Reddit Reddit reviews David O. McKay and the Rise of Modern Mormonism

We found 11 Reddit comments about David O. McKay and the Rise of Modern Mormonism. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.

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11 Reddit comments about David O. McKay and the Rise of Modern Mormonism:

u/SuperBrandt · 28 pointsr/latterdaysaints

Oooo this is my wheelhouse!

First, I would recommend looking at the Mormon History Association Best Book awards going back to 1966. Quality scholarship, research, and writing are a mainstay with them.

Required reading:

Brigham Young: Pioneer Prophet by John Turner / Brigham Young: American Moses by Leonard Arrington

Considered two of the best books about early Utah and the Brigham Young years. Arrington's book was considered groundbreaking when he wrote it, and Turner's book brings in the valuable perspective of the non-Mormon writing about Young. For many Mormons, Turner's book will be less sympathetic to Young than Arrington's, but Turner also worked closely with the Church Archives (and spoke glowingly about them and that process), so his research had access to some better sources. If you need a primer for Brigham Young, I recommend Arrington's book. For a Brigham Young graduate level course, I recommend Turner.

Early Mormonism and the Magic Worldview by Michael Quinn

To understand much of what happened in early Mormonism, you must understand the role that folk magic played in the lives of Americans in the 1800s. Quinn's research at this time was top notch, and he was a quickly rising star among Mormon historians. Considered one of his best works, and foundational to the understanding things like seer stones, divining rods, visions, and everything else that happened in the early church days.

David O. McKay and the Rise of Modern Mormonism by Greg Prince

Covers late 1940s - 1960s Mormonism, one of the "rising moments" of Mormonism when we went from a Utah-church to a worldwide church. Prince had amazing access to the journals of President McKay's secretary, which led to some candid discussions about things like the publishing of Mormon Doctrine by McConkie, blacks and the priesthood, ecumenical outreach, and politics.

Spencer W. Kimball by Edward Kimball / Lengthen Your Stride: The Presidency of Spencer W. Kimball by Edward Kimball

Ed was Pres. Kimball's son, and the books cover both the apostle years and presidency years of Spencer W. Kimball. If you had to choose one, get Lengthen Your Stride, but make sure it has the CD that comes with the book. This has the unabridged manuscript prior to the Deseret Book edits, which is much more interesting.

By the Hand of Mormon by Terryl Givens (heck...anything by Terryl Givens!)

I'll admit - I'm a Terryl Givens fanboy. By the Hand of Mormon was the one that first got me in to him, mostly because he took the Book of Mormon as a serious work of literature to examine it's merits. It's not as devotional as many traditional LDS books about the Book of Mormon (it was put out by Oxford University Press), but it really gave me a deeper appreciation for the Book of Mormon as contemporary literature. Also check out Viper on the Hearth (Mormons on myth and heresy), People of Paradox (Mormon culture), When Souls had Wings (the pre-existence in Western thought), and so many others.

And just because I'm a big book nerd, here's the list of books that are on my desk right now that I can give you quick reviews if you want:

u/Mithryn · 16 pointsr/exmormon

Hah... you can get pieces of it in the following books:

The Book of Mammon

David O. McKay's Biography

some pieces are here: http://bycommonconsent.com/2010/03/03/correlation-an-uncorrelated-history-part-1-the-mormon-underground/

and here: http://www.wheatandtares.org/7190/dumbing-downsimplifying-the-gospel/

You get bits about Grant here: https://www.lds.org/ensign/1979/07/jedediah-and-heber-grant?lang=eng

And about Grant's mother: https://ojs.lib.byu.edu/spc/index.php/BYUStudies/article/viewFile/6918/6567

And even a comic book version of Harold B. Lee's christmas miracle here: https://www.lds.org/friend/2001/12/harold-b-lee-shares-christmas?lang=eng


But no, I know of no book that puts the whole thing together quite as succinctly. Once my current book comes out (It's done, just needs some editing); my next one will be "Honest Mormon Nuttiness" or "Nutty Mormon History" and this kind of connected tale comes out from it.

u/bertrude_stein · 5 pointsr/exmormon

Daymon Smith is the best you will find, especially if your friend is the brainy type. This series of interviews is long but worth the effort. Also, if your friend is patient, I would recommend they listen to the whole Mormon Stories interview with Daymon, episodes 149–52. Even though these interviews are six years old, they are still the best in-depth commentary on correlation. Daymon's writings, including Book of Mammon, were instrumental in my throwing the TSCC out of my life.

