Philip Barlow and Jan Shipps, Mormonism in America (New York: Columbia University Press, late 2014, early 2015).

Last year, Philip explained that this book ?aspires to  approach the topic [Mormonism] from imaginative angles.? In glancing at the outline, the provocative book includes chapters on General Conference, conversion, social changes in the 20th century, belief and ritual, and humanitarian efforts, to name a few.”

Terryl Givens, Wrestling the Angel: The Foundations of Mormon Thought, Volume 1: The Cosmos, the Divine, the Human (New York: Oxford University Press).

The first of likely two volumes, Terryl skillfully frames the ontological framework that 19th century Mormons created. Should be a foundational volume for Mormon historical theology.

Miranda Wilcox and John Young, eds., Standing Apart: Mormon Historical Consciousness and the Concept of Apostasy (Oxford: Oxford University Press, April 2014).

The result of what was, by all accounts, a fantastic conference at BYU a couple years ago, this edited collection includes work from lots of bright scholars on a range of topics. Included among the chapters are those by JIers Christopher Jones, Stephen Fleming, and Matt Bowman.

This should be a monumental book, not only for its fascinating topic but also its cutting-edge approach. David is a good friend of the blog, and this volume should be on everyone’s wish-list. Part of the official description: “David J. Howlett sets the biography of Kirtland Temple against the backdrop of religious rivalry. The two sides have long contested the temple’s ownership, purpose, and significance in both the courts and Mormon literature. Yet members of each denomination have occasionally cooperated to establish periods of co-worship, host joint tours, and create friendships. Howlett uses the temple to build a model for understanding what he calls parallel pilgrimage–the set of dynamics of disagreement and alliance by religious rivals at a shared sacred site. At the same time, he illuminates social and intellectual changes in the two main branches of Mormonism since the 1830s, providing a much-needed history of the lesser-known Community of Christ.”

Paul Reeve, Religion of a Different Color: Race and the Mormon Struggle for Whiteness (New York: Oxford University Press, late 2014 or early 2015).

This is how Paul describes what should be a fantastic study: ?This book project, Religion of a Different Color: Race and the Mormon Struggle for Whiteness, is currently under contract with Oxford University Press. It considers the ways in which 19th century- outsiders constructed Mormons as physically different. It argues that Mormons were racialized in ways similar to immigrants from southern and eastern Europe and suggests that the Mormon struggle for acceptance in the 19th century was not merely a political struggle for Utah statehood, but a social and cultural struggle for whiteness. Mormons contested ideas of physical degeneracy with discourses of physical superiority and thereby placed Mormon bodies at the center of racialized arguments over citizenship and religion.?

Paula Kelly Harline, The Polygamous Wives Writing Club: From the Diaries of Mormon Pioneer Women (New York: Oxford University Press, June 2014).

Don’t worry, everyone—we’re sure to at least have one polygamy volume next year! Official description: “The Church of Latter-day Saints renounced the practice of plural marriage in 1890. In the mid- to late nineteenth century, however–the heyday of Mormon polygamy–as many as three out of every ten Mormon women became polygamous wives. Paula Kelly Harline delves deep into the diaries and autobiographies of twenty-nine such women, providing a rare window into the lives they led and revealing their views and experiences of polygamy, including their well-founded belief that their domestic contributions would help to build a foundation for generations of future Mormons. Polygamous wives were participants in a controversial and very public religious practice that violated most nineteenth-century social and religious rules of a monogamous America. Harline considers the questions: Were these women content with their sacrifice? Did the benefits of polygamous marriage for the Mormons outweigh the human toll it required and the embarrassment it continues to bring? Polygamous wives faced daunting challenges not only imposed by the wider society but within the home, yet those whose writings Harline explores give voice to far more than unhappiness and discontent. The personal writings of these women, all married to different husbands, are the heart of this remarkable book–they paint a vivid and sometimes disturbing picture of an all but vanished and still controversial way of life.”

Elizabeth O. Anderson, ed., Cowboy Apostle: The Diaries of Anthony W. Ivins, 1875-1932 (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, Weeks Away!).

Technically a 2013 arrival, but since it is coming out after my retrospect post I am including it here. This is the latest in the enormously influential ?Significant Mormon Diaries? series. Ivins, a pivotal Church leader in Utah and Mexico, kept voluminous records sure to privide fascinating details.

Jedediah S. Rodgers, The Council of Fifty: A Documentary History (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, May 2014).

Coupled with the Nauvoo Council of Fifty minutes that should appear from the JSP in 2015, this volume should help bring attention to one of the most exotic aspects of Mormon history. (Personally, while I don’t think the C50 minutes will be as explosive as some expect, it will be a wonderful primary resource for understanding the intersections of political and religious thought in antebellum America) From my understanding, this volume from Signature will focus primarily on the Utah period.

Ronald E. Romig, Eighth Witness: The Biography of John Whitmer (Independence, Mo: John Whitmer Books 2013).

Ron is the former archivist for the Community of Christ, current director of the Kirtland Temple, and recently served a term as president of the MHA. He has already provided us with a number of fantastic articles and small monographs, but this will be a substative addition to the Mormon history field.