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Mormon America - Rev. Ed.
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Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Mormon America: The Power and The Promise by Richard N. Ostling and Joan K. Ostling, grew out of a 1997 Time magazine cover story called "Mormon's Inc." One of the reporters on that story, Richard Ostling, became so fascinated by Mormonism that he set out to write "a candid but non-polemical" overview of the Church, beginning with its founding by Joseph Smith Jr. in 1830 and continuing to the present day. The resulting book is a marvel of clarity, organization, and analysis.
Mormon America: The Power and The Promise by Richard N. Ostling and Joan K. Ostling, grew out of a 1997 Time magazine cover story called "Mormon's Inc." One of the reporters on that story, Richard Ostling, became so fascinated by Mormonism that he set out to write "a candid but non-polemical" overview of the Church, beginning with its founding by Joseph Smith Jr. in 1830 and continuing to the present day. The resulting book is a marvel of clarity, organization, and analysis.
For statistical reasons alone, the Mormon Church demands a reader's attention: in just 170 years, the Church has grown from six members to more than 10 million; if current rates of growth continue, membership could hit 265 million by 2080, which would make it the most important world religion to emerge since the rise of Islam. Mormon America clarifies the reasons for the religion's rapid growth: "It was from the beginning optimistic and upbeat, a reaction against the establishment New England Calvinism.... It was a religious version of the American dream: Everyman presented with unlimited potential." The book also investigates the Mormons' immense wealth (relative to size, this is "America's richest church, with an estimated $30 billion in assets and something like $6 billion in annual income, mostly from members' tithes.") It anatomizes the minutiae of Church governance (Mormonism is ruled by a self-perpetuating, all-male hierarchy, headed by a "President, Prophet, Seer, and Revelator"), details the many rules that govern the Mormon lifestyle (famously, they avoid caffeine and alcohol; the Church's mandates extend even to the proper technique for "dispos[ing] of worn-out holy underwear"), and summarizes the Mormon scriptures. Mormon America is a compulsively readable book, not only for its insightful analysis and wealth of factual information, but also, and most importantly, because it respects its subject rigorously. "This is a real faith," the Ostlings write, "and must be understood in those terms, without caricature." --Michael Joseph Gross
From Publishers Weekly
This account of the history and current situation of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is better than its cover would lead one to believe. Packaged as another sensationalist expos? of Mormon economic and political power, with chapters promising to unlock "The Power Pyramid" and "Rituals Sacred and Secret," the book is in fact generally well-balanced and often insightful, particularly on matters of race and gender, and draws upon a number of recent studies by Mormon scholars. (The authors, a well-educated husband and wife team with copious journalistic accolades between them, describe themselves as "conventional Protestants.") Their erudite chapter on Mormon theology sheds light on a fascinating but neglected subject (even by Mormons), and they sensitively portray what is at stake in the telling of Mormon historyAa controversial undertaking nowadays due to the recent excommunications of some high-profile Mormon historians. Yet in its effort to provide a one-stop panorama of Mormonism, the book seems a bit of a hodgepodge at times (the authors evaluate the authenticity of Joseph Smith's revelation in one chapter and catalogue "Great Mormons of Sport" in another). Although the Ostlings say they hope to profile the "multidimensional" character of Mormonism, and they include chapters on Mormon family life and dissent, this is very much an institutional account, focusing on the "very controlled...very top-down" leadership of the church rather than on the mass of believers. Finally, while the authors attempt to be "nonpolemical," their close attention to the church's financial assets cannot help but hint of conspiracy theory. (Why does no one write books on "the Episcopalian empire"?) While this book is undoubtedly the best introductory snapshot of the Mormon world available in print, there is still room for improvement. (Nov.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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