you will follow me. Once again, candor is the best policy. Why didn't I see that earlier? Live and learn.

Had he done that, I would have very little to complain about.

Edited May 1, 2012 by Log

[Hamilton Porter]

I'm giddy about the book as well. Probably not going to read it, but this spate of LDS bios from the best scholarly presses is exciting.

We got Smith (Oxford), PPP (Oxford), Brigham (Harvard).

[David T]

I'm giddy about the book as well. Probably not going to read it, but this spate of LDS bios from the best scholarly presses is exciting.

We got Smith (Oxford), PPP (Oxford), Brigham (Harvard).

Knopff actually published Bushman's Smith bio, but your point still stands.

[David T]

Had he done that, I would have very little to complain about.

I still think the book, as it stands, is fantastic, and is the best, most complete, and most fair treatment that's ever been done. Is it perfect? I don't think anything ever will be. But it's far more than I could have hoped for, and I gained a very strong appreciation for Joseph, and found a wonderful portal for beginning an exploration of Early Church History.

Since then, I've done a great deal of study and research around Joseph's era of Church history, approaching original documents, etc. Bushman's book stands as the locus and reference/context around which all of those latter studies hung. Other works came along to enhance, revise, and add to his work (such as Mark Staker's Hearken O Ye People, The Historical Setting of Joseph Smith's Ohio Revelations, Sam Brown's In Heaven as it is On Earth, and the John Whitmer Books collection Persistence of Polygamy: Volume 1, Joseph Smith and the Origins of Mormon Polygamy. , among other works, including great pieces in Mormon Studies journals such as Dialogue and Journal of Mormon History. The Joseph Smith Papers were enhanced for me by having Bushman's narrative, as well as those other contextual pieces - but Bushman's was the keystone, you might say.

I haven't dipped into significant studies of Early Utah Mormonism, mainly because I was spoiled with JS era material, and didn't have what I saw as a reliable and detailed foundational narrative text to center it around. The closest thing has been Givens and Grow's Pratt bio, which I view as a bit of a bridge (Wagoner's Rigdon bio was fascinating and helpful, but branches off in a different direction).

I'm very excited for this BY bio, as it means something huge for the way I personally study and approach periods of Mormon history. I haven't dug into the Journal of Discourses, because I lacked a great amount of historical and developmental context as a base. Following an exploration of this new book, I finally plan to jump into studies of BY-era Utah Mormon history and developments with some new perspectives and insights at hand. Plus the very many articles and papers on that era of history will suddenly become far more interesting.

I'm extremely excited.

Edited May 2, 2012 by David T

[Nevo]

This is exactly the book I've been waiting to be written since I finished Rough Stone Rolling. Anyone else excited about this one?

I'm looking forward to this one too. Turner is a newcomer to LDS history but he seems like a quick study. I'm also eagerly awaiting Ronald Walker's Brigham Young biography. Exciting times we live in.

[Duncan]

The book i'm looking forward to is the Paul H. Dunn bio by Prince, not sure when its coming out though

[volgadon]

The book i'm looking forward to is the Paul H. Dunn bio by Prince, not sure when its coming out though

When Hades shuts off the central heating?

[Duncan]

When Hades shuts off the central heating?

it's a real thing according to a podcast I listened to a year or so ago from Prince himself talking about Elder Dunn, I await that day

[David T]

There's a lot of fascinating biography-related stuff in the works. Check out the comments section at this post at Times and Seasons.

According to Gary Bergera:

Other forthcoming biographical studies include Elizabeth Anderson’s edition of the diaries of Anthony W. Ivins, Harvard Heath’s abridgement of the presidential diaries of David O. McKay, Devery S. Anderson’s biography of Willard Richards, and Jim Harris’s works on James E. Talmage. (And although he’s not an apostle, B. H. Roberts will be receiving new treatment from John Sillito.) Finally, there are rumors of contemplated biographies of Ezra Taft Benson and possibly Joseph F. Smith.

