It’s the end of the year, so let’s count down my Top Ten Books in Mormon Studies!
A few notes:
1) these reflect my preferences & interests. Smarter people may have better lists.
2) I tried, but did not read *everything*. So I’m sure I missed some.
3) I cheated & included more than 10.
/thread
A few notes:
1) these reflect my preferences & interests. Smarter people may have better lists.
2) I tried, but did not read *everything*. So I’m sure I missed some.
3) I cheated & included more than 10.
/thread
Comments
Amanda Beardsley and Mason Allred, LATTER-DAY SAINT ART: A CRITICAL READER (Oxford UP)
A very useful and gorgeous collection of essays and artwork that captures the Mormon artistic tradition.
I cheated by including 3 memoirs on the queer Mormon experience: Laurie Hall’s DICTATES OF CONSCIENCE (Signature), @swilua.bsky.social’s BOOK OF QUEER MORMON JOY (Signature), & Nathan Kitchen’s BOUGHS OF LOVE (BCC Press).
Not Mormon studies per se, but gorgeous/significant.
JOSEPH SMITH PAPERS PROJECT, DOCUMENTS 15 (LDS Church)
The final volume in a two-decade-long, landmark series. Hard to overstate how important the JSP is to both scholarship & LDS community, & kinda sad to see it come to an end.
#10
Erin Stiles, THE DEVIL SAT ON MY BED: ENCOUNTERS WITH THE SPIRIT WORLD IN MORMON UTAH (Oxford)
A fascinating use of folklore and ethnography to understand modern LDS life.
Nathaniel Wiewora, SINS OF CHRISTENDOM: ANTI-MORMONISM AND THE MAKING OF EVANGELICALISM (Illinois)
Uses evangelicalism’s encounters with & observations of Mormonism to understand early American Protestant culture.
Jason Palmer, FOREVER FAMILIAS: RACE, GENDER, AND INDIGENEITY IN PERUVIAN MORMONISM (Illinois)
An important contribution to global Mormon studies by offering careful on-the-ground analysis with a sophisticated theoretical lens.