Background
Quinn, D. Michael was born on March 26, 1944 in Pasadena, California, United States. Son of Daniel Donald Pena-Quinn and Joyce Coila Workman.
( In this ground-breaking book, D. Michael Quinn masterfu...)
In this ground-breaking book, D. Michael Quinn masterfully reconstructs an earlier age, finding ample evidence for folk magic in nineteenth-century New England, as he does in Mormon founder Joseph Smith’s upbringing. Quinn discovers that Smith’s world was inhabited by supernatural creatures whose existence could be both symbolic and real. He explains that the Smith family’s treasure digging was not unusual for the times and is vital to understanding how early Mormons interpreted developments in their history in ways that differ from modern perceptions. Quinn’s impressive research provides a much-needed background for the environment that produced Mormonism. This thoroughly researched examination into occult traditions surrounding Smith, his family, and other founding Mormons cannot be understated. Among the practices no longer a part of Mormonism are the use of divining rods for revelation, astrology to determine the best times to conceive children and plant crops, the study of skull contours to understand personality traits, magic formula utilized to discover lost property, and the wearing of protective talismans. Ninety-four photographs and illustrations accompany the text.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1560850892/?tag=2022091-20
( J. Reuben Clark was all of these prior to his call to ...)
J. Reuben Clark was all of these prior to his call to the LDS First Presidency. As a counselor to three church presidents—Heber J. Grant, George Albert Smith, and David O. McKay—he served longer than any other member of this high church council. Already controversial before he assumed his church duties, his blunt, independent style created even more ripples at LDS headquarters. Still, his impact, intellectually and administratively, was immense. His most important legacy may well be the professionalization of church government; where apostles previously met and decided issues based mostly on their collective years of experience, Clark drew from his secular training to introduce outside research, position papers, and extended discussion, all of which, for better or for worse, added to the administrative bureaucracy. In this impressive study of the “elder statesman,” as reporters labeled Clark, D. Michael Quinn considers what it meant for a Latter-day Saint to attain such national and international stature, although Quinn never loses sight of Reuben’s very human qualities either. This fresh, intimate approach presents Clark on his own terms and draws readers into Clark’s world in the context of the larger society of his time and place. From the dust jacket: Life is never quite what is portrayed in inspirational books about famous people’s experiences. One aspect that is rarely told about President Clark’s life is his near-embrace of atheism in the 1920s. This period of his intellectual development is interesting and informative and ultimately as inspirational as Clark’s conclusion that belief may be irrational but is essential. If nothing else, one admires the future church leader’s rigor and honesty in exploring the fringes of faith. One also admires his biographer for the even-handed, frank treatment of the subject. Clark’s commitment to a successful career similarly came at a sacrifice in other areas of his life. He chose work over family whenever the option presented itself. Two issues that stand at the forefront of Clark’s headstrong manner are his views on pacifism and race. Both were significant to his overall world view and have much to say about the complexity of the issues and about the fallibility of human judgment. For most of his life, Clark was a military enthusiast. He served as the assistant Judge Advocate General during World War I and earned the Distinguished Service Medal. But he changed his mind and thereafter became known as fiercely anti-war. When the United States bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Clark accused his nation of barbarism and said that it had forfeited its right ever again to speak with moral authority in the world. That he also distrusted American propaganda and was sympathetic to National Socialism may come as a surprise to some readers. Similarly, readers may shudder to learn of Clark’s views on race. He was partly responsible for the LDS Hospital’s segregation of the blood of “whites” and “Negroes,” his logic being that since anyone with as little as “one drop” of African blood was ineligible for LDS priesthood ordination, a transfusion from a black donor to a white recipient would render the latter incapable of exercising priesthood authority. Such a racist view—in part a reflection of the time—is tempered by the disclosure that Clark was one of the first among the church leadership to advocate steps toward giving blacks the priesthood. Other ideological quandaries and soul-searching on Clark’s part could be enumerated, but suffice it to say that anyone who picks up this volume will live Reuben’s life with him. One may not ultimately understand why Clark said or did what he did in every instance, but there is a palpable sense of a life lived—with all the quirks and ironies that real lives are made of. Elder Statesman speaks to larger issues, but the spotlight remains on the man himself; readers are left to draw their own conclusions about whether Clark was a hero or villain in any given circumstance.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1560851554/?tag=2022091-20
( The Mormon church today is led by an elite group of ol...)
