Category Archives: Release Announcements

Posts announcing book releases.

New Release: “Eventful Narratives”

Eventful Narratives, just released on Project Gutenberg, is the thirteenth book in the Faith Promoting Series. It’s comprised of three narratives: the story of an English convert running away from home to join the saints in Utah; the story of a martyr in the Battle of Nauvoo and the faith of his plural widows; and the account of a member’s survival on a government expedition outside of the Salt Lake Valley into Native American territories. All three of these narratives, written to inspire the youth of the church through the exceptional examples of saints before them, give modern-day saints an insight into the trials, experiences, and faith of the saints in the past.

Most importantly, these events testify of the divinity of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. These real-life experiences show how the Gospel can bless followers of Christ, and give saints the faith to endure regardless of whatever trials they will face in this life. They also give a historical perspective on the eternal nature of the human soul, and the eternal consequences of mortal actions, for better or for worse. In the words of the publishers, the purpose of publishing these narratives “has been and is to increase faith in the hearts of those who peruse them, by showing how miraculously God has overruled everything for the benefit of those who try to serve Him.”

Steven Fluckiger, one of our 2015 BYU history summer interns, proofread and produced Eventful Narratives and contributed to this post.

 

New Release: “Helpful Visions”

Helpful Visions, the fourteenth book in the Faith-Promoting Series, is a collection of three stories about early Saints and the visions that they had to help them through their trials. It’s just been released as a free e-book on Project Gutenberg. The Preface summarizes the purpose of the book:

“The Visions here recorded will again prove that truth is stranger than fiction, and we trust that a perusal of these manifestations will lead our young people to seek for the guidance of the Lord in all things, and make Him their constant friend. The article on traitors is very appropriate reading matter for the present season, and will, it is hoped, cause everyone to look upon the men of this class with the contempt they so justly merit, and sustain everyone in shunning as they would poison, any traitorous act.

“Our great desire is that this little book may assist in the education and elevation of the young people and others who may peruse it.”

“A Terrible Ordeal” tells the story of David Patten Kimball, who was lost on the Salt River desert in Arizona. When near death, he had a vision of the afterlife, where he saw his father and many other faithful Saints who had previously passed on. He was told he could remain if he wished, but he chose to return to life, in order to support his family and to repent of his sins, and was given two more years of life.

“Briant S. Stevens” tells of a valiant and extraordinary young man who fell ill following a series of accidents. He was faithful till the end, and was ordained to the Priesthood before his death. He later appears to his father in a vision to provide comfort to his grieving family.

“Finding Comfort” is a first-hand account from Thomas A. Shreeve, who as a young man was called on a mission to Australasia. This section details his experiences while on his mission in a distant land.

Finally, Helpful Visions concludes with an article discussing the characteristics of traitors. Like other books in the Faith-Promoting Series, it’s a quick and inspiring read for anyone interested in stories from the early days of the Church.

Holly Astle, one of our 2015 summer interns, proofread and produced Helpful Visions and contributed to this blog post.

New Release: “Labors in the Vineyard”

“Labors in the Vineyard,” published in 1884 and just released on PG, is the twelfth book of the Juvenile Instructor Office’s Faith-Promoting Series. The Faith-Promoting Series was designed to teach young Latter-day Saints gospel principles and share experiences of other Latter-day Saints. “Labors in the Vineyard” specifically shares the missionary experiences of six Latter-day Saint elders who went on missions to the eastern states, Arizona, England, Switzerland, and Australia.

Throughout this book one can not only read about interesting missionary experiences, including several where God was able to help and protect the missionaries, but also learn about the thoughts and feelings of the missionaries. Among others, it shares Harrison Burgess’ early life story of living in Kirtland, Ohio and being a part of Zion’s Camp, and discusses C. V. Spencer’s mission to England, after which he testified:

“I am satisfied and paid for the very little and feeble labors that I performed. I returned bright and zealous in the love of the truth. God has never yet forsaken me by His Spirit, and I do not believe that any man will ever be trusted to walk in the footsteps of his Elder Brother, Jesus, as a Savior of a world, or ever be seated with honor on the right hand of His Father, until he has learned to wade through deep and troubled waters, up stream and against the current without earthly props or stays.”

If you enjoy early Latter-day Saint history and reading about different missionary experiences, this book will be a fun, inspiring read.

Shawnee Hawkes, an MTP summer intern from the BYU American Studies program, proofed and produced Labors in the Vineyard and contributed to this post—our thanks to her!

New Release: “Jacob Hamblin,” frontiersman & Indian missionary

The title says it all:

JACOB HAMBLIN,

A NARRATIVE OF HIS PERSONAL EXPERIENCE, AS A FRONTIERSMAN, MISSIONARY TO THE INDIANS AND EXPLORER,

DISCLOSING

Interpositions of Providence, Severe Privations, Perilous Situations and Remarkable Escapes.

A convert to the Church during the Nauvoo era, Hamblin’s story is recorded in this the fifth book of the Faith-Promoting Series. Now on Project Gutenberg.

In other news, the MTP internship program kicked off this week! As that consumes resources, the blog may suffer a bit, but rest assured a burst of productivity is under way.

