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The Mormon Experience: A HISTORY OF THE LATTER-DAY SAINTS

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This book is not as deep or involved as B.H. Roberts seven volume history of the LDS church and its' people. It is a book that casts itself as an introductory one volume history of what is today called Mormon history. I am a Mormon. I have read histories of the LDS church that deal with the subject in a very negative and also positive ways. This book is well balanced and honest in its presentation of the subject. I read this book in order to better understand how all of the pieces of Mormon history fit together. I found what I was looking for. This book does not go into detail about the minutiae of Mormon history, nor does it make assumptions in order to drive a point home. The authors deal with historical research and nothing else.

This book is not a history of the Mormon faith, it is a history of the Mormon church and the Mormon people. It does not attempt to convert, but rather to explain. The book is not trying to define what Mormon's believe, but rather who they are, and what the have done.

Arrington and Bitton offer the reader a single volume history of the Mormon Church based on historical, rather than missionary principals. Both authors make no secret of their LDS affiliations; but for the uncommited reader this is an advantage, rather than a drawback, since their "bias" is stated and can thus be taken into account. As a non-mormon, I can confidently recommend this book as an excellent introduction to the subject, both to the general reader and the serious student of Religious Studies. In multi-faith Birmingham England I would have no compunction in recommending this book as the one for any of my students interested in the subject. Pity its not available in England.

I eagerly awaited publication of this general history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints when it first appeared in 1979, and was not disappointed. I recently reread "The Mormon Experience" because I realized that 25 years had now passed since it first appeared and I wanted to see how well it has faired over the years. Let me report that it has indeed stood the test of time very well. Taking a roughly chronological approach, with individual topical chapters, authors Arrington and Bitton, both lifelong members of the Latter-day Saint Church, produced a masterpiece. Their task was straightforward, but most difficult, to produce a readable one-volume history of the church that was honest, legitimate, and responsive to the needs of both believing churchmembers and nonmembers.

This book appeared during a time of encouragement and inescapable excitement about Mormon history. Leonard J. Arrington, then LDS Church Historian, was modernizing the LDS archives and sponsoring varied and far-reaching research of which this book was a notable contribution. There was a fleeting esprit de corps within the community of scholars working in the field, and much of significance resulted from far-reaching historical efforts. Indeed, Davis Bitton, one of Arrington's associates in the LDS Historical Department and co-author of this book, designated the decade between 1972 and 1982 a golden age, "a brief period of excitement and optimism--that someone has likened to Camelot" (Davis Bitton, "Ten Years in Camelot: A Personal Memoir," Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 16 (Autumn 1983): 9-20, quote from p. 9).

We did not realize it at the time, but "The Mormon Experience: A History of the Latter-day Saints" was very nearly the last official attempt to record the history of the Mormon Church in an honest and unblemished manner. In 1981 Mormon Apostle Boyd K. Packer threw down a gauntlet to historians of the Church that they should exclusively show "the hand of the Lord in every hour and every moment of the Church from its beginning till now" (Boyd K. Packer, "'The Mantle is Far, Far Greater than the Intellect'," Brigham Young University Studies 21 Summer 1981): 261-78, quote from p. 262). With such a perspective, church-mandated interpretations of the Mormon past are not easily overcome. Soon Arrington was quietly replaced as official LDS Church Historian and he and most of his associates in the Church Historical Department were transferred to Brigham Young University.

What Arrington and Bitton produced here was exceptional. In 16 chapters divided into three parts-"The Early Church," "The Kingdom in the West," and "The Modern Church"-they range broadly over the history of the movement from its origins by Joseph Smith to its growing pains after World War II as it became a world religion. They based their work on the explosion of historical research that took place in the 1960s and 1970s, offering reinterpretations of early Mormonism, the middle period of frontier Utah with its characteristic plural marriage patterns, and the twentieth century church.

"The Mormon Experience" deals candidly with difficult aspects of the church's creation mythology. This includes such issues as the discovery of multiple accounts of the "First Vision" that seemingly contradict each other. Arrington and Bitton summarize the problems and reconciliation of the various accounts in a way that would be acceptable to most Mormons: "If the later version was different, this was not a result of inventing an experience out of whole cloth, as an unscrupulous person might readily have done, but rather of reexamining an earlier experience and seeing it in a different light" (p. 8). It deals equally successfully with Joseph Smith's militarism and Mormon plural marriage in the Great Basin. In the modern era Arrington and Bitton explore the exceptionally important issue of priesthood for Blacks, which was offered by the Mormon leadership for the first time only in 1978. In every case, the authors successfully tread the tightrope between divergent positions on these issues and offer interpretations legitimate both to believers and those outside the church.

