{"id":39720,"date":"2020-02-15T23:59:34","date_gmt":"2020-02-16T04:59:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/?p=39720"},"modified":"2020-03-24T08:32:29","modified_gmt":"2020-03-24T13:32:29","slug":"saints-volume-2-a-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/2020\/02\/saints-volume-2-a-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Saints, Volume 2: A Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

The second volume of the Church\u2019s official history, Saints: No Unhallowed Hand, 1846-1893<\/em> <\/a>was released this Wednesday.\u00a0 I just finished blitzing through the book and wanted to share my thoughts on the volume.\u00a0 These official histories walk a tightrope, balancing a lot of goals at one time.\u00a0 This volume, for example, covers approximately 50 years of well-documented history in less than 700 pages in ways that are open, accurate, and truthful while remaining faith promoting and doing so in an engaging and readable manner.\u00a0 That\u2019s a tall order to achieve all those requirements at one time.\u00a0 Having finished reading it, however, I can say that I am pleased overall with the end results and enjoyed reading the book.<\/p>\n

Volume 2 of the series covers the years 1846-1893.\u00a0 This is the time period when Latter-day Saints left the Midwestern United States en masse <\/em>and settled the arid region of the Great Basin.\u00a0 Missionaries went abroad throughout the world and converts worked to immigrate to Utah to join their fellow Saints, make the desert blossom as a rose, and build temples.\u00a0 Along the way, the difficult issue of plural marriage challenged the faithful, both because it was difficult to embrace the principle and because of stringent opposition from the federal government of the United States of America.\u00a0 The book explores these narratives through the eyes of individuals who lived at those times, with individuals like Louisa Barnes Pratt, George Q. Cannon, Jane Manning James, Susa Young Gates, Joseph F. Smith, and Jonathan Napela forming the core cast.\u00a0 While the book reads like a fictional work, \u201clines of dialogue and other quotations come directly from historical sources,\u201d and the authors note that \u201cutmost care has been taken to ensure its accuracy.\u201d<\/p>\n

One thing this volume of history does well\u2014more so than most major histories about the Church\u2014is to bring up the diversity that existed in the Church.\u00a0 Missionary efforts and the development of the Church in Hawaii is an important part of the book, and it also covers Latter-day Saint missions in Scandinavia, South Africa, Tahiti, Samoa and New Zealand.\u00a0 It highlights the contributions of African American Latter-day Saints, especially Jane Manning James.\u00a0 Church members\u2019 relationships with Native Americans in the Great Basin, good and bad, are discussed with more candor than I\u2019ve seen in prior histories released by the Church.\u00a0 Women\u2019s voices have a strong presence in the volume, with many of the main characters being women, teachings of female Church leaders being included, quotations of Eliza R. Snow\u2019s poetry at the beginning of the four sections of the book, and discussion of polygamy from the wives\u2019 points of view.\u00a0 Saints <\/em>felt inclusive and well-rounded in its presentation of Church history.<\/p>\n

The book is meant to read like a work of fiction, and the approach works well overall.\u00a0 I felt particularly immersed in the lives of Louisa Pratt, George Cannon, and Susa Gates and felt like I got to know them as people rather than historical objects.\u00a0 The book was engaging and kept my interest throughout.\u00a0 At the same time, it jumped from topic to topic as it cut from one person\u2019s life to another and often broke chapters in the middle of subject as a cliffhanger.\u00a0 The approach worked well for maintaining interest, forcing me to pay closer attention and remember prior events.\u00a0 At times, though, I found myself trying to remember which Joseph we were talking about or which narrative was associated with the viewpoint character last time we met her or him.\u00a0 There were also some transitions that felt a little jarring, such as the sudden leap from the founding of the Women\u2019s Exponent to the Bear River Massacre with only a quick \u201cmeanwhile, in Northern Utah\u2026\u201d between the two subjects.\u00a0 The amount of immersion in the narrative also made the Mountain Meadows Massacre even more disturbing and gut-wrenching than it already was to me.\u00a0 I suspect that feeling that way during the massacre section, however, is a testament to how well the narrative writing worked as much as it is to how atrocious the event was.<\/p>\n

The history in the book seemed legitimate to me.\u00a0 From what I\u2019ve read and seen in the past, the way things were presented seemed like valid interpretations of the historical record.\u00a0 There was a bit of covering the \u201cchurch history greatest hits\u201d like the story of writing \u201cCome, Come Ye Saints,\u201d Heber C. Kimball\u2019s prophesy about goods selling cheap in Salt Lake City, seagulls and crickets, Brigham Young\u2019s sermon on rescuing the handcarts, Joseph F. Smith affirming that he was \u201ca Mormon, out and out\u201d at gunpoint (sorry President Nelson\u2014he failed at saying he was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints), etc.\u00a0 It also introduces several lesser-known and infrequently discussed topics from our history, such as women giving blessings, the Council of Fifty, adoption sealings, racism and slavery among the Saints, the priesthood and temple ban, polygamy, and blood atonement.\u00a0 I\u2019m proud to report that Brigham Young even gets a swear word in at one point.\u00a0 People are generally treated in even-handed and fair ways, as we get to see their good side or an explanation of where they are coming from when they opposed the Church (though apostates and some of the more avidly opposed federal appointees generally get shorter shrift).\u00a0 The book also took the opportunity to address some of the difficulties of life, such as abusive marriages and divorce (Susa Young Gates) and facing doubts in the face of scientific information (John A. Widtsoe).\u00a0 It is a good book that helps Latter-day Saints learn more of their history in a way that is favorable to the Church.<\/p>\n

