Writing Mormon History: Historians and Their Books

[JamesBYoung]

Writing Mormon History: Historians and Their Books edited by Joseph W. Geisner

"Joseph Geisner has persuaded fifteen authors of important recent books on Latter-day Saint history to tell the personal stories behind their work. History-making appears in a new light when you know the struggles and strains that writers go through. These essays help us understand that writing history is a deeply human enterprise."—Richard L. Bushman, author, On the Road with Joseph Smith: An Author's Diary and Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling   "Geisner's volume invites readers to hear from historians who laid important groundwork in Mormon history. In doing so, we are once again asked to consider how the past is shaped by its narrators."—Cristina Rosetti, independent scholar; PhD, University of California, Riverside  History books stand or fall on the content of their pages and the depth of research and analysis that the author puts into them. Reference notes may provide glimpses into the latter, but they do not tell the entire story. Historians committed to tell the truth, or to provide a fuller picture of a person, an event, or a movement, must be prepared to sacrifice time, money, and, occasionally, their reputations. Blood, sweat, and tears usually go undocumented, unacknowledged, unappreciated. This book seeks to remedy that.  In Writing Mormon History, editor Joseph W. Geisner has invited fifteen historians to narrate the backstories of some of the must influential, and, in a few cases, most controversial books published on Mormon history in recent decades. Going behind the scenes takes readers to new levels of appreciation for the historians and their books. More than that, the stories they tell are sometimes more intimate than one might expect.  The highs and lows, the bumps and bruises, the frustrations and joys are elements that mark the journey for any writer. Writing Mormon History offers readers unparalleled insight into that exhilarating, occasionally painful, always memorable journey.  Excerpt "As I left [the home of LDS Presiding Patriarch Eldred G. Smith] at 1:00 a.m., Patriarch Smith put his arm around my shoulder and then shook my hand. He said that I should come to his office or home to obtain the other information I wanted for the project his son had asked me to begin. His last words that I remember were: 'I am glad that you could spend this time with us, so that you could see that our bark is worse than our bite.' I left the home, carrying with me xerox copies of the Hyrum Smith holographs, the John Smith journals, and the Hyrum G. Smith notebooks. It was certainly the most extraordinary meeting I have ever had with a General Authority of the LDS Church."—from the diary of D. Michael Quinn, Oct. 21, 1977 About the editor Joseph W. Geisner is an independent researcher. He has published in the Journal of Mormon History, Sunstone, John Whitmer Historical Association Journal, Irreantum, and elsewhere. With Lavina Fielding Anderson, he created the chronologies for the three volumes of Confessions of a Mormon Historian: The Diaries of Leonard J. Arrington, 1971–1997. He is currently on the board of directors for the John Whitmer Historical Association. He and his wife live in  northern California, where they provide residential services for people with developmental disabilities. The Geisners are the parents of three children.