Mormon History and Culture

John G. Turner, who wrote an excellent biography of Brigham Young a decade ago, has returned with “Joseph Smith: The Rise and Fall of an Am...

The second-hardest thing I have ever done is hold my infant son in my arms and watch Ray die. The hardest task for my wife and me were allow...

 --- The early years of the Mormon Church are distinct for its young converts, with 20-something apostles embracing the progressive, radical...

  Originally published, in slightly different form, in January 2012 in StandardBlogs --- The Nauvoo City Council and High Council minutes fr...

  Review by Doug Gibson The ill-fated decision by LDS Church prophet and founder Joseph Smith, Jr., to seek the U.S. presidency in 1844 is m...

Mormonism, even in its more modern version today, does firmly believe in the visitations of spirits, good and bad, as well as resurrect...

I read “ America 1844: Religious Fervor, Westward Expansion, and the Presidential Election that Transformed the Nation .” The book,...

The second-hardest thing I have ever done is hold my infant son in my arms and watch Ray die. The hardest task for my wife and me were...

This review was originally published in 2005 at StandardNET . Today is the bicentennial of Joseph Smith’s birth. Two hundred years lat...

Review by Doug Gibson Mormonism is a young religious movement. Perhaps our most prominent mystery is what's in the missing 116 page...

There’s an old Mormon joke: A cardinal says to the pope, “I have good news and bad news.” The pope replies, “Good news first.” The car...