American Zion: A New History of Mormonism

A sprawling history that manages not to be too dense, though maybe that's only because I grew up Mormon and was intensely fascinated. Now I'm just going to ramble for too long about some takeaways that stuck with me.

The tension between Joseph Smith's (the first Mormon prophet) family and Brigham Young (the second Mormon prophet, and the namesake of BYU) following Joseph's death. How Mormonism is a uniquely American faith, yet many early saints viewed the US government's treatment of their faith as oppressive and divorced from its own founding principles.

Some early Mormons viewed the persecution of Indigenous tribes as comparable to how the state treated their religion. First of all, no. Second of all, Mormons identified all tribes under the umbrella term “Lamanite,” and went on to establish American Indian Boarding Schools, whose attendees were taught they were “apples” — red on the outside but white on the inside (Y I K E S). Similar teachings were relayed to Black saints — they were promised to be perfected in heaven, which meant turning white (Y I K E S).

(I also learned about how Reconstruction Era reforms pitted American Indians and Black Americans against one another. That is not particularly related, it was just grim. Oppression always hinges on preventing coalition building among vulnerable groups. Always. Because there is no way for people hoarding power and wealth to win when everyone else stands together. Okay back to my book review.)

Mormons have long pursued wider acceptance by Christianity and mainstream culture. As Mormonism grew, its members wanted Utah to gain official statehood and to expand the faith's reach globally. To this end, they made concessions, especially about (at least public practice of) polygamy. Polygamy was once a central and cherished Mormon principle, yet from the beginning the practice was often hidden from first wives, and later generations did their best to downplay polygamy's relevance to Mormonism.

Mormonism distinguished itself in the beginning with personal revelation, but with time became highly hierarchical and esoteric. Assassinations of core leaders dropped off steeply after a rocky start. Increasingly older white men stood at the helm, whose revelations happened to include a ton of racism, sexism, and queerphobia.

Even as they sanitized their own history, church leaders became more vocal about new problematic policies. Mormon doctrine became more regressive about race and gender, forbidding Black saints to participate in ordinances necessary to achieve the highest level of salvation. As attitudes about race began shifting during the Civil Rights Movement, homosexuality was promptly identified as a new target.

The church faced a tricky balancing act, between affirming that the Lord speaks through living prophets and wishing some of those prophets did not do a lot of what they did (child brides, I'm referring to pedophilia) and did not say a lot of what they said (Elder Holland giving a strangely vicious talk about muskets in reference to people with “same-sex challenge” existing).

Was Heavenly Father really in favor of segregation until 1978? How can Mormons undermine the authority of past prophecies without implicating the discernment of current and future prophets? Why would God urge a wide-sweeping “I'm a Mormon” campaign and then five years later ask that no one use the term again? Why would the Lord choose to speak through men who allowed their personal biases to leech into the supposedly divine?

Benjamin Park provides a measured history about the dimensions and tensions within the church, casting prominent figures with nuance. I believe he strikes a fair tone, making it clear when evidence is scarce and laying out timelines and primary sources rather than trying to manipulate a certain narrative into being. His voice is most prominent in the conclusion, but I liked it. I don't know who this book's audience necessarily is, other than me, but it most definitely includes me.