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Bibliography

The annotated list below identifies some of the books, articles, and reference works most valuable and useful in the study of LDS Church history. As a selection, it has two purposes. First, it will guide the reader who wishes to learn more about the topics discussed in this book. Second, because we have used footnotes only to identify direct quotations in the narrative, it will indicate the principal sources we consulted and, in part, express our debt to other historians.

Most of the items listed here are readily available in major libraries with collecting interests in Latter-day Saint history or by inter-library loan. Additional readings can be located in specialized bibliographies. We have not included most dissertations and theses, most published ward and stake histories, many biographies, and numerous articles on aspects of Mormon studies outside of history. We have often excluded references to historical articles when books adequately treat the same topic. Many of these books go beyond the scope of our narrative and offer, as well, suggestions for further reading.

In this General Bibliography are sections titled General Works, Biography and Autobiography, Collected Works, Bibliographies, and Historiography. This general listing is followed by separate chapter bibliographies. Included in the General Bibliography are sources covering a broader period than any one chapter or section and works helpful in other ways not directly related to the chronological framework of the chapters. Works identified with full bibliographic citation in these general sections are listed by shortened title in all subsequent citations. This selected bibliography covers publications issued or announced by March 1, 1992.

General Works

Broad Surveys

Comprehensive Overviews. The most extensive overview of Church history published to date, B. H. Roberts's A Comprehensive History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Century I, 6 vols. (Salt Lake City: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1930), though half a century old, remains a valuable resource for information and commentary. Joseph Smith's History of the Church (7 vols.), because of its documentary approach, is cited below under "Published Documents."

One-Volume Overviews. While The Story of the Latter-day Saints looks at Church history in a chronological format and pays attention to questions of most interest to LDS members, The Mormon Experience: A History of the Latter-day Saints, by Leonard J. Arrington and Davis Bitton (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1979), offers a valuable thematic discussion of issues of concern to a non-Mormon audience. For young readers a good survey weighted toward the nineteenth century is Dean Hughes, The Mormon Church: A Basic History (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1986).