By Laurel Thatcher Ulrich Laurel Thatcher Ulrich is a Pulitzer Prize-winning historian, professor at Harvard University, and founding member of Exponent II. In 1986 she contributed her essay “Lusterware” to the Philip A. Barlow-edited collection, A Thoughtful Faith: Essays on Belief by Mormon Scholars (Canon Press), from which the following is excerpted. Lusterware, the metaphor …
Category: Issue 171
All-seeing Eye: Mark’s Mugs
By Steve Mayfield It has been 25 years since Mark Hofmann began serving his prison sentence for forgery and murder. He forged and sold many documents including a purported blessing from Joseph Smith Jr. to Joseph Smith III and the infamous “Salamander Letter.” In a desperate attempt to avoid exposure, he constructed bombs that on …
Scripture Notes: Unearthing Abinadi’s Genealogy
By Roger Terry Several years ago, I had a revelation. No, not that kind of revelation. I drink too much caffeine to merit one of those. Rather, I was reading the Book of Mormon when suddenly a light went on. I knew who Abinadi was. We know little about Abinadi except that he was apparently …
Every Good Gift: Looking On
This article features Tom Kimball who is in violation of our code of conduct. For more info on Tom Kimball and his history, click here for the January 14, 2023 statement. By Thomas Kimball As a railroad bull working for Western Pacific, my grandfather was the dread of ride-hitching hobos. Until late in life, he …
A Voice of Warning: Believing is Seeing
By Brian H. Stuy A recent talk by Matthew DeVisser, a Sandy, Utah stake president, has resulted in a substantial amount of discussion about the proper role of partisan politics in LDS public discourse. But what struck me most about his remarks was what they revealed about President DeVisser’s worldview. The common thread in his …
Of Good Report: Random Acts of Reading
By Dallas Robbins “That book changed my life!”: a cliché right up there with “the more I learn, the less I know.” No self-respecting person should ever utter it in public. But clichés stick around for a reason, and as I revisit them from time to time, I always find something beneath the surface worth …
Adventures of a Mormon Bookseller: Title Fights!
By Curt Bench During my nearly four decades in the LDS book business, I’ve seen a lot of interesting (and not-so-interesting) books. Sometimes the title of the book can be just as fascinating as the content (sometimes even more so). Most book titles are made short, simple, and utilitarian in order to fit on the …
Update: Issue 171
New Wave of LDS Feminists Speak Up, Ask for the Priesthood With a number of online petitions, a Salt Lake City gathering, and the launching of websites and social networks, a new wave of LDS feminists are raising awareness about women’s issues on a scale unprecedented since the 1970’s. The Ordain Women movement was launched …
After the Visit: Poetry
By Lin Lifshin flat blue hills yellow light. November in the old house. The walls pull from the floor, she barely knows me or my voice. Stained Chinese carpet. My grandmother wrapped in blue sheets on the chair where her old man sat and stopped her from singing 60 …
Poem: Are You Like George Price? Then
By Thomas Dorsett take the advice of an old man who has helped the poor yet knows he’d be swept away like a broken toy if he hadn’t held back a few coins: selfishness and altruism are the vegetables and Jesus of this world— If you want to survive, even thrive, savor these staples; …