This was no small accomplishment and both authors should be commended for their honesty and forthrightness. "The Mormon Experience" is as classic work. It is an unbiased, well-written, interesting, and informed work written by two masters of Mormon history. What more could anyone ask?

Theirs is a fairly well-balanced treatment of a very rich and controversial past. They are both active Mormons and from Mormon homes. They are honest about it, and I think they are able to represent fairly some of the complex beauty of the history of the Church. They intended it as a work for non-Mormon consumption; it was meant to complement the more pro-Mormon (and still very good) history by Allen and Leonard, The Story of the Latter-day Saints.

Although it is now somewhat dated, those friendly to the church but not interested in being proselyted will enjoy the book. Mormons interested in a moderately secularized, professional view of their history could also stand to profit from it.

Overall, a very good book with much to recommend it. The bibliography is somewhat out-of-date, but it points to the classic essays and books up to the time of its publication.

As someone who has read many, many books on the topic of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I can honestly say that this text is one of the best books on Mormon history I have so far come across. I believe that the late Arrington and Bitton do an excellent job in providing a fair and balanced overview of the Latter-day Saint religion since 1820, as well as refuting some common anti-Mormon claims, showing that, contra the late Wesley Walters, author of "Inventing Mormonism" and other screeds, religious revivals *did* occur in 1819-1820, consistent with the chronology offered by the Prophet Joseph Smith in the History of the Church and the versions of the First Vision he gave throughout his lifetime.

Recommended reading for any serious student of "Mormonism."

I disagree with the other reviewers who call this a balanced book. The authors unabashedly defend the principles and activities of the church. For example, they simultaneously downplay the popularity of polygamy while arguing that it is a healthy practice, even saying "In the 1960's and 1970's, when it is possible seriously to ask whether monogamy has failed...the statement that polygamy worked about as well as monogamy...rings true." They also refuse to doubt the purity of Joseph Smith's intentions, saying "it is far from likely that his personal sex drive was the motivation [behind polygamy]." The Mountain Meadows Massacre is treated similarly, with the authors basically blaming the victims. Another example of toeing the Mormon line is on the subject of denying blacks the priesthood. They say, "There was not...the bigotry that such a policy might be expected to encourage." The source for this is surveys that say Mormons are no more prejudiced than other religions. In all, this book was a biased, flowery portrayal of the LDS faith. If you want an unbiased, scholarly work, this is not it.

Leonard Arrington (1917-1999) was the founder of the Mormon History Association, and was the Church Historian from 1972-1982 (when the Church transferred his History Division to BYU in 1982, bringing the era of open Church Archives to a close). This book had been projected to be the first of a series of volumes of "New Mormon History"; unfortunately, the Church shut this project down, and this was the only volume released. (See Arrington's book Adventures of a Church Historian for an account.)

The authors write in the Introduction to this 1979 book, "In 1976 the Church-owned Deseret Book Company published ... The Story of the Latter-Day Saints. Although this well-written and comprehensive study can be recommended for many purposes, it was designed primarily for Mormons... All things considered, it seemed that the time was ripe for an analytical, interpretative, topical history designed for a broad readership. Another reason a new book on the Mormons seems justified at this time is the considerable activity of scholars--archivists and historians---in the past generation, especially during the last five to ten years... From the point of view of primary source material, therefore, present-day scholars are in a position their predecessors would have envied."

Here are some quotations from the book:

