MORMON history??
Good luck!
* * * MORMON history?? Good luck!
Smiling. I think you know me, Elsie. I really try to leave theology out of my comments.
Essentially I research and write for a living and it lapses over into my real life. I'm curious. Without going into how I became fascinated with Mormonism, it is the most American of religions. And Smith had the fortune/misfortune of not only starting the religion in the days of the printing press, but of starting a religion where not only he spoke and wrote copiously, but he was surrounded and succeeded by many men with enormous egos who spoke and wrote copiously. And it was all captured.
Add to that some fascinating periods of history - the Missouri Wars and the Utah Wars - in which the parties involved are careful to tell only their side of the story, and where one party has segregated itself by means of geography, society, and education from much of the outside world, and things get interesting.
What's most interesting is the concept of "faithful history" or "faith-promoting" history, in which historians with Ph.D.s have been officially instructed not to publish actual historical events, nor to draw any conclusion, that does not promote the faith - and you come across fascinating scholarly articles in peer-reviewed journals such as "How to Read Mormon History." There's one footnote listing over 55 other peer-reviewed articles in non-LDS religious scholarly journals, and non-faith-promoting LDS scholarly journals just on one point of faith-promoting history alone. When the primary apologetic source, www.fairlds.org, specifically tells its apologists that their primary purpose is to convert people to Mormonism, not to give truthful and correct answers to questions, things get interesting.
It's a delightful Alice in Wonderland world in which to play, if you're interested in history. I enjoy studying it, but I get confused. Who wouldn't. One of my best friends is a Latter-Day Saint, my Assistant Scoutmaster for twenty years (he hasn't had a calling from the LDS, perhaps because he doesn't have his Temple Recommend, so he volunteers with my non-LDS unit). He's a great guy and we have fascinating conversations. He's not exactly faith-promoting and he talks, as they say, 'out of church."