The Persistence of Polygamy: Joseph Smith and the Origins of Mormon Polygamy
Newell G. Bringhurst and Craig L. Foster have been referred to as the “odd couple” of Mormon studies. Bringhurst, a cultural Mormon and a liberal Democrat, stands in stark contrast to Foster, an active Latter-day Saint and a conservative Republican. Their political views aside, both Bringhurst and Foster are trained historians who have sought to treat the subjects of this book in a scholarly, objective manner. Bringhurst, an emeritus professor of history and political science at the College of the Sequoias in Visalia, California, is the author/editor of eight previously published books. The most recent was Scattering of the Saints: Schism within Mormonism (2007), which he co-edited with John C. Hamer. Bringhurst has served as president of both the Mormon History Association (1999-2000) and the John Whitmer Historical Association (2005-06). Foster, a research specialist in the LDS Church’s Family History Library, is the author of Penny Tracts and Polemics: A Critical Analysis of Anti-Mormon Pamphleteering in Great Britain (1837-1860) and of A Different God?: Mitt Romney’s Presidential Campaign, the Religious Right, and the Mormon Question. Foster served as co–executive secretary of the Mormon History Association from 1995 to 2001.