This is a bibliography of works on the Latter Day Saint movement.
General Overviews
As part of the celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Mormon pioneers' arrival in the Salt Lake Valley, LDS church president George Albert Smith tasked Hinckley (then employed as the Executive Secretary to the Church Radio, Publicity, and Mission Literature Committee) to write a book which would introduce the Church to non-members; it is divided into two sections— "The Mormons Today: A Contemporary Picture" and "The Mormons Yesterday: Their History"; beginning in 1969, the Church began publishing the historical part alone under the title Truth Restored: A Short History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
A semiofficial encyclopedia for topics relevant to the LDS Church. Published in four volumes, with an optional fifth volume containing the "Standard Works."
A compact (144 pages) history of the LDS Church, and survey of contentious issues in contemporary Mormonism; an installment in the Very Short Introductions book series by an eminent historian and practicing Mormon.
Scholarly analysis of the religion's origins and development; written by a cultural historian, who is a leading authority on Mormonism (yet not a member of the faith).
By journalists who sought to write "a candid but non-polemical" overview of the Mormon world; investigates the LDS Church's finances.
A sociological analysis of the previous forty years of Mormon history and a cultural "retrenchment" among Mormons— against assimilation.
A collection of the viewpoints of contemporary Mormons in America, on their beliefs, rituals, and practices; also their views on race, ethnicity, social class, gender, and sexual orientation.
A study of the Mormons and their religion by a non-member sociologist; includes an account of LDS theology, with an analysis of the Book of Mormon.
History
A single-volume history covering the LDS Church down to 1991. Commissioned by the Church Historical Department; it puts the history of the Church in the context of its times. First published on the one-hundredth anniversary of Joseph Fielding Smith's birth; it was subject to some controversy within the Church, with some considering it not "spiritual enough." Originally entitled History of Joseph Smith; a revised edition was published in seven volumes under the title History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1902 to 1932; it is currently published under the shortened title. A semi-official history of the early Latter Day Saint movement during the lifetime of Joseph Smith. It is largely composed of Smith's writings with interpolations and editorial comments by Smith's secretaries and scribes; and, after Smith's death, historians of the LDS Church.
Single volume history produced by the LDS Church; written by an Apostle.
Collection of six personal and church histories written, dictated, or closely supervised by Smith; including accounts of his first vision of Deity, ministering of the angel Moroni, discovery of the gold plates and translation of the Book of Mormon, bestowal of priesthood authority, an account of the "Missouri Mormon War", and Smith's original Articles of Faith.
A collection including the first three years of what survives of Joseph Smith's papers, including letters sent and received, revelations, minutes of meetings, deeds and other financial papers, records of ecclesiastical administration; covering documentation of key events including the translation and publication of the Book of Mormon, the establishment of a church, and the mission by Oliver Cowdery and others to preach to American Indians on the western frontier of the United States.
A six-volume history by a general authority and Assistant Church Historian of the LDS Church.
An examination of the first two decades of LDS history and the move from Joseph Smith's charismatic spontaneity, and the egalitarian chaos of the early church, to Brigham Young's well-defined structure and the bureaucratization of Mormonism.
A compilation of fifteen brief essays on new insights found in the previously unavailable minutes of the Council of Fifty; historians who analyze the records include Richard Lyman Bushman, Richard E. Turley Jr., Spencer W. McBride, Patrick Q. Mason, Benjamin E. Park, Nathan B. Oman, Gerrit J. Dirkmaat, R. Eric Smith, Matthew J. Grow, Marilyn Bradford, Jeffrey D. Mahas, Matthew C. Godfrey, Christopher James Blythe, Richard E. Bennett, Jedediah S. Rogers, and W. Paul Reeve.
A collection of essays on influential Mormons in American popular culture; in cinema, television, drama, theater, and music; with specific chapters on Disney, Philo T. Farnsworth, the Hill Cumorah Pageant, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, Rose Marie Reid, and a selection of Mormon actors.
A collection of essays about primitive Christianity, with particular focus on the connection between the practices and the doctrines of the early Church and the LDS Church.
A study of the office of Presiding Patriarch in the LDS Church; chronicling its history.
Mormon studies
A collection of 15 essays taking a new look at events in Mormon history— such as the significance of the First Vision, the Nauvoo period, the miracle of the gulls, and Mormon polygamy; contributors include Leonard J. Arrington, Mario S. De Pillis, James B. Allen, Jan Shipps, Robert Bruce Flanders, Linda King Newell, Dean May, William G. Hartley, Maureen Ursenbach Beecher, Stanley S. Ivins, Eugene E. Campbell, Bruce L. Campbell, Kenneth L. Cannon II, Klaus J. Hansen, Thomas G. Alexander, Ronald W. Walker, and B. H. Roberts.
A historiographical survey of how the writing of Mormon history has evolved since the establishment of the church; a companion volume to the bibliography, Studies in Mormon History, 1830–1997; includes a contribution by Armand Mauss.
A bibliography on historical literature about the Mormons; listing books, articles, theses, and dissertations on the history of the LDS Church.