That being said, the history still feels a bit sanitized. \u00a0Church leaders have disagreements, but they work things out amicably every time.\u00a0 Ongoing or rougher disagreements like those that occurred between Orson Pratt and Brigham Young over theology or Brigham Young\u2019s outrage over Parley Pratt and John Tayler performing sealings in Winter Quarters are avoided.\u00a0 Some difficult or strange topics like the Adam-God doctrine, the full extent of Church leader\u2019s evasion tactics during the Raid, marriages with Native Americans, or murders committed during (and probably because of) the Mormon Reformation are also skirted.\u00a0 Church leaders repeatedly insist that they are fallible in the book, but usually in a context that is meant to defend them over minor mistakes or false accusations.\u00a0 My impression was that faults and mistakes weren’t really shown for major Church leaders–Brigham Young, for example, is a towering prophetic figure in the book and where he does falls short, it\u2019s usually blamed on people feeding him misinformation or a simple lack of information. \u00a0I understand why many of these things were left out (part of that balancing act I mentioned up front), but it left me feeling like there were a few gaps in the information presented.<\/p>\n

There were, of course, things that I might have thought worth including that were not included.\u00a0 The antics of the Nauvoo Legion as they delayed the U.S. Army during the Utah War is something dear to my heart that only had a brief mention in one paragraph.\u00a0 I love the words of Church leaders and theology, so would have appreciated a short summary of some of Brigham Young\u2019s theology that has relevance for us today (i.e., some of his teachings about the Fall) or of what Parley Pratt actually said in A Voice of Warning<\/em>.\u00a0 As a fan of B. H. Roberts, I would have favored the Cane Creek Massacre over the shooting of Joseph Standing when discussing persecution in the southern United States.\u00a0 As far as choices made that I might have avoided, I didn’t feel that it was appropriate to include a mocking editorial about the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints as a way to introduce the Godbeites or “New Movement,” since it can be taken to belittle the Community of Christ.\u00a0 I also don’t understand why Heber J. Grant organizing a dance was deemed an important subject for inclusion (beyond making Church leaders feel more like human beings, I suppose).\u00a0 Such things are personal tastes, of course, so take them with a grain of salt.<\/p>\n

All nitpicking aside, Saints: No Unhallowed Hand, 1846-1893<\/em> is a fantastic read.\u00a0 The book accomplishes the balancing act of being a faithful, accurate history that people will read and listen to.\u00a0 I am excited to have it as a resource to reference at Church, both for Church history lessons, sacrament meeting talks, and other discussions.\u00a0 I walked away from it feeling inspired and I gained a deeper appreciation for the sacrifices and devotion of my spiritual ancestors.\u00a0 I am satisfied with this book.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Further Reading:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Salt Lake Tribune\u00a0<\/em>article discussing the book<\/a><\/p>\n

Kurt Manwaring discussion with Matt McBride about the book<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The second volume of the Church\u2019s official history, Saints: No Unhallowed Hand, 1846-1893 was released this Wednesday.\u00a0 I just finished blitzing through the book and wanted to share my thoughts on the volume.\u00a0 These official histories walk a tightrope, balancing a lot of goals at one time.\u00a0 This volume, for example, covers approximately 50 years of well-documented history in less than 700 pages in ways that are open, accurate, and truthful while remaining faith promoting and doing so in an engaging and readable manner.\u00a0 That\u2019s a tall order to achieve all those requirements at one time.\u00a0 Having finished reading it, however, I can say that I am pleased overall with the end results and enjoyed reading the book. Volume 2 of the series covers the years 1846-1893.\u00a0 This is the time period when Latter-day Saints left the Midwestern United States en masse and settled the arid region of the Great Basin.\u00a0 Missionaries went abroad throughout the world and converts worked to immigrate to Utah to join their fellow Saints, make the desert blossom as a rose, and build temples.\u00a0 Along the way, the difficult issue of plural marriage challenged the faithful, both because it was difficult to embrace the principle […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10397,"featured_media":39721,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[52,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39720","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-book-reviews","category-church-history"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/saints-v2-hands.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39720","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10397"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39720"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39720\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40012,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39720\/revisions\/40012"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39721"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39720"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39720"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39720"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}