Mark T. Decker
Department of English and Philosophy, University of Wisconsin-Stout, Menomonie, Wisconsin
Not a Coveyesque Self-Help Book | Ronald W. Walker, Qualities That Count: Heber J. Grant as Businessman, Missionary, and Apostle
Articles/Essays – Volume 37, No. 4
Collections of scholarly articles often display their strengths in their parts rather than in their functioning as a unified whole. After all, the structure of such volumes invites readers to pick and choose and, if…
Read moreThe First Piece in the Puzzle | Emmanuel Abu Kissi, Walking in the Sand: A History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Ghana
Articles/Essays – Volume 38, No. 3
When teaching argumentative writing, a wise instructor will often introduce her students to what is called the principle of charity, or the realization that problematic arguments were composed by intelligent people who faced rhetorical constraints…
Read moreThe Un-Hagiography | Gregory A. Prince and Wm. Robert Wright, David O. McKay and the Rise of Modern Mormonism
Articles/Essays – Volume 38, No. 4
The term “hagiography” refers to writings indicating that an individual is worthy of sainthood. Chiefly produced by Catholics during the Middle Ages, hagiography takes many forms. The most common is the vitae—biographies that document the…
Read morePeer-Reviewed Genealogy | Val D. Rust, Radical Origins: Early Mormon Converts and Their Colonial Ancestors
Articles/Essays – Volume 39, No. 1
I have a distant relative who is an avid genealogist. She is fond of joking that, whenever two people talk about genealogy, one of them is bored. If this quip has any truth to it,…
Read moreMormon Pulp with a Reading Group Guide David Ebershoff. The 19th Wife: A Novel
Articles/Essays – Volume 43, No. 2