Parley P. Pratt: The Apostle Paul of Mormonism
"The authors have done a remarkable job in presenting the story of this unique and essential character." -Publishers Weekly"Beautifully written, keenly intelligent, and thorough in its research, this is a book to be savored. . . an excellent example of how meticulous scholarship illuminates lives and events long forgotten." - Neal W. Kramer,By Common Consent"Hopefully,Parley P. Pratt: The Apostle Paul of Mormonismwill restore Pratt to the prominence he enjoyed during Mormonism's first 100 years. . . Givens and Grow have provided readers with a biography worthy of their subject's talents." - Doug Gibson, Ogden Standard ExaminerBest Book of 2011, Mormon History AssociationBest Biography of 2011, Association of Mormon Letters"If the title indicates Oxford University Press's determination to broaden the potential audience of this book to non-Mormon readers more familiar with St. Paul than with Parley Pratt, we can all be glad that OUP took the chance.Parley P. Pratt- its subject, its claim, and its methods - deserve a wide audience." --Religion"At long last we have a work that is fully aware of Parley's extensive contributions to Mormonism as the 'Paul of Mormonism.'" --Journal of Mormon History"For anyone seeking to understand the development of early Mormonism,Parley P. Prattis essential reading. As the foremost systematizer, theologian, missionary, and popularizer of this new religious movement in its first two decades, not to mention a colorful and mobile personality, Parley Pratt represented the soul of the tradition. Givens and Grow provide an engaging, thoughtful, and thorough assessment of his significance in the foundations of the Mormon faith."--- Laurie F. Maffly-Kipp, Professor and Chair of Religious Studies, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill"Parley Pratt played the Apostle Paul to the Mormon prophet, Joseph Smith. Besides systematizing the prophet's thought, Pratt was a leader of boundless energy:  husband of twelve wives, father of thirty children, a missionary extraordinaire, accused of murder, himself murdered in the prime of life. This book opens to a wide audience for the first time the life of one of the most significant figures in American religious history."--Mark Noll, author ofProtestantism: A Very Short Introduction"Terryl L. Givens and Matthew J. Grow update Parley P. Pratt's own autobiography with their informed account of his historical context in the Second Great Awakening of evangelical religion and the nineteenth-century Communications Revolution of printed media. The authors' fascinating narratives of Pratt's worldwide adventures, multiple marriages, and eventual murder will make this book welcome not only in the academic community but among all those with an interest in early Mormon history."--Daniel Walker Howe, author ofWhat Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815-1848"Givens and Grow should be commended for their scholarship and objectivity in providing historians and religion scholars with a remarkable narrative that explores in breadth and depth, through the life of Parley Parker Pratt, the historical and religious underpinnings of early Mormonism."--Journalof the American Academy of Religion"A comprehensive scholarly biography that does justice to the stature of its subject...deserves a place among the finest Latter-day Saint biographies."--BYU Studies Quarterly