The Mormon People

The Making of an American Faith

By: Matthew Bowman

Narrated by: Mark Deakins

With Mormonism on the verge of an unprecedented cultural and political breakthrough, an eminent scholar of American evangelicalism explores the history and reflects on the future of this native-born American faith and its connection to the life of the nation.

In 1830, a young seer and sometime treasure hunter named Joseph Smith began organizing adherents into a new religious community that would come to be called the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (and known informally as the Mormons). One of the nascent faith’s early initiates was a twenty-three-year-old Ohio farmer named Parley Pratt, the distant grandfather of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney. In The Mormon People, religious historian Matthew Bowman peels back the curtain on more than 180 years of Mormon history and doctrine. He recounts the church’s origin and development, explains how Mormonism came to be one of the fastest-growing religions in the world by the turn of twenty-first-century, and ably sets the scene for a 2012 presidential election that has the potential to mark a major turning point in the way this “all-American” faith is perceived by the wider American public—and internationally.

Mormonism started as a radical movement, with a profoundly transformative vision of American society that was rooted in a form of Christian socialism. Over the ensuing centuries, Bowman demonstrates, that vision has evolved—and with it the esteem in which Mormons have been held in the eyes of their countrymen. Admired on the one hand as hardworking paragons of family values, Mormons have also been derided as oddballs and persecuted as polygamists, heretics, and zealots clad in “magic underwear.” Even today, the place of Mormonism in public life continues to generate heated debate on both sides of the political divide. Polls show widespread unease at the prospect of a Mormon president. Yet the faith has never been more popular. Today there are about 14 million Mormons in the world, fewer than half of whom live inside the United States. It is a church with a powerful sense of its own identity and an uneasy sense of its relationship with the main line of American culture.

Mormons will surely play an even greater role in American civic life in the years ahead. In such a time, The Mormon People comes as a vital addition to the corpus of American religious history—a frank and fair-minded demystification of a faith that remains a mystery for many.

Critic reviews

Advance praise for The Mormon People

“The Mormon church has never been more important in American politics. In this smart, lucid history of the faith, Matthew Bowman explains a religion that many Americans don’t understand but should. With Mitt Romney and Jon Huntsman in the race, this is essential reading for anyone interested in 2012 and beyond.”—Tom Brokaw, author of The Time of Our Lives: A Conversation About America

“Matthew Bowman has brought us a cogent, judicious, and important account of a faith that has been an important element in American history but remained surprisingly misunderstood.”—Michael Beschloss, author of Presidential Courage: Brave Leaders and How They Changed America, 1789–1989

“What do Mormons stand for? Are they quintessential good citizens or troubling religious deviants? Why are Mormons running for president? Matthew Bowman offers a quick, lively, and informative trip into the heart of Mormonism. All who are concerned or just curious will learn a lot about the making of modern Mormons from this book.”—Richard Lyman Bushman, author of Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling

Balanced and informed

If you could sum up The Mormon People in three words, what would they be?

I'm not Mormon, but 2012 witnessed such a barrage of all things Mormon (historical articles cropping up on blogs, but also the New Yorker, etc.) that I needed a broad overview of both Mormon history and theology. Bowman offers an appreciative, but serious approach to this nuanced religious tradition. The sometimes strange history left me feeling ambiguous about Mormonism's role in nineteenth and twentieth century American politics.

New perspective, and good insights of LDS Role.

Loved it, loved the fact that the author reveled his resources. it was a well balanced book.

Fascinating historical summary of the LDS.

I knew very little about the Mormons before reading this book (except that my family consistently found them to be our favorite neighbors, whenever we moved to a new town).

Great introduction - and no attempt is made to convert.

Objective

Good book. I think it was written from an outside perspective. Enjoyable and detailed. Contains modern Mormon history.

A book about Mormons by a Mormon

If you don't know much about the Mormons and you want a birds eye-view, this is a good place to start. Although the writer, Dr Matthew Bowman, is himself a Mormon, he attempts to stay as neutral as possible in relating the history of this alternative Christian movement. While he should be commended for getting it right most of the time, he doesn't engage sufficiently with the criticism slung at the Church of Christ of the Latter Day Saints. His reluctance in discussing the church's theology in more detail might also have to do with him being a Mormon.

Yet he gives a good overview of the Mormons without much if any bias that shines through. While it is an interesting read, dealing with a great scope, it sometimes become tedious and long. The interpretative reading isn't always on scratch. It actually felt as if the interpretative reader himself was becoming bored with parts in the book.

But the book is a much needed overview of Mormonism and its continuous transformation into a modern American belief system. It is informative.

I can recommend the book anyone who don't know much about Mormons.