American Zion

A New History of Mormonism

By: Benjamin E. Park

Narrated by: Tom Parks

Length: 16 hrs and 42 mins

Publisher's summary

The first major history of Mormonism in a decade, drawing on newly available sources to reveal a profoundly divided faith that has nevertheless shaped the nation.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was founded by Joseph Smith in 1830 in the so-called "burned-over district" of upstate New York, which was producing seers and prophets daily. Most of the new creeds flamed out; Smith's would endure, becoming the most significant homegrown religion in American history.

In American Zion Benjamin E. Park presents a fresh, sweeping account of the Latter-day Saints: from the flight to Utah Territory in 1847 to the public renunciation of polygamy in 1890; from the Mormon leadership's forging of an alliance with the Republican Party in the wake of the New Deal to the "Mormon moment" of 2012; and beyond. In the twentieth century, Park shows, Mormons began to move ever closer to the center of American life, shaping culture, politics, and law along the way.

A definitive, character-driven work of history, American Zion is essential to any understanding of the Mormon past, present, and future. But its lessons extend beyond the faith: as Park puts it, the Mormon story is the American story.

©2024 Benjamin E. Park (P)2024 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books

The book’s narrative.

An excellent, well-researched, survey of Mormonism in America. The best book on the topic available.

The Definitive Mormon History for the Next Generation

Ben Park masterfully captures much of the nuance across the width and breadth and depth of Mormon histories. He is respectful of Mormon beliefs and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints while not glossing over controversy or thorny issues.

Well-Researched, Focused Theme

Benjamin Park connects-the-dots from Mormonisms beginnings to today with respect shown to his findings.

Mispronounced many very typical Mormon words. As a result, the book lost A LOT of credibility with me!

Presentation of facts was reasonably good. However, when the reader mispronounced almost all of the Mormon specific names (Moroni, Nephi, Manti, etc), the book lost a ton of credibility. Either the writer didn't listen to the performance OR (and the more likely) is that the writer really does t and never did have any actual experience with the LDS church. Otherwise, the pronunciation of names like Moroni and Manti would have been corrected. both the writer and the reader should be embarrassed....

Excellent book and narration

Engaging, thoughtful, thoroughly enjoyable single-volume history of Mormonism in America. Park traces the major social, political, and theological shifts as Mormonism reacted to, against, and integrated with the larger American culture. Park went far beyond the nearly all-white male priesthood hierarchy to highlight aspects of the larger story through the experiences of women, racial minorities, and LGBTQ+ individuals. The book will appeal to a broad audience as Park successfully argues how the story of this home-grown American religion reveals much about how the United States has changed over the last two centuries. Strong audio performance.

Fascinating

As an outsider, helped me understand Mormonism. Thorough and well narrated. I recommend to history buffs.

Great Book.

This is a great piece of historical work. Some of the names can be tricky for outsiders, but other than that the book is wonderful.

🄱🄰🄻🄰🄽🄲🄴🄳 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐛𝐢𝐚𝐬 !!

𝑰 𝒇𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒊𝒏𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒂𝒖𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒓 𝒑𝒖𝒕 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒘𝒂𝒓𝒅 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒇𝒂𝒔𝒄𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒎𝒅 𝒘𝒆𝒍𝒍 𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒅. 𝑼𝒏𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒖𝒏𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒚 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑳𝑫𝑺/ (𝒄𝒉𝒖𝒓𝒄𝒉 𝒐𝒇 𝑱𝒆𝒔𝒖𝒔 𝑪𝒉𝒓𝒊𝒔𝒕/𝑴𝒐𝒓𝒎𝒐𝒏/𝒄𝒖𝒍𝒕/𝒄𝒉𝒓𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝒅𝒆𝒏𝒐𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒆𝒕𝒄...) 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒐𝒍𝒅𝒆𝒓 𝒑𝒐𝒔𝒕 𝒑𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒆𝒆𝒓 𝒎𝒆𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒆𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒄𝒊𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒂𝒃𝒚 𝒃𝒐𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒓 𝒈𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒇𝒂𝒊𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒆𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒐𝒇 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒂𝒅𝒗𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒓𝒐𝒅𝒖𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒏𝒆𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒆𝒙𝒑𝒐𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒖𝒑𝒔 𝒂𝒎𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒔𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒚 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒄𝒉 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒂𝒏 𝒂𝒇𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒊𝒕𝒚 𝒕𝒐 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒅𝒐𝒄𝒕𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒆, 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒂𝒏 𝒂𝒇𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒊𝒕𝒚 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒓𝒖𝒕𝒉 𝒐𝒇 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑪𝒉𝒓𝒊𝒔𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒈𝒐𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒅𝒊𝒅𝒏𝒕 𝒏𝒆𝒆𝒅 𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒊𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒏𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒃𝒓𝒐𝒌𝒆𝒏, 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒂𝒍𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒅 𝒃𝒚 𝒅𝒆𝒏𝒐𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒍 𝒏𝒐𝒏 𝒔𝒄𝒓𝒊𝒑𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒂𝒍 𝒅𝒐𝒄𝒕𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒆 𝒅𝒖𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒕𝒓𝒚 . 𝑺𝒂𝒅

Well researched but limited in perspective

Many of the author’s ideas are conveyed in a vacuum when deeper perspective and tie-ins would have done better justice to a balanced argument.

Entertaining

A comprehensive and entertaining history. Very much worth the read. A strictly secular account of a fascinating institution; it's difficult to find histories on this church without an obvious agenda.