In roughly the same physical dimensions as the English language missionary edition of the Book of Mormon, Paul C. Gutjahr provides readers with a compelling survey of the publication history of the text that gave Mormons their name.
"The "Book of Mormon": A Biography" is not a detailed analysis of what is in the book; it is a review of what the book has become. The Lives of Great Religious Books series from Princeton University Press recognizes that all "great religious books are living things whose careers in the world can take the most unexpected turns" (back flap).
Nearly every entry-level book on Mormons of necessity repeats the story of the faith's beginnings. Readers versed in the history surrounding the initial publication of the Book of Mormon may be inclined to skip the prologue and chapter one to avoid redundancy and rush to find something new. Those who do will miss an opportunity to hear a solid presentation of the facts from a thoughtful scholar. In less than forty pages, Gutjahr succeeds in following the internal timeline of the Book of Mormon and in expanding on often overlooked aspects that contributed to the publication of the book in 1830.
All of the standard topics are covered. The accounts of Smith's unusual translation and dictation method, Egbert B. Grandin's initial reluctance to print the manuscript, Lucy Harris and Isaac Hale's skepticism, the missing 116 manuscript pages, Charles Anthon's meeting with Martin Harris, Oliver Cowdery's connection to Ethan Smith, the visitations of the angel Moroni, Abner Coles' unauthorized pre-publication release of excerpts from the Book of Mormon in his paper The Reflector, the organization of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and the witnesses who saw and held the plates, each receive attention.
No historical account of Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon is complete without mention of the early criticism of the text. Doctor Philastus Hurlbut, Eber Dudley Howe's 1834 book "Mormonism Unvailed" [sic], the second Spaulding manuscript theory, and Ethan Smith "View of the Hebrews" have secured a space in the public square solely because of their relationship to the Book of Mormon. Their mention is unavoidable. Likewise, Gutjahr reviews the various naturalistic theories of Isaac Woodbridge Riley and Fawn McKay Brodie in the first half of the twentieth century as well as those of more recent critics such as Robert Anderson, Dan Vogel, and William D. Morain. Gutjahr neither endorses or rejects these interpretations. No attempt is made to answer the question, is it "holy writ or humbug?"
In 1837 and in 1840, Joseph Smith published revised editions of the Book of Mormon. The 1837 Kirtland edition contained thousands of grammar changes. "Saith" became "said" and "which" became "who", over nine hundred times collectively. The well known addition of "the Son of" into 1 Nephi 13:40 is the result of this revision (The chapter and verse in Gutjahr's book are transposed to 14:30). The 1840 Nauvoo edition contained fewer than fifty changes including a change in 2 Nephi 30:6, from "white and delightsome" to "pure and delightsome" (p. 64-65, 89-91).
Following a review Joseph Smith's death in 1844, and various claims to succession, Gutjahr focuses on The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as the prime custodian, publisher, and endorser of the Book of Mormon. The 1908 and 1966 and other Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (RLDS) editions receive discussion, but the dominant focus is on Latter-day Saint editions.
The 1841, 1849, and 1852 editions published in England, were based on the 1837 Kirtland edition missionaries brought to England prior to 1840. After the 1847 migration from Nauvoo, Illinois to the Salt Lake Valley, Latter-day Saint leaders relied on the capabilities of their associates in Liverpool to print the Book of Mormon. "Sometime around 1870" the stereotype plates from the 1852 edition arrived in Salt Lake City, leading to Orson Pratt's 1879 edition (p. 90 - 91). With the exception of an 1842 reprint, the changes in 1840 Nauvoo edition were not integrated into any other Latter-day Saint edition of the Book of Mormon until 1981. It was however, the basis for the 1858 New York edition published by Jason Wright. This edition is listed in Appendix 1, "Notable Book of Mormon Editions in English," but nowhere else in the text (p. 202).
Orson Pratt wrote chapter summaries, shortened the length of chapters, formatted verses, cross references, and added geographical references as footnotes linking locations in the book with places like Chile and the Rocky Mountains (p.95). The geographical references were dropped from the 1920 edition, formatting changed to double columns, and dates added to each page. The formatting of the 1920 edition was a parallel to the formatting of most Bibles published in the United States, thus increasing the scriptural feel of the Book of Mormon (p. 95 -97).
