Summer 1996
The Summer 1996 Issue addresses diverse aspects of Mormon history, theology, social issues, and literary analysis. Todd M. Compton provides an overview of Joseph Smith’s thirty-three plural marriages, exploring the complexities of early Mormon pluralism. Kenneth O. Kemp’s piece, titled "3/4″ Marine Ply," takes a different approach, potentially focusing on personal or cultural insights. Ken Driggs reflects on moral and ethical perspectives surrounding the death penalty. J. Michael Cleverley discusses Mormonism through the lens of economic and cultural globalization, referencing the "Big Mac Standard." Heather M. Kellogg examines Sonia Johnson’s life and activism through her letters and autobiography, shedding light on feminist tensions within the Church. Dynette Reynolds critiques the LDS Church's handling of sexual abuse factors in its data and policy regarding premarital sex, highlighting overlooked issues. And much more!
Preliminary Considerations: Counting Wives Some readers may regard the accompanying chart of Joseph Smith’s plural wives as overly conservative. Fawn Brodie counted forty-eight wives in her biography of Joseph Smith; more recently D. Michael Quinn…
I arrived in San Diego the day before Christmas to visit my mother and to clean out her garage. I am the fourth of seven children, most of whom live much farther away than L.A.…
During the winter of 1994 a man I represented was taken to a small room in Huntsville, Texas, strapped to a gurney, and his life was taken from him by strangers in the name of…
A few years ago a member of our Cambridge, Massachusetts, 2nd Ward bishopric and his wife made their first journey across the United States. Born and reared in Japan, they were anxious to see the…
The U.S. Women’s Movement of the 1970s focused on several issues, with passage of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) at the forefront. In the middle of this battle stood Sonia Johnson, a Ph.D. in education,…
LDS church standards require that sexual relations be confined to marriage. While the world in general seems to have grown more tolerant of premarital sex, church standards have remained stringent. Sermons, articles, and auxiliary lessons…
Thirty thirteen-year-olds stormed into my room. They chattered and waved their arms, oblivious, as usual, to my between-class presence and observance of their passion. “Man, he’s such a jerk,” Jared hissed to his huddled friends…
Dialogue 29.2 (Summer 1998):129–154
WHEN JOSEPH SMITH BEGAN TO DICTATE the Book of Mormon, he did not understand the structure the book would ultimately take. He did not know that the first part of the manuscript would be lost, resulting in a major structural change in the first quarter of the book.
He waited, but the dog didn’t come. He went back into the house. His wife was strapping on her brassiere, skin spilling over where the strap was tight. “Seen the dog?” he said. “Haen’t my…
There were times, especially lately, when he wondered if he were doing any real good—any human good—other than keeping the Mt. Taylor 2nd Ward safely afloat and on course. Maybe it was the weather. Monsoon…
The controversial Book of Mormon studies Elder B. H. Roberts under took in the early 1920s have been thoroughly treated in Studies of the Book of Mormon, edited by Brigham D. Madsen.[1] Roberts’s work addressed,…
Lying on my mother’s bed
listening to tropical rain skitter
across a mottled screen,
I hold my daughter, sprawled in sleep,
These bodies
look like they were pancake mix
that, when poured on the skillet,
turned out to look sort of human.
We had only cameras
and yearning, but the wind rasped
stone like a hot tongue
and cameras and yearning
Going down to the cellar
a child awakens to tendrils
of winter vegetables
that elongate like white worms.
Or so my father said—
the clock on the mantle silenced,
that family Bible
in his hands a weight in the pans
So many women on their knees
that if I knew how to tell them
they could find hope here,
or that there the men
In their introductory essay editors Roger Launius and Linda Thatcher provide an informative overview of the nature of religious dissent, particularly in the history of Mormon ism. They note that Joseph Smith, Jr., was himself…
My introduction to Frank C. Robertson was at the age of eleven when someone gave me a copy of one of his juvenile westerns called The Young Nighthawk. Years later I discovered that Robertson had…
