Mormon America: How Is The Reporting In The New Nationally Published Tome On Mormonism? Last fall, nationally respected HarperSanFrancisco published Mormon America: The Power and the Promise by veteran Time religion writer Richard Ostling and journalist/editor Joan Ostling. After sketching Mormon history, with the balance and judgment of long-time Mormon watchers, the authors chronicle the major themes, practices, doctrines, and controversies, of the contemporary LDS–including polygamy, the move from separate kingdom into the American mainstream, the “power pyramid,” forever families and temple secrecy, missionaries, faithful history, Book of Mormon historiography, “Mormons, Inc.,” becoming Gods, dissent, BYU culture wars, and the prospects for the twenty- first century. Incredibly, there was no book that outlined the contours of contemporary Mormonism: Mormon America fills that vital and lucrative niche. Undoubtedly, it will be the primer for the 9,000 journalists who will attend the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, and it may well be the standard, one-volume book on Mormonism for the next decade or two. What do seasoned Mormon insiders think of the book? Here are the opinions of three of the best.

Armand L. Mauss, Rod Decker, Dean L. May