Max Perry Mueller is assistant professor of religious studies at the University of Nebraska.
[Mueller's] hermeneutic enterprise brings additional insight to a
book rich in detail."--American Historical Review
Argues that the Book of Mormon both reinforced and challenged
nineteenth-century Americans' ideas about race--and that it set the
stage for how Mormonism would develop in the decades to
come."--Jana Riess, Religion News Service
Argues that Mormonism is a quintessentially American religion. . .
. Yet, while the story of race and the LDS Church is similar to
other American experiences of race, it's also distinctive, leaving
Mormons to grapple with the legacy of racism and white supremacy in
their own way."--The Atlantic
Max Perry Mueller's highly anticipated book... [examines] race as a
constitutive factor in the formation of Mormonism. Mueller takes on
a wide range of questions about early Mormonism and race, but the
answers to all of those questions resolve... to make clear a
distinction between the ideologies and practices of race that
defined the church for most of its history and the set of
possibilities available in its founding texts."--Seth Perry, author
of Bible Culture and Authority in the Early United States
Mueller becomes somewhat like one of the angels in Revelation,
forcing us to compare ideals, history, and hopes against what the
outside world's paradigm would allow us to become."--Association
for Mormon Letters
Mueller's excellent book tells us that race is a story we
collectively write about ourselves."--Association for Mormon
Letters
Outstanding analysis of the role of race among
Mormons."--Choice
Unearths the buried stories of black Mormons such as Jane Manning
James, who was close to Mormon founders like the (Joseph) Smith
family."--Martin Marty, Sightings
Unlike many other works of race and Mormonism, Mueller pushes
beyond only understanding white Mormon identities. He explains
Mormons sought to create a "distinctly white Mormon race" and then
stresses nonwhite Mormon perspectives and experiences. He explores
what "white" might mean to African American and Native American
Mormons thereby (re) centering the focus of Mormon constructs of
race on African Americans, Native Americans, and nonwhite Mormons
who influenced the LDS Church and its community."--Farina King
(Dine), author of The Earth Memory Compass: Dine Landscapes and
Education in the Twentieth Century
A mature, meditative, and mighty engagement with a complex topic.
Scholars of American religion and race, not to mention those
engaged in the academic analysis of Mormonism, will be struggling
with his conclusions for quite some time.--Benjamin Park, The Junto
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