And Joe, you said this much better than I did. It’s exactly what I had in mind when I wrote that it was natural for the missionaries to focus on the part of the message that reinforced their commitment to the mission they were already filling. That’s what they thought was important; that’s what they shared with fellow missionaries; that’s what they acted on. In some ways the rest of the sermon didn’t matter, since this is what they heard and responded to.

But the quotation isn’t identified as the missionary’s impression of what he heard. It is presented as though this is actually what Brigham Young said. That’s misleading. JCLSmith isn’t the only one listening. To suggest that everybody heard what JCLSmith heard, or that Brigham Young intended what JCLSmith heard, is one heckuva giant leap. The words need to be attributed to the one(s) responsible, not to somebody who didn’t say them.

Slanted history in general was not my topic, although my references to other named historians and to “polemicists on either side” — language used to soften the perception of attacking a single author — probably blurred the topic. It’s a single example. One illustration, and therefore necessarily traceable to one author.

I regret your shock, appreciate the gentleness with which you took me to task, and repeat my premise: experience teaches that with some historians, including Bigler — but certainly not limited to him — I must check the context of quotations and suspect that the Mormon side of the story has not been fairly told.

Clearly the creative juices are flowing … I’d love to respond to “just me”s ten (or is it eleven) questions, but I just don’t have the time. If “just me” is indeed serious in knowing the answers, I’d urge her/him to invest a little time in reading my article “Loose in the Stacks: A Half Century with the Utah War and its Legacy” in Dialogue 40 (Spring 2007): 43-82 which can be accessed here. This piece answers some (but not all) of the Charlie Rose questions. If not yet hopelessly bored, I’d then point “just me” to the Acknowledgements, Editorial Procedures, and Introduction sections of At Sword’s Point, Part I when it comes out in mid-March. All three sections touch on what I’ve been trying to do, with whom, and why. If that material still doesn’t do the trick, “just me” is free to contact me directly via MacKBP att msn dott com.

Bill (Ardis…David…Will… lol):

1. What motives your interest in early Utah history?
2. What are the main things you working on right now?
3. Who are other players during your history writing careers: academics, institutional leaders, publishers, media folks? That is, what relationships driven “personal history” has gone into the making of your historical researches?
4. Who do you consider your audience? Whose opinions are you mostly trying just to “augment,” and whose are you moreso trying to “change”? Are there any societal factions you imagine yourself to be championing? Who have been your most and least enthusiastic audiences? Why?
5. What common understandings do you share with your main critics? What little known, misunderstood, or disputed information leads you to alternate views? On what authority or bases do you ground any controversial views and why?
6.With regard to what you hold as truths you have come across in your researches, truths that may well be hard to hear for some: what have you experienced in their transmission and what have you learned about the means chosen to do so? What have you learned from colleagues and/or what points have you conceded or do you concede to critics?
7. Are there things you criticize in your writings that may have redeeming aspects about them, upon further meditation?
8. What heroic actions or sympathetically poignant actors of your historical researches inspire you? Do you tend to highlight the same or rather seek to remain utterly objective or some combination of the two?
9. What specific aspects of writing style or historical expertise have been most praised in general and by whom? Within what literary expressions or scholarly accomplishments have you found the most self-satisfaction? What, if any, experimental aspects of writing style do you imagine you might like to experiment more in? Or are there beckoning avenues of historical apparatus you might test and explore?
10. What motiffs/ conflicts from your upbringing/ your inner life are reflected in your writings/ influence what you tend to dwell on/ question? What values (truth? objectivity? reconciliations? democracy? justice?) and assumptions as to their relative importance infuse your work or do you hope it will exemplify or extol?

Comment by truebluethru\’n\’thru — 11/23/2007 @ 9:24 pm

No. 11 should be things you have criticized in your writings (not “are” criticized). Sorry

Comment by truebluethru\’n\’thru — 11/23/2007 @ 9:28 pm

Will,
While I’ll agree you haven’t always been treated fairly here, there are PLENTY of True Believers who have been treated far less fairly on the pages of T&S. And I’m not saying that to dog this blog. This is one of my absolute favorites. But some people just like to vent spleen. Look back at any discussion involving politics here and you’ll find far more aggressive haranguing than you’ve personally experienced here. You might think most of the readers here just have blinders on to certain things, but I promise you that if I were invited to guest post here and I made the argument that BY couldn’t have ever been responsible for any wrongdoing because he was a true prophet I’d be laughed out of here–and not likely invited to continue my guest-posting stint.

Some here might not agree with some of your conclusions, but it isn’t for any of the strawman reasons you appear to imbibe. You really want to feel really insulted by T&S readers, make a comment under a pseudonym wherein you suggest that good Mormons shouldn’t watch rated R movies, that Joseph Smith didn’t lie about polygamy, that all that Adam-God stuff was just a big misunderstanding that doesn’t mean anything, that all abortions should be illegal, or that Mike Quinn is an anti-Mormon.

Comment by Brad Kramer — 11/24/2007 @ 1:14 am

I hereby promise that if Will Bagley does a guest post or a Q&A series, all my comments will be rainbows and butterflies.

Comment by Ann — 11/24/2007 @ 1:36 am

I would give my oldest son to be able to see the kind of posts Ardis has requested with Will. (OK, many days that’s not much of a sacrifice, but I can’t bring myself to give up any of my daughters.)

Comment by Ray — 11/24/2007 @ 1:42 am

Re: # 30. This list reminds me of a page and a half list of questions I received from a BYU student considering attending the law school I currently attend. That list was too long and too detailed, and so is this. While I would be interested in anything Will Bagley would be interested in saying, I would not blame him for disregarding this list.

Comment by Ugly Mahana — 11/24/2007 @ 1:49 am

No, I was just reeling ‘em off. I don’t expect Will to respond to any off them, necessarily. (I’m tired so chances are these following won’t come off quite right, and also could well be even airy-fairy-er than the ones above, but here goes.)

Compound-question 13 (continued).