Today, the answer is “No!” But that was not always the case. The current missionary handbook reads: “Do not flirt or associate inappropriately with anyone. Limit physical contact with someone of the opposite gender to a handshake.” But in 1887, missionaries had a lot more freedom. Edward Davis, who was a missionary in England at …
“Every member a missionary.” You’ve probably heard this phrase more times than you can count. But what you probably don’t know is that it has its roots in the silent films Trapped by the Mormons and Married to a Mormon. Winifred Graham was one of the most ardent anti-Mormons in Britain. She had written two …
By Brady Williams When Brady Williams is not spending time with his especially large family hiking, playing croquet, or watching movies, he’s out and about trying to make a difference in this world—from relieving modern-day slavery in Guinea Bissau to teaching construction trades in Haiti. Or, right-click here to download the audio file: …
By George R. Compton George R. Compton Ph.D. (economics, UCLA, 1976) writes on various controversial subjects ranging from U.S. Middle Eastern policy to immigration and education reforms. A frequent presenter at the Salt Lake Sunstone Symposium, he has served in a variety of Church callings and carries a current temple recommend. Legalized polygamy is …
By Robyn Williams Robyn Williams graduated spring 2017 with a B.S. in English creative writing and plans to continue writing and advocating for positive social change. Robyn enjoys traveling, hiking, and playing with her large, wonderful family, including her husband, four sisterwives, and their 25 children, of which she is the biological mother to five. …
By Randy Astle Randy Astle is a writer and filmmaker in New York City. He has written numerous articles, and is nearly finished with a book on Mormon film. A TRIP TO SALT LAKE CITY Released during the Smoot Senate hearing, A Trip to Salt Lake City (1905) was both the first Mormon fiction …
Review Essay by Stephen Carter Stephen Carter is the director of publications for the Sunstone Education Foundation. What is it that bothers mainstream Mormons about polygamy? Carol Lynn Pearson asked this question in a 2014 online survey and received more than 8,000 responses, 51 percent of them from active Mormons. Often the respondents …
By Eric Freeze Eric Freeze is author of the short story collection Dominant Traits (2012) and a collection of creative nonfiction Hemingway on a Bike (2014). He has published stories, essays, and translations in numerous periodicals. He teaches creative writing at Wabash College and lives in Crawfordsville, Indiana and Nice, France. Sandra had …
By Amanda Hendrix-Komoto Amanda Hendrix-Komoto has a Ph.D. in history from the University of Michigan. She is the author of “Undressing Mahana: The Development of Mormon Modesty Culture and the Display of Polynesian Bodies,” forthcoming in Out of Obscurity: Mormonism after 1945 from Oxford University Press. When Mormons adopted polygamy in the mid-nineteenth century, …
By Angela Pulley Hudson Angela Pulley Hudson is the author of Real Native Genius: How an Ex-slave and a White Mormon became Famous Indians (University of North Carolina Press, 2015). She is an associate professor of history at Texas A&M University and can be reached at aphudson@tamu.edu. When envisioning Mormon polygamists, people of color …