As for timetables, he said:

I think the Ivins volume will appear 2012-13, the McKay volume in 2013-14. The Willard Richards and B. H. Roberts biographies are Smith-Pettit projects; they should be finished by the end of 2012, maybe early 2013. Jim Harris’s books are TBA. And the Benson and Smith biographies are still only rumors, though if they pan out, they should be great.

[volgadon]

it's a real thing according to a podcast I listened to a year or so ago from Prince himself talking about Elder Dunn, I await that day

Call me stupid. I thought you meant Prince, not Greg Prince.

[Hamilton Porter]

Knopff actually published Bushman's Smith bio, but your point still stands.

I'm talking about Givens' Joseph Smith: Reappraisals after two centuries

[Duncan]

Call me stupid. I thought you meant Prince, not Greg Prince.

that would be quite the bio of Elder Dunn written by the artist formerly known as prince! haha!

[William Schryver]

What do you mean 'pandering to outsiders'? Is your complaint that Bushman's book wasn't a complete hagiography?

I know precisely what Log means.

What is interesting is that, in a recent conversation with one of the giants of Mormon studies and apologetics (whom I shall not name in this post), it was the word "pandering" that we both agreed best described significant portions of Rough Stone Rolling.

Don't get me wrong, by and large I liked the book. But my impression is that Bushman does pander, in many instances, to Mormon critics--yielding on points that needn't be surrendered.

[Hamilton Porter]

I know precisely what Log means.

What is interesting is that, in a recent conversation with one of the giants of Mormon studies and apologetics (whom I shall not name in this post), it was the word "pandering" that we both agreed best described significant portions of Rough Stone Rolling.

Don't get me wrong, by and large I liked the book. But my impression is that Bushman does pander, in many instances, to Mormon critics--yielding on points that needn't be surrendered.

examples?

[splendidsun]

Turner is Presbyterian. He has been working on this bio for quite a while and it is brilliant.

[David T]

I'm talking about Givens' Joseph Smith: Reappraisals after two centuries

I stand corrected

[cinepro]

FWIW, during the discussion a few months back of whether or not the Priesthood Ban was a result of revelation, I emailed Prof. Turner and asked if he addressed the issue in his book (or if he had seen any indication of a revelation to Brigham Young). Here is his response:

Yes, I do discuss the ban, and I attribute it to Brigham Young's horror over black/white intermarriage. [i don't think it originated with Joseph Smith, if you're interested in that particular debate]. That seems to have galvanized him into articulating the belief that blacks were cursed as descendants of Cain. In 1847, Young has well-documented and very negative commentary on intermarriage. By 1849, he has articulated the curse/ban.

In 1849, he emphasizes that "the curse remains on them because Cain cut off the wives of Abel to hedge up his way and take the lead but the Lord has given them blackness, so as to give the children of Abel an opportunity to keep his place with his descendents in the eternal worlds."

I place these thoughts in the context of mainstream white Protestant beliefs about black people. While his specific analysis might be a bit different, Young's beliefs about intermarriage and black people were not all that unusual. What is unusual is that the ban lasted until 1978.

There's more in the book, which is due out in September.

[WalkerW]

FWIW, during the discussion a few months back of whether or not the Priesthood Ban was a result of revelation, I emailed Prof. Turner and asked if he addressed the issue in his book (or if he had seen any indication of a revelation to Brigham Young). Here is his response:

Excellent. I'm very excited about this.

[David T]

While still technically not due out until September 20, my copy has already shipped from Amazon, and looks to be scheduled to arrive today. I've seen other reports of copies arriving as well. I cannot wait to dig into this book.

Brigham Young: Pioneer Prophet - get it while it's still $19 instead of $35!

[Gohan]

Brigham Young: Pioneer Prophet - get it while it's still $19 instead of $35!

I was going to wait on ordering it until you pointed that out. Here's hoping textbooks will be cheaper this semester so I won't regret this...

I probably ought to get reading Rough Stone Rolling, I've started it about four times since I bought it in 2008, but something's always gotten in the way.

Edited August 21, 2012 by Gohan

[David T]

...and my copy arrived! I will report back on my thoughts once I dig into it. Very happy to finally have it on my bookshelf next to Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling, and Parley P Pratt: The Apostle Paul of Mormonism.