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Recommended Reading

Online Books

Wife No 19 - .pdf format by Ann Eliza Webb Young
--    Introduction	--    Chapter 21
--    Chapter 1	--    Chapter 22
--    Chapter 2	--    Chapter 23
--    Chapter 3	--    Chapter 24
--    Chapter 4	--    Chapter 25
--    Chapter 5	--    Chapter 26
--    Chapter 6	--    Chapter 27
--    Chapter 7	--    Chapter 28
--    Chapter 8	--    Chapter 29
--    Chapter 9	--    Chapter 30
--    Chapter 10	--    Chapter 31
--    Chapter 11	--    Chapter 32
--    Chapter 12	--    Chapter 33
--    Chapter 13	--    Chapter 34
--    Chapter 14	--    Chapter 35
--    Chapter 15	--    Chapter 36
--    Chapter 16	--    Chapter 37
--    Chapter 17	--    Chapter 38
--    Chapter 18	--    Chapter 39
--    Chapter 19	--    Chapter 40
--    Chapter 20	--    Chapter 41

By His Own Hand Upon Papyrus:
A New Look at the Joseph Smith Papyri

--    Part 1 - Chapters 1-4
--    Part 2 - Chapters 5-7
--    Part 3 - Chapters 8-10
--    Part 4 - Chapter 11
--    Part 5 - Chapters 12-13
--    Part 6 - Chapters 14-17
--    Part 7 - Appendix 1
--    Part 8 - Appendix 2 & Notes

An online survey in .html format of the controversy surrounding Mormon founder Joseph Smith's claim that he translated the Book of Abraham from an ancient Egyptian papyrus.

Joseph Smith, The Prophet And His Progenitors For Many Generations
- by Lucy Smith (Mother Of The Prophet)

The following pages, embracing biographical sketches and the genealogy of Joseph Smith, the Prophet, and his progenitors, were mostly written previous to the death of the Prophet, and under his personal inspection.

Personal Papers

Bob McCue - .pdf format

--    Nature's Mode of Creativity
--    How Denial Works
--    Letter to GA Holland
--    Mormon History in a Nutshell

Craig Criddle - .pdf format

--    Sidney Rigdon: Creating the Book of Mormon

BOOKS

No Man Knows My History

--    a must read by Fawn Brodie - from Amazon

Classic biography of Joseph Smith, the founder of the Mormon church, this book attempts to answer the questions that continue to surround Joseph Smith. Was he a genuine prophet, or a gifted fabulist who became enthralled by the products of his imagination and ended up being martyred for them?

The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark

--    by Carl Sagan & Ann Druyan - from Amazon

Carl Sagan muses on the current state of scientific thought, which offers him marvelous opportunities to entertain us with his own childhood experiences, the newspaper morgues, UFO stories, and the assorted flotsam and jetsam of pseudoscience. Along the way he debunks alien abduction, faith-healing, and channeling; refutes the arguments that science destroys spirituality, and provides a "baloney detection kit" for thinking through political, social, religious, and other issues.

The Power of Myth

--    by Joseph Campbell and Bill Moyers - from Amazon

Among his many gifts, Joseph Campbell's most impressive was the unique ability to take a contemporary situation, such as the murder and funeral of President John F. Kennedy, and help us understand its impact in the context of ancient mythology. Herein lies the power of The Power of Myth, showing how humans are apt to create and live out the themes of mythology. Based on a six-part PBS television series hosted by Bill Moyers, this classic is especially compelling because of its engaging question-and-answer format, creating an easy, conversational approach to complicated and esoteric topics. For example, when discussing the mythology of heroes, Campbell and Moyers smoothly segue from the Sumerian sky goddess Inanna to Star Wars' mercenary-turned-hero, Han Solo. Most impressive is Campbell's encyclopedic knowledge of myths, demonstrated in his ability to recall the details and archetypes of almost any story, from any point and history, and translate it into a lesson for spiritual living in the here an d now. --Gail Hudson

An Insider's View of Mormon Origins

--    by Grant Palmer - from Amazon

Over the past thirty years, an enormous amount of research has been conducted into Mormon origins--Joseph Smith's early life, the Book of Mormon, the prophet's visions, and the restoration of priesthood authority. Longtime LDS educator Grant H. Palmer suggests that most Latter-day Saints remain unaware of the significance of these discoveries. He therefore gives a brief survey of the literature for all who have ever wanted to know more about the New Mormon History.

