Among the Mormons: A Survey of Current Literature

If we are to believe what we see before us, we must conclude that authors interested in writing and selling books about Mormonism have boundless opportunities. Although most of the newly released volumes are modest works with little likelihood of becoming classics, they do in most instances offer pleasant, inspirational, and often interesting reading. What they do not do, or even propose to do, by and large, is consciously seek to broaden the reader’s horizons or understanding. 

While I readily recognize that each of us has widely diverse motivations and interests, we should still be able occasionally to share a truly exhilarating literary experience which transcends these differences. Those who are interested in this type of sensation should see Gene Session’s Mormon Thunder: A Doc mentary History of Jedediah Grant, Mary Bradford’s edition of women’s essays, Mormon Women Speak, and Juanita Brooks’s autobiography, Quicksand and Cactus. 

The rest of us (myself included), who tend at times to be less demanding, will find among the accompanying selections several well-written worthy of attention. However—buyer beware—it is important to recognize them for what they are and not what their respective authors claim or believe they might be.