"A Peculiar People"

Anti-Mormonism and the Making of Religion in Nineteenth-Century America

Nonfiction, Religion & Spirituality, Christianity, Denominations, Mormonism, History, Americas, United States, 19th Century
Cover of the book "A Peculiar People" by J. Spencer Fluhman, The University of North Carolina Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: J. Spencer Fluhman ISBN: 9780807837405
Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press Publication: September 17, 2012
Imprint: The University of North Carolina Press Language: English
Author: J. Spencer Fluhman
ISBN: 9780807837405
Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press
Publication: September 17, 2012
Imprint: The University of North Carolina Press
Language: English

Though the U.S. Constitution guarantees the free exercise of religion, it does not specify what counts as a religion. From its founding in the 1830s, Mormonism, a homegrown American faith, drew thousands of converts but far more critics. In "A Peculiar People", J. Spencer Fluhman offers a comprehensive history of anti-Mormon thought and the associated passionate debates about religious authenticity in nineteenth-century America. He argues that understanding anti-Mormonism provides critical insight into the American psyche because Mormonism became a potent symbol around which ideas about religion and the state took shape.
Fluhman documents how Mormonism was defamed, with attacks often aimed at polygamy, and shows how the new faith supplied a social enemy for a public agitated by the popular press and wracked with social and economic instability. Taking the story to the turn of the century, Fluhman demonstrates how Mormonism's own transformations, the result of both choice and outside force, sapped the strength of the worst anti-Mormon vitriol, triggering the acceptance of Utah into the Union in 1896 and also paving the way for the dramatic, yet still grudging, acceptance of Mormonism as an American religion.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Though the U.S. Constitution guarantees the free exercise of religion, it does not specify what counts as a religion. From its founding in the 1830s, Mormonism, a homegrown American faith, drew thousands of converts but far more critics. In "A Peculiar People", J. Spencer Fluhman offers a comprehensive history of anti-Mormon thought and the associated passionate debates about religious authenticity in nineteenth-century America. He argues that understanding anti-Mormonism provides critical insight into the American psyche because Mormonism became a potent symbol around which ideas about religion and the state took shape.
Fluhman documents how Mormonism was defamed, with attacks often aimed at polygamy, and shows how the new faith supplied a social enemy for a public agitated by the popular press and wracked with social and economic instability. Taking the story to the turn of the century, Fluhman demonstrates how Mormonism's own transformations, the result of both choice and outside force, sapped the strength of the worst anti-Mormon vitriol, triggering the acceptance of Utah into the Union in 1896 and also paving the way for the dramatic, yet still grudging, acceptance of Mormonism as an American religion.

More books from The University of North Carolina Press

Cover of the book Southern Cultures: Remembering the Civil War Issue by J. Spencer Fluhman
Cover of the book Form and History in American Literary Naturalism by J. Spencer Fluhman
Cover of the book Women and the Politics of Sterilization by J. Spencer Fluhman
Cover of the book Archives of Desire by J. Spencer Fluhman
Cover of the book Machine-Age Ideology by J. Spencer Fluhman
Cover of the book Hiroshima Diary by J. Spencer Fluhman
Cover of the book Manual of the Vascular Flora of the Carolinas by J. Spencer Fluhman
Cover of the book Worried Sick by J. Spencer Fluhman
Cover of the book The World of Ovid's Metamorphoses by J. Spencer Fluhman
Cover of the book Ask and Tell by J. Spencer Fluhman
Cover of the book River of Death--The Chickamauga Campaign by J. Spencer Fluhman
Cover of the book Somerset Homecoming by J. Spencer Fluhman
Cover of the book They Should Stay There by J. Spencer Fluhman
Cover of the book A German Women's Movement by J. Spencer Fluhman
Cover of the book Disunion! by J. Spencer Fluhman
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy