Matthew Bowman

This book tells the 180-year history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from its founding until present time. This book focuses on the development of Latter-day Saint teachings and practices through each stage of the church's history. Each era is shown in contrast, and often in reaction to, preceding generations in the church, as well as the circumstances that shaped the movement.

As a lifelong Latter-day Saint and Mormon history hobbyist, I didn't expect to be surprised by anything in this book, since it was a broad overview of the church over a long period of time. But I had heard that this book was special, from a skilled writer and up-and-coming scholar who knew how to write for insiders and outsiders, drawing from all the best new research, marketed by a national publisher for the "Mormon Moment" during Romney's presidential race.

Among its strengths, the book constructs a cohesive, complete story of the institution and the culture of its people, and its influence from and on the story of America. It convincingly engages with church controversies without trivializing the whole religious movement. It doesn't shy away from hard topics. Bowman's writing is very readable, even though he focuses on the history of thought, instead of popular culture and so many individual narratives. There were many points where I thought Bowman could delve into rationalizations and explain extra background, but that wasn't his goal. He needed to cover the big story without litigating every detail and putting everyone to sleep.

I was most impressed with the chapters on the early 20th century, covering the intellectual leaders during the Progressive Era through to the 1930s and 1940s, leading to the conservative retrenchment of the 1950s and 1960s. I would guess LDS history usually focuses 80% on the first 50 years, and it was helpful to see the story in proportion. Understanding the 1920s-1960s explained SO MUCH about why the Church took its modern shape.

This is not the book to explain every detail. It does not advocate or challenge modern debates. This book explains who and why Mormons are in America.… (més)

I just moved to Utah from New York. I've been a Buddhist for many years and have had very little contact with Mormons... up until now! I figured I'd better get to know my neighbors a bit! This book was perfect. It's a bit on the boring side. It is just a quick march over the facts. An event like the Mountain Meadow Massacre gets maybe a page. But the context has been well set by the history up to that point, so a page lays out the basic facts reasonably well. I feel I could go read a book on that event and not be overly bewildered. The book covers the time from the lives of Joseph Smith's parents up to the early 2000s.… (més)