You might also recommend the chapter on correlation in Greg Prince's book, David O. McKay and the Rise of Modern Mormonism.

edit: Your friend may also be interested to know that these two sources—Daymon Smith and Greg Prince—approach the topic of correlation from a faithful yet analytical perspective. For another faithful/analytical perspective, I'd recommend reading Matt Bowman's chapter on correlation in this book, or this essay. PM me if you want pdfs of the chapters by Bowman and Prince.

u/yeahletstrythisagain · 4 pointsr/exmormon

Daymon Smith is the expert on this. His interview at BCC and Mormon Stories interview were big shelf-breakers for me.

You might also check out the chapter on correlation in David O. McKay and the Rise of Modern Mormonism (another shelf-breaker). One biggie is that RS used to be basically autonomous with its own money and publications; then correlation made them subject to more male oversight—their money and publications were also taken away, as was there autonomy to appoint who they wanted to positions in RS or where to go for world conferences etc without having to ask male leaders.

u/nocoolnametom · 3 pointsr/exmormon

David O. McKay and the Rise of Modern Mormonism, by Gregory Prince and Robert Wright. Probably the most entertaining and readable of anything in this list, this sociological history masquerading as a biography is probably the best explanation for how we got from the Church of the 1930s (where Utah was the final state to vote to repeal Prohibition against the express and public wishes of President Heber J. Grant and female healing ritual, while getting rarer, was not yet uncommon) to the corporate, standardized, Republican, boring Church of today. It's a truly fascinating book that is also about an equally fascinating man.

u/lamsiyuen · 2 pointsr/latterdaysaints

May be it would be helpful to point you to some honest source that seeks to give a non subjective and fair evaluation for the claims of the church.

  1.   A book that provides a general view on how to go about thinking about hard church issues. It is really good. Entitled the Crucible of Doubt by Teryl Givens: https://www.amazon.com/Crucible-Doubt-Reflections-Quest-Faith/dp/1609079426/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=crucible+of+doubt+givens&amp;amp;qid=1561524835&amp;amp;s=books&amp;amp;sr=1-1<br />


  2. My favorite book to start thinking very thoughtfully and from an academic perspective on the book of Mormon. Incredible stuff. Entitled “Understanding the BOM” by Grant Hardy: https://www.amazon.com/Understanding-Book-Mormon-Readers-Guide/dp/0199731705/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_14_t_1?_encoding=UTF8&amp;amp;psc=1&amp;amp;refRID=KBX8MX63A88H3GCBCHYR

  3. My favorite book on early church history focused around the life of Jesus Christ. Written by the renowned Columbia U History Professor Richard Bushman. Entitled Rough Stone Rolling: https://www.amazon.com/Joseph-Smith-Rough-Stone-Rolling/dp/1400042704/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=richard+bushman+rough+stone+rolling&amp;amp;qid=1561524690&amp;amp;s=books&amp;amp;sr=1-1

  4. My favorite book on modern day church history. It is a careful look at the David O McKay era with incredible source material. It completely changed my view of how the upper echelons of church governance works, but somehow at the same time strengthened my faith in our very fallible leaders. Entitled The Rise of Modern Mormonism by Greg Prince: https://www.amazon.com/David-McKay-Rise-Modern-Mormonism/dp/0874808227/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=the+rise+of+modern+mormonism&amp;amp;qid=1561524807&amp;amp;s=books&amp;amp;sr=1-1
u/[deleted] · 1 pointr/exmormon

If you want to have a front row view, David McKay's Qo12 meeting notes wound up in the hands of an non-Mormon LDS historian, he does a play by play of people's suggestions and whether or not he likes them etc. Book here.

Edit: Author is LDS, not non-LDS as first stated. Correction made by /u/lebruf

u/Maalam · 1 pointr/exmormon

Interesting.

I see a historical parallel here between David O. McKay, Harold B. Lee, and Spencer W. Kimball.

Have you read this book?

u/PXaZ · 1 pointr/exmormon

Rough Stone Rolling is good but soft-pedals some things.

Some of the stuff from the church historian's press looks worthwhile: https://www.churchhistorianspress.org/publications?lang=eng

Greg Kofford Books has an extensive history line. I've enjoyed what I've read and found it to be well done. https://gregkofford.com/

Natural Born Seer is good, more of a critical lens on Joseph Smith's early years, really intriguing.

Joseph's Temples regarding the Freemasonry connection.

People highly recommend D. Michael Quinn.

Leonard Arrington's stuff is supposed to be classic, Great Basin Kingdom.

David O. McKay and the Rise of Modern Mormonism by Gregory Prince.

u/stillDREw · 0 pointsr/mormondebate

Science is fallible also but that doesn't mean you should abandon it as a source of truth.

As far as race issues, almost nobody was right until about 50 years ago. It's hard for us in a post-racial society to understand just what it was like. David O. McKay's biography talks about how he didn't even know there was a priesthood ban until he was an apostle. No one questioned things like that so it just didn't come up.

The uncomfortable truth is that had you been born 50 years ago, chances are you would have been a racist too.