Compilation of fourteen essays on history and the Mormons by Arrington, the first professional historian to serve as Church Historian, and a prominent founder of the New Mormon history; includes a biographical sketch by Walker, a bibliography of his works and speeches by Whitaker, and a personal tribute by his daughter, Susan Arrington Madsen.
A study of the early history of the Church, introducing readers to groups and individuals who seem to have anticipated its kind of religious primitivism, especially the Seekers (who resembled Mormonism's concept of authority during its formative years).
Survey of Mormon history and doctrine; recounting the church's origins, explaining the evolution of the Mormon vision, and its place in American public life.
Seventeen articles on a range of topics including David O. McKay's personality, comparisons of John Humphrey Noyes with Joseph Smith, Wilford Woodruff's vision of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, a "Mormon Bigfoot", Mormon ritual healing, the campaign to suppress anti-Mormon motion pictures, Mormon representations of Judaism, Mormon women's fiction, Edward Tullidge and the women of Mormondom; contributors include Kathleen Flake, Newell Bringhurst, Claudia Bushman, and Douglas Davies.
A collection of essays with topics include Joseph Smith's political economy, Jane James's place in LDS history, the young Joseph Smith and Presbyterianism, the relation of Pentecostalism to Mormonism in the case of John Alexander Dowie, some comparative observations of Islam and Mormonism, the Ex-Mormons For Jesus/Saints Alive In Jesus, who Elias is, and LDS engagement with Dead Sea Scrolls scholarship; contributors include David Charles Gore, Quincy D. Newell, John Matzko, D. William Faupel, Grant Underwood, Sara M. Patterson, Stevan Davies, Eric F. Mason, and Richard Lyman Bushman.
A history of the development of Mormon doctrines and the attempt to develop a communal utopia under a theocratic government during the 1830s and early 1840s; an interpretation of the LDS movement as a reaction to the diminishing role of religion in an emerging democratic, competitive, and increasingly secular world.
Regional studies Britain Republished on 13 May 2009. History of the Quorum of the Twelve's mission to the United Kingdom.
A collection of 16 biographical, local, background, and general articles on Mormonism in the British Isles, emphasizing the period of 1840 to the late 1850s; written by a mix historians of British history, and of American history.
Denmark
Story of the social and cultural ramifications of Danish conversions to Mormonism; explores the range of Danish public reactions over a seventy-year period.
Italy
An account and analysis of the people, events, and issues relevant to LDS missionary efforts in Italy.
Pacific Islands
A compilation of scholarly research, personal reminiscences, and faith stories of LDS Church missionary work among the Pacific Islands from 1843 onward; including articles on the work in French Polynesia and Tonga, influence on Maori religious identity, the founding of Iosepa, a rich history in Hawaii, the site selection of the Church College of Hawai'i campus, the art and architecture of the Laie Hawaii Temple (and a purported 7 December 1941 attack attempt), and reflections on the Polynesian Cultural Center).
Collection of articles and remembrances on the history of the LDS Church throughout the Pacific Islands up to the year 2004; including an address by Gordon B. Hinckley, an article on Matthew Cowley, the cultural foundations of the Polynesian Cultural Center, George Q. Cannon's mission in Hawai'i, and David O. McKay's 1921 trip around the Pacific.
Japan
Study of the early history LDS Missionary efforts in Japan; the challenges of adapting their message to the cultures encountered in East Asia.
Korea
Collection of essays about the LDS Church in Korea.
American South
History of late nineteenth century Anti-Mormonism in the American South; which sometimes rose to the level of vigilante violence.
Sacred works The Book of Mormon
A reader-friendly version reformating the complete, unchanged 1920 text in the manner of modern translations of the Bible, with paragraphs, quotations marks, poetic forms, topical headings, multichapter headings, indention of quoted documents, italicized reworkings of biblical prophecies, and minimized verse numbers; also featuring a hypothetical map based on internal references, an essay on Book of Mormon poetry, a full glossary of names, genealogical charts, a basic bibliography of Mormon and non-Mormon scholarship, a chronology of the translation, eyewitness accounts of the gold plates, and information regarding the lost 116 pages and significant changes in the text.
An analysis of the work's narrative structure; takes readers through its characters, events, and ideas, as it explores the story and its messages; seeks to reconcile believing and nonbelieving readings by offering a literary approach.
Mostly written with a beginner in mind; it makes a case for Joseph Smith's description of the Book of Mormon as "the most correct of any book on earth, and the keystone of our religion," and that "a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book."
Others
Presents the text of the Book of Genesis, Book of Moses, and Book of Abraham into 186 events or episodes placed in chronological sequence; in an effort to present the primeval history of the Genesis creation narrative in a comprehensive harmonized structure.
Criticism
Examination of the contents of the Book of Mormon, challenging the claim of ancient origin; by a retired CES instructor and Institute director.
Biographical sketch of Joseph Smith with background information about the origin of the Book of Mormon; posits the idea that Smith used the 1823 work View of the Hebrews as a source of ideas in creating the Book.