"(Joseph) Smith's self-admitted employment by Josiah Stoal resulted in the youth's being brought to trial in 1826... Bills drawn up by the local judge and constable refer to Smith as a 'glass looker' (one who, by peering through a glass stone, could see things not discernible by the natural eye)... Several neighbors testified against Smith, but Stoal stood fast by his employee. Some accounts have Smith being acquitted by reason of Stoal's testimony; in others, he escaped or was convicted and moved out of town." (Pg. 10-11)
"The reliability of these testimonies (the "Three Witnesses") has naturally been questioned. All of the original three witnesses and several of the others later left the church. But despite differences with Smith, all of the witnesses remained confident of the ancient origin and divinely aided translation of the book (of Mormon). Before their deaths Harris and Cowdery both returned to membership in the Utah church and strongly reaffirmed their original witness." (Pg. 14)
"Anti-Mormon writers of the past century did not portray all Saints as villains. Their explanation was that the mass of Mormons were sincere dupes victimized by a sinister group of leaders. While the evidence of sincerity on the part of Mormon authorities is overwhelming, it is undeniable that Mormon leaders did exert an immense influence over their followers." (Pg. 42)
"But in the 1850s, 1860s, 1870s, and 1880s the Mormons were 'voting with their feet' by declining to enter the polygamous relationship in overwhelming numbers. In the 1880s they voted overwhelmingly in favor of a proposed state constitution that would prohibit polygamy." (Pg. 203)
"But the Mormons sought to preserve as many of their traditional goals as national sentiment would permit. While the church yielded on the key issues of polygamy, economic separatism, and political theocracy, the imagination and intelligence of its response perhaps deserve the term 'creative adjustment' rather than such customary terms as 'accomodation' or 'surrender.'" (Pg. 243)
"The survival of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints had thus required certain anguishing accommodations to American culture... The church was, in effect, reoriented to incorporate the standards of social, political, and economic behavior imposed by American society, while at the same time it attempted to retain as much of the 'Kingdom' outlook as possible." (Pg. 251)

This book is scholarly and well documented, and Leonard J. Arrington and Davis Bitton are to be praised for giving a fair hearing to Fawn Brodie's "No Man Knows My History."

Speaking of the Book of Mormon (p. 15), they write: "Fawn Brodie, Joseph Smith's eminent but unsympathetic biographer, has advanced the second principal countertheory of the book's orgins." They then go on to fully present Brodie's view of Joseph Smith.

Continuing, Arrington and Bitton present the Mormon view: "Mormons insist that Smith's limited education made it impossible for him to produce such a long and complicated book by himself. The issues in the book are seen by defenders as universal, and likey to have aroused interest in ancient times as well as in modern America."

Such objective and unemotional scholarship is refreshing and stands in marked contrast to that of BYU Professor Hugh Nibley, who, for example, illogically invisioned Joseph Smith being both a translator and illiterate (!) (see "Lehi in the Desert," p. 32). In speaking of the disappearing gold plates, Nibley said illogically that they would be "very disruptive" today and that the present paper edition of the Book of Mormon is "more miraculous than any gold plates would be" (see, "An Approach to the Book of Mormon, p. 18).

See my one-star reviews of Nibley's books--"Lehi in the Desert," "Since Cumorah," and "An Approach to the Book of Mormon." Lehi in the Desert, the World of the Jaredites, There Were Jaredites (Collected Works of Hugh Nibley, Vol 5) Since Cumorah: The Book of Mormon in the modern world An Approach to the Book of Mormon (Collected Works of Hugh Nibley, Vol 6)

Mormon scholars Arrington and Bitton, as well as Richard Bushman, have taken a higher and more logical road than Hugh Nibley, the former big-gun of Mormon scholarship.

In short, Arrington and Bitton deserve the praise of the Utah Historical Quarterly, "An excellent book...it should be read by Mormons and non-Mormons alike."

The Saturday Review called it, "A remarkably intelligent and open-minded official history."

As a non-Mormon, I admire Arrington and Bitton's book, "The Mormon Experience," for its reasoned approach to Mormon history.

Although described as a history, this book is actually more of a description of Mormonism and the Mormon lifestyle. We are told a good deal about how the Saints spend their time and just how much effort must be devoted to church affairs. The last chapters describe how followers have responded to the challenge of modernism, already facing the church by the 1970's.

But don't get me wrong, there is quite a bit of history here nonetheless, and the author spends a lot of time explaining what made the Mormons so different from other faiths and why they suffered so much violence at the hands of 'gentiles'. I was surprised that so much print was given to the issue of polygamy, expecting the subject to be dodged by a Mormon writer. And a good job is done of addressing the strengths and weaknesses of the religion. Arrington does not write as a mere cheerleader for Latter Day Saints.

The reader is told next to nothing, though, about Mormon theology, and this is a huge drawback. After all, most of the criticism thrown at the church is directed at its unusual beliefs, not practices. The postscipt complains that anti-Mormonism is on the comeback, but never mentions the doctinal element fundamental to all this. A chapter on church beliefs would have gone a long way toward making this a more complete book.

Got this book for my son and his wife for Christmas. He started reading it as soon as he opened it. He really likes it. Thank you!