He finds that what we take for granted as literal history has been tailored over the years for missionary purposes--slightly modified, added to, one aspect emphasized over another--to the point that the original narratives have been nearly lost. What was experienced as a spiritual event, something from an entirely different dimension, has been often refashioned as if it had been a physical, objective occurrence. This is not how the first Saints interpreted these events. Historians have reevaluated basic concepts surrounding these foundational stories and restored elements, including a nineteenth-century world view, that have been misunderstood, if not forgotten.

Losing a Lost Tribe: Native Americans, DNA, and the Mormon Church

--    by Simon G. Southerton - from Amazon

The Book of Mormon narrates voyages to the Americas by ancient Israelites. "2 Nephi 1:9 Wherefore, I, Lehi, have obtained a promise, that inasmuch as those whom the Lord God shall bring out of the land of Jerusalem shall keep his commandments, they shall prosper upon the face of this land; [The Americas] and they shall be kept from all other nations, that they may possess this land unto themselves" The descendants of these ancient seafarers are said to be the tribes of Native Americans who were on hand to greet Columbus, the Spanish Conquistadors, and the Pilgrims. Israelites are also said to be the ancestors of the Polynesians.

Enter DNA. With the advent of molecular genealogy, scientists now have a tool to test hypotheses about Indian origins, previously based on skull shapes, blood types, linguistics, and cultural studies. By means of DNA genealogy, Native Americans have been traced to an area surrounding Lake Baikal in Siberia before their migration to the New World over 14,000 years ago. The evidence is definitive and unequivocal.

What do Latter-day Saint scientists have to say about this? Is it possible that a few, not all, Native Americans could be of Israelite origin? Could Polynesians represent an admixture of Southeast Asian and Israelite heritage? Professors at Brigham Young University are proposing a radical new reinterpretation of the Book of Mormon to accommodate this new field of science.

Explaining the scientific and theological issues in this debate is Dr. Simon Southerton, a molecular geneticist from Australia. He particularly responds to the issues raised by the BYU professors such as the implications of the mysterious lineage X, absent in Mesoamerica, and supposed anomalies in the genetic picture such as Kennewick Man and even the genetic history of the lowly sweet potato. Having been raised Mormon, Southerton knows the theological side of the issue as intimately as he knows the science.

The God Delusion

--    Richard Dawkins - from Amazon

The God Delusion is a book by British biologist Richard Dawkins, Professor for the Public Understanding of Science at the University of Oxford.

In The God Delusion, Dawkins contends that a supernatural creator most likely does not exist and that belief in a God and religion, qualifies as a delusion, which he defines as a persistent false belief held in the face of strong contradictory evidence. He is sympathetic to Robert Pirsig's observation that "when one person suffers from a delusion it is called insanity. When many people suffer from a delusion it is called religion."

God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything

--    Christopher Hitchens - from Amazon

In the book, Hitchens contends that religion is "violent, irrational, intolerant, allied to racism, tribalism, and bigotry, invested in ignorance and hostile to free inquiry, contemptuous of women and coercive toward children." Hitchens' main arguments for his points include a combination of personal stories, such as the incident of Salman Rushdie's death threats from Islamic extremists, documented historical anecdotes, and critical analysis of religious texts. His commentary focuses mainly on the Abrahamic religions, although he discusses other religions (such as Hinduism and Buddhism) as well.