The Mormon church today is led by an elite group of older men, nearly three-quarters of whom are related to current or past general church authorities. This dynastic hierarchy meets in private; neither its minutes nor the church’s finances are available for public review. Members are reassured by public relations spokesmen that all is well and that harmony prevails among these brethren. But by interviewing former church aides, examining hundreds of diaries, and drawing from his own past experience as an insider within the Latter-day Saint historical department, D. Michael Quinn presents a fuller view. His extensive research documents how the governing apostles, seventies, and presiding bishops are likely to be at loggerheads, as much as united. These strong-willed, independent men–like directors of a large corporation or supreme court justices–lobby among their colleagues, forge alliances, out-maneuver opponents, and broker compromises. There is more: clandestine political activities, investigative and punitive actions by church security forces, personal “loans” from church coffers (later written off as bad debts), and other privileged power-vested activities. Quinn considers the changing role and attitude of the leadership toward visionary experiences, the momentous events which have shaped quorum protocol and doctrine, and day-to-day bureaucratic intrigue from the time of Brigham Young to the dawn of the twenty-first century. The hierarchy seems at root well-intentioned and even at times aggressive in fulfilling its stated responsibility, which is to expedite the Second Coming. Where they have become convinced that God has spoken, they have set aside personal differences, offered unqualified support, and spoken with a unified voice. This potential for change, when coupled with the tempering effect of competing viewpoints, is something Quinn finds encouraging about Mormonism. But one should not assume that these men are infallible or work in anything approaching uninterrupted unanimity.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1560850604/?tag=2022091-20
(Winner of the Herbert Feis Award from the American Histor...)
Winner of the Herbert Feis Award from the American Historical Association and named one of the best religion books of the year by Publishers Weekly, D. Michael Quinn's "Same-Sex Dynamics among Nineteenth-Century Americans" has elicited critical acclaim as well as controversy. Using Mormonism as a case study of the extent of early America's acceptance of same-sex intimacy, Quinn examines several examples of long-term relationships among Mormon same-sex couples and the environment in which they flourished before the onset of homophobia in the late 1950s.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/025202205X/?tag=2022091-20
Quinn, D. Michael was born on March 26, 1944 in Pasadena, California, United States. Son of Daniel Donald Pena-Quinn and Joyce Coila Workman.
Bachelor in English, Philosophy, Brigham Young University, 1968. Master of Arts in History, University Utah, 1973. Master of Philosophy in History, Yale University, 1975.
Doctor of Philosophy in History, Yale University, 1976. Certified of completion, Institute Quantative History, Newberry Library., 1982.
Teaching fellow III Yale University, History Department, New Haven, 1974—1975. Assistant professor to associate professor Brigham Young University, History Department, Provo, Utah, 1976—1984, professor, 1984—1988, director graduate program, 1986—1988. Visiting scholar Claremont (California) Graduate University, 2000.
Affiliated scholar University Southern California, Center for Feminist Research, Los Angeles, 2000—2002. Beinecke fellow, associate History Department Yale University, New Haven, 2002—2003. External member, doctoral committee Texas Agricultural and Mechanical University, History Department, College Station, since 2004.
Advisory council Redd Center Western Studies, Provo, 1980—1986. Associate director Study Abroad Program, Vienna, 1983. Television documentary consultant, 1990—2007.
With Military Intelligence United States Army, 1968-1971.
( The Mormon church today is led by an elite group of ol...)
(Winner of the Herbert Feis Award from the American Histor...)
( In this ground-breaking book, D. Michael Quinn masterfu...)
( J. Reuben Clark was all of these prior to his call to ...)
Speaker various community activities, Salt Lake City, 1981. Board trustees Leonard J. Arrington Foundation, 1982—1983. Volunteer One Institute and Archives, Los Angeles, 2000—2002.
Member of American History Association, American Civil Liberties Union, Organization American Historians, John Whitmer History Association, Mormon History Association, Utah State History Society, Affirmation: Gay and Lesbian Mormons (awards committee 2000-2005), Western History Association (program committee 1981-1982), American Academy Religion, Move-On Organization, Southern Poverty Center, Human Rights Campaign, Center Lesbian and Gay Studies, Amnesty International, Greenpeace.
Married Janice L. Darley, June 20, 1967 (divorced January 1986). Children: Mary, Lisa, Adam, Moshe.