 

Autobiography of Anthon Skanchy, translated by John A. Widtsoe

Anthon Skanchy (pictured) was the early Norwegian missionary who baptized noted Apostle John A. Widtsoe and his mother into the Church. Skanchy wrote this autobiography in Norwegian, and Widtsoe translated, edited, and published it as Anthon L. Skanchy: A Brief Autobiographical Sketch of the Missionary Labors of a Valiant Soldier for Christ. We’ve recently released it as a free e-book on Project Gutenberg.

Skanchy led an interesting life; he served various missions in his native Norway, and much of the book recounts his mission experiences, including both some remarkable spiritual incidents and some interesting temporal details, such as his employment as a fisherman during parts of his mission. He also worked on the Logan temple and tabernacle and served as a bishop. He eventually took charge of the Scandinavian mission, with a special charge to build mission houses in Denmark, Sweden, and Norway. Unlike mission homes today that often just house the mission president, these included substantial meeting halls, pictured in the book. It’s a window into an interesting life and, weighing in at 56 pages, a fun Sunday afternoon read. Enjoy.

New Release: “Mother Stories from the Book of Mormon”

President Hinckley was first introduced to the Book of Mormon by his mother reading him this book (source) by William A. Morton, and treasured it in his old age. Weighing in at 158 pages and using simple language, it could make good reading material for small children today as an intermediate between the Book of Mormon picture books and the real thing. And it’s now available as a free e-book on Project Gutenberg. Enjoy.

New Release: “The Hand of Providence” by J. H. Ward

This 1883 book by J. H. Ward is an early Mormon take on world history; it’s now available on Project Gutenberg, complete with more than thirty original illustrations. You may remember J. H. Ward as the author of Gospel Philosophy, a book on science and the gospel that we released and discussed some time ago.

The Church today has a particular understanding of how world history led up to the Restoration; this book shows Ward’s 19th century understanding of that topic, including discussion of Rome, the Middle East, the Reformation, the Americas, etc. I’m not sure to what extent Ward was popularizing existing theories vs. breaking new ground, but either way this is interesting stuff from a historiographical perspective.

New Release: “Biography and Family Record of Lorenzo Snow”

Eliza R. Snow Smith, the sister of Lorenzo Snow, wrote this exciting biography, recently released on PG, that gives an account of Lorenzo Snow’s life and family. Lorenzo Snow was the fifth president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. This book starts with information about Lorenzo’s early life, including some of the characteristics he had as a young boy. Being the eldest child, Lorenzo was often left in charge. He gained a sense of responsibility at a young age and Eliza believed that this prepared him “for the position in life he was destined to occupy.”

Later in Lorenzo’s life he served a mission in England. In a letter recorded in this biography, Lorenzo answered the question pertaining to the reason he life on this mission: “I am here because God has spoken, and raised up a Prophet, through whom He has restored the fullness of the everlasting Gospel.”

At the close of his mission, Lorenzo led a company of 250 Saints from England to Nauvoo. On their journey overseas, the steward became very ill. The captain gave up hope and provided a ceremony where all the crewmembers could say goodbye to the steward. Although many thought that it was too late for this man to be healed, Lorenzo gave him a blessing. Eliza writes, “to the joy and astonishment of all, [the steward] was seen walking the deck, praising and glorifying God for his restoration.” After this experience, several of the officers and sailors were baptized.

Throughout this biography, Eliza recites many stories pertaining to Lorenzo’s life. Each of the events recorded all contributed to Lorenzo’s success as a Prophet for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The book (and blog post) were produced by MTP research assistant Mariah Averett, thanks to donor support for her position. 

Happy Boxing Day! New Release: History of the Church vol. 3

History of the Church vol. 3 is now available as a free e-book on Project Gutenberg! Obviously, HotC is a big deal, and we’ll just let it stand at that. (Unless you have some strange desire to read only about the 1838-39 window of Church history, you really ought to start with vol. 1, and if you’ve already read vol. 1 and 2 you probably don’t need an introduction to 3, so no further commentary at this time.)

It was proofed and produced by our excellent BYU research assistant Mariah Averett, thanks to donor support for her position.

New Release: “Wilford Woodruff,” a biography written from his journals

If you’ve always wanted to read Wilford Woodruff’s journal but can’t afford ~$4k for the out of print nine-volume typescript edition, this is your best bet. Wilford Woodruff: History of his Life and Labors as Recorded in his Daily Journals, was written by Elder Matthias F. Cowley of the Twelve based on, and excerpting heavily from, Woodruff’s famous journals. It’s awesome. Get the free e-book on Project Gutenberg.

If you’re not sold yet, here’s the pitch: Wilford Woodruff’s life would be eminently worth reading about on its own account, and he also happened to be present for most of the important Church history events during his lifetime. This book thus reads like a combination biography/general history of the Church to 1890, and we get to read about much of that period in Wilford Woodruff’s own words. We hear about everything from baptizing hundreds to near-death experiences to the original pioneer journey to the Salt Lake Valley.

If that doesn’t sound interesting, I’m not sure what would. It would take a week of daily posting to do justice to my stack of excerpts, and they may get just that. But for now, go to Project Gutenberg, read the Preface, and try not to be intrigued.

Merry Christmas!