Gutjahr recognizes the work of Hugh W. Nibley, John W. Welch, FARMS, the limited geography model popularized by John L. Sorenson, Royal Skousen's study on textual variants in the manuscripts, Grant Hardy, Thomas Ferguson, and Scott Woodward. Each receive attention in the chapter on scholarship. Likewise, the 1982 subtitle "Another Testament of Jesus Christ," Church President Ezra Taft Benson's call to flood the earth with the Book of Mormon, the 2004 Doubleday edition, and the 2008 Penguin Classics edition belong to a list of factors contributing to naturalization of the text.
For true bibliophiles Gutjahr shares the details of the binding process of the missionary editions of the Book of Mormon. Rather than animal-based glues, a special polyurethane adhesive that can withstand extreme temperatures is used for binding. Samples of the books are literally frozen, thrown in washing machines, tumbled and dried to simulate the effects of various climates and conditions (p.132 -133). In additional to physical integrity, cultural consideration is a production factor. For example, because white represents death in Japanese culture, Japanese editions of the book have cream-colored pages.
If the words printed on those cream-colored pages seem awkward, it may be intentional. According to Gutjahr, the "Scripture Translation Manual" instructs translators of the Book of Mormon to retain redundant expressions, every instance of "and it came to pass," chiasmic sentence structure, and the style of each author. The goal of translating the Book of Mormon is to achieve a formal equivalency rather than functional equivalency. "Formal equivalency," Gutjahr says, "seeks to bring the reader back to the world of the ancient text, while functional equivalency seeks to transport the ancient text into the world of the modern reader" (p. 127). By contrast, the editors of the RLDS 1966 New Authorized Version of the Book of Mormon modernized the language and removed over a thousand iterations of "and it came to pass" (p. 83).
Appendix 2, "Book of Mormon Translations," is a list of 109 Book of Mormon translations beginning in 1830 with English and ending in 2008 with Sinhala, the official language of Sri Lanka (p. 208). Each entry in the list contains the original publication year, whether or not the translation is the full book or selections from the book, and the publication year of the current edition. Although chapter four discusses the 1869 translation of the Book of Mormon into the Deseret Alphabet, including a photo of the title page, the translation is not listed in the Appendix (p. 94, 205).
Illustrated editions of the text began with George Reynolds' 1888 "Story of the Book of Mormon." Much like Orson Pratt's inclusion of geographical references in the footnotes, Reynolds commissioned artists to create illustrations that contained Aztec hieroglyphics and a mix of old world biblical imagery (p. 156). Arnold Friberg's hypermasculine paintings, added to the Book of Mormon in 1963, also contained a mix of new and old world symbols and were accompanied by photographs of Monte Alban in Oaxaca Mexico, Peruvian gold plates, and other pre-Columbian artifacts. The photographs were dropped for the 1981 edition but Friberg's paintings remained. Gutjahr includes a photo of Friberg with a full beard and long hair working on his painting "Abinadi Appearing before King Noah." Unable to find suitable models, Friberg grew out his hair and became his own model (p.168). Gutjahr also acknowledges Minerva Teichert's Book of Mormon murals.
Gutjahr's final chapter discusses several film and stage productions based on the Book of Mormon beginning in 1915 with William A. Morton's 1915 Church funded silent movie "The Life of Nephi" and again in 1931 with Lester Park's "talking movie", "Corianton: A Story of Unholy Love." Although the Church did not endorse Park's film, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir performed the score written by Edgar Stillman-Kelly. Prior to Trey Parker, Robert Lopez, and Matt Stone's 2011 Broadway production "The Book of Mormon," winner of nine Tony Awards, the most successful Book of Mormon based stage production was "America's Witness for Christ" also known as the Hill Cumorah Pageant. Now in its eighty-third year of production the author of the current script is Lester Park's grandson, Orson Scott Card (p.191).
In the epilogue Gutjahr points out that as the Church works to maintain editorial control in the preservation of its sacred text, the Book of Mormon is becoming more and more a part of American culture. Gutjahr's biography is one more confirmation that interest in the Book of Mormon is expanding well beyond "the borders of Zion" (D&C 107:74).
