Task: Sentiment Analysis
Input (English): A Superficially Selective Journalistic Survey of the Church . Written by the same author as Cults, New Religions Movements, and Your Family, as well as Defending the Faith: A Beginner's Guide to Cults and New Religions, gives a sense where the author is headed with this prodigious "history" of the Church.  Although not an actual history of Mormonism, but more of a superficially selective journalistic survey of the Church, (its people, dealings and influences) the book offers the reader an enormous panoramic overview at the entire 170 year span of its existence.  Yes, the volume is anti-Mormon, it is negative and has no balanced view or viewpoint.  Abanes uses enflamed and sensualistic language from the start and propagates the same misjudgments as previous anti-Mormon writers (confusing the action of members with the doctrines of the institution, using enflamed and unreliable anti-Mormon sources as well as regurgitating old anti-Mormon arguments that have been dealt-with in scholarly journals and balanced histories) yes, he mostly uses only secondary materials and relies on the Tanner's as an authoritative source, and yes, the author has no clue what historical perspective is, but, one must give the author his due for the broad scope of the work.  He not only covers all the standard anti-Mormon fare (the Danites, blood atonement, polygamy, money digging, etc.); but current subjects as well (including the Osmond's, Steve Benson, the 2002 Olympics, Paul Dunn, Thomas Ferguson, and racism).  I enjoyed the author's journalistic and creative approach to chapter and sub-chapter headings as well (i.e., "Bloody Brigham," "Big Trouble in Little Missouri," "Pride and Prejudice" and "Thinking is a Sin").  I like that Abanes uses the internet and listed URL's for reference and resource, I liked his use of charts (First Vision, Book of Mormon, failed prophecies), and even though this book would not be published by an academic press or a large well-known publisher, it was published by a distinguished independent publisher that was since bought by the Avalon Publishing Group.  Although the work cannot be recommend as a studious publication or an important work on Mormonism, the author does show that the Church as an institution does have a long way to go in answering questions about its past, its "official" vs. its "actual" history, and currently about its political activities, treatment of its "academic" members (versus the coddling it shows towards its more notable members (including general authorities) as well as its suppression of its own history that includes the closing-off of its records and library.  The volume has 436 pages of text, five appendices (one containing a helpful glossary of "Mormon terms"), 152 pages of notes, a small bibliography and a 22 page index
Output (English): NEG