FROM ENIGMA TO MADNESS: AN INTERVIEW WITH VALEEN TIPPETTS AVERY

FROM ENIGMA TO MADNESS: AN INTERVIEW WITH VALEEN TIPPETTS AVERY Northern Arizona University professor VALEEN TIPPETTS AVERY is well-known to students of Mormon history for two groundbreaking and highly celebrated books: Mormon Enigma: Emma Hale Smith (1984),which she co-authored with Linda King Newell, and From Mission to Madness: Last Son of the Mormon Prophet (1998) , a study of the life and times of David Hyrum Smith. At this bicentennial of Joseph Smith, how has her intimate and prolonged exposure to the Smith family affected her? What does she think of the recent biographies of Joseph, and especially their treatment of Emma and the Smith children? Has her pursuit of history been spiritually liberating? What projects are on her horizon? Come catch up with this longtime friend.

Dan Wotherspoon