As with previous years (e.g., the 2024 edition), I’ve prepared a list of my top 10 books that I’ve read this year. (That can include books that were not published within the last year, though the majority of them were published in 2024 or 2025). Also, since I have published 30 book reviews so far in 2025 (with more on the way), I’ll include links to their reviews and relevant excerpts.

1. Holiness to the Lord: Latter-day Saint Temple Worship, by Jonathan A. Stapley. This book is fantastic and has a well-earned first position in this list. Stapley is masterful, sensitive, and economical in his explanations of Latter-day Saint Temple worship and its changes over time. I highly recommend this to any Latter-day Saint, including those preparing to enter the temple for the first time.
2. The Blood in Their Veins: The Kimballs, Polygamy, and the Shaping of Mormonism, by Andrew Kimball. As I stated in my review, “The Blood in Their Veins is one of the most engaging Latter-day Saint histories I have read this year. Both scholarly and accessible, it not only enriches our understanding of the Kimballs as individuals but also uses their family’s saga as a lens for examining the broader contours of Mormon experience. It is a welcome contribution to the field and will reward anyone interested in the complexities of faith, family, and identity in the Mormon past.”
3. The Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ and Evolution. As I noted in my review, “this book represents a landmark in Mormon studies of science and religion. By combining doctrinal sensitivity, scientific rigor, and pedagogical innovation, it offers a blueprint for how future generations of Latter-day Saints might pursue the ideal of learning ‘by study and also by faith.’” It’s available for free in digital form through BYU’s College of Life Sciences and is another book that I would highly recommend to any Latter-day Saint.
4. Building a Global Zion: The Life and Vision of David O. McKay, by Brian Q. Cannon. I really enjoyed this book. As I said in my review: “Despite its accessible length of just over 250 pages, the work is substantive, providing a comprehensive overview of McKay’s life while offering illuminating details on his accomplishments. … It successfully situates David O. McKay within a lifelong context, arguing persuasively that his vision for a global church was not a late-life presidential project but the defining trajectory of his entire ministry. By skillfully weaving together the grand narrative of international expansion with the difficult, human realities of extended leadership and decline, Cannon provides a nuanced, essential portrait. This biography is a vital contribution, offering a critical historical perspective on two of the most significant and enduring themes in modern Latter-day Saint history: the Church’s global transformation and the institutional dynamics of its leadership.”
5. Eduardo Balderas: Father of Church Translation, 1907–1989, by Ignacio M. Garcia. As I explained in my review, “Eduardo Balderas was the primary lifeline between Spanish-speaking members and Church leaders in Salt Lake City, serving as the first professional translator for the Church. His translations included the endowment session, the complete Doctrine and Covenants and Pearl of Great Price, a revised translation of the Book of Mormon, many general conference addresses, and books that were considered highly important at the time. … Eduardo Balderas was a key member of the Church who facilitated the global expansion in the mid-to-late twentieth century through his efforts as a translator, but he has been largely overlooked. For that reason alone, I feel like Eduardo Balderas: Father of Church Translation, 1907–1989, by Ignacio M. Garcia may be the most important entry into the Brief Mormon Lives series to date.” 
6. Planting the Acorn: The South American Mission, by Mark L. Grover. Given the 100th anniversary of the Church establishing a presence in South America this December, the book is timely. It’s also a great contribution to Mormon Studies. As I stated in my review: “The book was well-written, with a good narrative flow and solid historical analysis. It contributes to an area of Church history where academic literature is currently sparse. And while it fits within the BYU RSC’s usual devotional tone, it was not overt enough to cloy my appreciation of the narrative and discussion. It provides a solid discussion of the first several years of missionary work in Argentina and Brazil that will provide an important introduction to Church history in South America, while leaving plenty of room and direction for future studies on the Church’s development across the continent. I recommend it.”
7. Seven Visions: Images of Christ in the Doctrine and Covenants by Adam S. Miller and Rosalynde F. Welch. In a year that saw many contributions to literature about the Doctrine and Covenants, this volume is the outstanding star of the bunch. Theologically rich, pastoral, and thoughtful, Miller and Welch have knocked it out of the park again.
8. The Sound of Mormonism: A Media History of Latter-Day Saints, by Jared Farmer. I’m biased by my love of the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square, but I really enjoyed this short volume that Farmer has made available for free through Utah State University. It’s more than a history of the Tabernacle Choir, though. As I noted in the review, “Farmer’s exploration of acousmatic theology, institutional branding, and the political implications of sound invites readers to reconsider familiar practices like hymn-singing and conference listening in new light. Thus, Farmer’s work reveals a layered and nuanced soundscape that continues to shape both the internal faith and external image of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.”
9. Redeeming the Dead: Themes in the Doctrine and Covenants, by Amy Harris. The Themes in the Doctrine and Covenants series was one that I have been looking forward to for years, since theology and the Doctrine and Covenants are both my jam. While the final product wasn’t as well-polished or well-marketed as I would have liked for the series as a whole, there were a few standout volumes. Amy Harris’s contribution was my favorite. While devotional and pastoral in its presentation, the volume explores rich theological and philosophical ideas associated with redeeming the dead in Latter-day Saint thought.
10. Wakara’s America: The Life and Legacy of a Native Founder of the American West, by Max Perry Mueller. As I explained in my review, “Wakara’s America is a landmark text … [for] its restoration of a founder to his rightful place in the story of the American West. For Latter-day Saints, this is not an easy history, but it is a necessary one. It dismantles the myth of a vacant Zion. It replaces it with a more complex, more truthful, and ultimately more human story of a land shaped by the competing ambitions of two formidable leaders, Brigham Young and Wakara.” I found it a very thoughtful and thought-provoking biography, especially as a Latter-day Saint living in Utah.

 

Honorable Mentions:

1. 1. A Modern Guide to an Old Testament, by Joshua M. Sears
   2. The Pearl of Great Price: A Study Edition for Latter-day Saints, Revised Edition, ed. Stephen O. Smoot
   3. On the Overland Trails with William Clark: A Teamster’s Utah War, 1857-1858, ed. William P. MacKinnon and Kenneth L. Alford

 

In addition, as I did last year, I will just mention my own book as one that I like that has come out within the last 12 months:

Fragments of Revelation: Exploring the Book of Doctrine and Covenants by Chad Nielsen

 

Stay tuned for information about my next book—a biography of Zerah Pulsipher, to be published through Greg Kofford Books.

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For more book reviews and forthcoming books, see Mormon Studies Books in 2025.