Read about the settlement of Utah through the words of Mormon Pioneer, Joseph Holbrook, as written in his journal. Also included are stories and commentary on The Next Generation who went into Star Valley, Wyoming, to settle when outlaws infested that region. Among the most interesting of these was Butch Cassidy. Fresh insights into Cassidys life and why he became an outlaw are revealed side by side with the life sketches of Anson Vasco Call II, the first mayor of Afton, Wyoming, and other stories of the settlement of the area. Shown here is the LDS tabernacle in Bountiful, Utah, (top) that Joseph Holbrook helped build and the LDS tabernacle in Star Valley, Wyoming, (bottom) that his grandson, Anson Vasco Call II. helped erect. Joseph Holbrooks legacy is far-reaching and extensive and includes the accomplishments of his many descendants.
Samuel Lewis, the youngest of seven children born to African American working class parents, and Hamilton Armstrong III, the only son of a wealthy white family and local leader of the Ku Klux Klan, grew up in the same small Virginia town, but lived worlds apart. They meet through mischief and despite the racial barriers of the pre-Civil Rights era, a life-long friendship is formed. Both driven by a passion for writing, they begin journalism careers at different New York newspapers, experience dangerous, as well as raunchy times in Vietnam and enter the sunset years of their careers at the same Atlanta newspaper where they are dueling political columnists: Sam pens the conservative viewpoint and Ham provides the liberal perspective. Unexpected excitement enters their lives as a bomb meant for Sam kills a colleague in the midst of their coverage of Barack Obamas rise to the presidency. Brothers under the same skin, Same Same sketches the lives of two talented journalists, one white, one black, in a novel that is part thriller and part morality tale. Doug Smith, a ground breaking reporter, undoubtedly lived the themes echoed in this book and he skillfully weaves a tale with a message that is both timely and timeless. -Eleanor Clift, Newsweek and Daily Beast contributor and panelist with The McLaughlin Group Doug Smith has written a fetching race-drama that flips the script on group assumption about life, love and politics. There is energy here, start to finish; and the tension puts the reader on his toes, then back on his heels. The author is quite savvy about the newspaper industry, mindful of its decline and guarded about newspapers way forward. But it is race politics in America, glancing off White House politics, where the novel takes on currency and makes itself a worthy book for our time. -Les Payne, Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and author People say newspapers are dying. Well, Doug Smiths new rollercoaster novel certainly sends them out with a bang. Murder, sex, race, politics, scandal--all set in the newsroom. I love it! -Tony Kornheiser, co-anchor of ESPNs Pardon the Interruption
In the years since 1945, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has grown rapidly in terms of both numbers and public prominence. Mormonism is no longer merely a home-grown American religion, confined to the Intermountain West; instead, it has captured the attention of political pundits, Broadway audiences, and prospective converts around the world. While most scholarship on Mormonism concerns its colorful but now well-known early history, the essays in this collection assess recent developments, such as the LDS Church's international growth and acculturation; its intersection with conservative politics in recent decades; its stances on same-sex marriage and the role of women; and its ongoing struggle to interpret its own tumultuous history. The scholars draw on a wide variety of Mormon voices as well as those of outsiders, from Latter-day Saints in Hyderabad, India, to "Mormon Mommy blogs," to evangelical "countercult" ministries. Out of Obscurity brings the story of Mormonism since the Second World War into sharp relief, explaining the ways in which a church very much rooted in its nineteenth-century prophetic and pioneering past achieved unprecedented influence in the realms of American politics and international business.
Counted as one of the first members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Lydia Knight's life story is full of hardships and revelations. The plot introduces her as a broken-hearted young mother. Lydia gets invited to Joseph Smith and Syndey Rigdon and the church. It gave her renewed hope and strength. These qualities guided this faithful pioneer woman as she moved from one place to the next, many times driven by an angry mob.
Each document has been meticulously transcribed and is placed in historical context with an introduction and annotation. Taken together, the accounts featured here allow readers to study this founding period in Latter-day Saint women's history and to situate it within broader themes in nineteenth-century American religious history.
Any Latter-day Saint who has ever defended his or her beliefs has likely addressed issues first raised by Eber D. Howe in 1834. Howe's famous exposé was the first of its kind, with information woven together from previous news articles and some thirty affidavits he and others collected. He lived and worked in Painesville, Ohio, where, in 1829, he had published about Joseph Smith's discovery of a "golden bible." Smith's decision to relocate in nearby Kirtland sparked Howe's attention. Of even more concern was that Howe's wife and other family members had joined the Mormon faith. Howe immediately began investigating the new Church and formed a coalition of like-minded reporters and detractors. By 1834, Howe had collected a large body of investigative material, including affidavits from Smith's former neighbors in New York and from Smith's father-inlaw in Pennsylvania. Howe learned about Smith's early interest in pirate gold and use of a seer stone in treasure seeking and heard theories from Smith's friends, followers, and family members about the Book of Mormon's origin. Indulging in literary criticism, Howe joked that Smith, "evidently a man of learning," was a student of "barrenness of style and expression." Despite its critical tone, Howe's exposé is valued by historians for its primary source material and account of the growth of Mormonism in northeastern Ohio.
