| 词条 | Brigham Young: American Moses |
| 释义 |
| name = Brigham Young: American Moses | title_orig = | translator = | image = Brigham Young American Moses.jpg | caption = Dust jacket from the 1985 Knopf edition. | author = Leonard J. Arrington | illustrator = | cover_artist = | country = United States | language = English | series = | subject = Brigham Young | genre = Biography | publisher = Alfred A. Knopf | pub_date = April 1985[1] | english_pub_date = | media_type = Print (Hardcover) | pages = 522 | isbn = 0-394-51022-4 | dewey= 289.3/32/0924 B 19 | congress= BX8695.Y7 A85 1985 | oclc= 11443615 | preceded_by = | followed_by = 1986 University of Illinois Press paperback }} Brigham Young: American Moses is a biography about Brigham Young, a leader in the Latter Day Saint movement, by Dr. Leonard J. Arrington. The biography was published by Alfred A. Knopf in 1985. BackgroundUpon becoming the Church Historian, Arrington showed interest in writing a biography of Brigham Young. With an immense amount of manuscript material found in the basement of the Church Administration Building, Arrington proposed a seven-volume biography to the First Presidency.[1]:397-98 However, Spencer W. Kimball, president of the Church at the time, only approved a one volume work. Kimball suggested that Arrington take on the biography as a privately funded endeavor in order to spare the Church of direct ties to the work and any potential inaccuracies or misinterpretations.[2]:160 In addition, Kimball placed a deadline on the biography's publication, telling Arrington, "I would like to see a really good, one-volume biography of Brigham Young before I die." [1]{{Rp|399}} ProductionIn 1979 Alfred A. Knopf published Arrington's well-received The Mormon Experience: A History of the Latter-day Saints, and later that year contracted Arrington to also write a biography of Brigham Young.[3] Until 1982, Arrington was Church Historian of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and had access to and drew upon diaries and letters not available to previous biographers to profile Brigham Young.[4] It took seven years for the Young papers to be cataloged and researched.[1]:398 While a large research team was involved in the production of the Young biography, Arrington was strictly instructed by Church leadership that he be the sole author. Arrington completed a first draft of the biography in seven months. The revising process took several years, ensuring the First Presidency had proper approval over all drafts. Brigham Young: American Moses was released in 1985. It was the first Young biography written with complete access to all archived materials of the Young Era.[2]:165 In the book, Arrington critically examined a major period of Mormon history, though some reviews claimed he didn't cover enough of some intriguing aspects.[5] ConflictAs Arrington had contracted many research assistants in his work for the biography, some believed that he gave too little attribution to his contributors. Reviewers of the work thought that Arrington's writing was too dependent on the research of others without giving them proper credit. According to historian F. Ross Peterson, "doing the Brigham Young biography is one of the things that caused a degree of conflict between [Arrington] and his staff at the Church. Some of them felt [the book] was theirs."[1]:401 Out of his entire staff, Arrington supposedly relied very heavily on the work of historian Ronald Esplin, whose research was instrumental in writing the book. In addition to the conflict involving the researching staff, several of Arrington's colleagues in the Church's Historical Department believed that he was intentionally obstructing the work of Donald Moorman, who was also working on a biography of Brigham Young at the same time. According to Gene Sessions, an employee of the Historical Division at the time, Moorman wanted to write "definitive biography of Brigham Young," but Arrington "refused to let [him] use the copying machines. [Arrington] said, 'You can see the Young stuff as long as you hand-copy it.'" [1]{{Rp|402}} Arrington's lack of cooperation prevented Moorman from completing thorough research on Brigham Young, despite having been given necessary access to the Young papers by Joseph Fielding Smith, previous church historian and church president.[1]{{Rp|402}} TitleIn 1995, Arrington explained his reasoning behind the subtitle American Moses: Brigham was the same sort of a leader as Moses in serving people for a long period of time, in achieving their goal of entering into a kingdom blessed by God. It--there's no--no trick reason why I should have used American Moses. I thought Moses was a person understood by nearly everybody, and that Brigham was something for us that Moses was for the people of Israel. He led his people figuratively and quite literally, and they survived because of that leadership and their faith.[6] ReceptionBrigham Young: American Moses was critically acclaimed within the Mormon community. Many considered it to be "the definitive Mormon History".[1]{{Rp|400}} However, it was not highly esteemed outside of Church organizations. There was a general understanding among critics that Arrington was too admiring of Brigham Young in his writing. Arrington seemingly chose to avoid including any controversial material in his work, writing in his personal diary, "I am of course finding many things about Brigham Young that would be better left unsaid."[1]:402 The biggest criticism of the biography was over Arrington's intentional exclusion of information regarding the Mountain Meadows Massacre. According to Arrington's colleague Robert Kent Fielding, "He said no, he was not going to deal with [the Massacre]. He was going to leave that for other scholars."[1]:404AwardsIn 1984, before its actual release by Knopf, Brigham Young: American Moses was the first to receive the prestigious "David Evans and Beatrice Cannon Evans Biography Award". It also won the 1985 Mormon History Association’s Best Book Award and was nominated as a “distinguished work of biography” by the National Book Critics Circle.[3] ContentsTable of Contents
References1. ^1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 {{Cite book|title=Leonard Arrington and the writing of Mormon history|last=Prince|first=Gregory A.|publisher=University of Utah Press|year=2016|isbn=|location=|pages=397–406|via=}} 2. ^1 {{Cite book|title=Leonard J. Arrington: A Historian's Life|last=Topping|first=Gary|publisher=University of Oklahoma Press|year=2008|isbn=|location=|pages=157–167|via=}} 3. ^1 2 {{cite web|title=Leonard James Arrington Chronology|work=Leonard J. Arrington Papers|publisher=Utah State University Libraries|date=2006-05-23|url=http://library.usu.edu/specol/manuscript/Arrington/LJAHA1/chrono.html|accessdate=2008-07-01}} 4. ^[https://books.google.com/books?id=d6am4q-fknoC&printsec=frontcover&dq=brigham+Young&as_brr=0#PPA7,M1 Brigham Young: American Moses] 5. ^{{cite news|author=Saxon, Wolfgang|title=Leonard J. Arrington, 81, Mormon Historian|work=The New York Times|date=February 13, 1999|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D06E2DB143AF930A25751C0A96F958260|accessdate=2008-07-01}} 6. ^{{cite web|url=http://www.kued.org/sites/default/files/promontory_interviews.pdf|title=Leonard Arrington|last=|first=|date=|year=2002|website=|publisher=KUED|access-date=|work=Promontory|accessdate=2008-07-01}} External links{{Portal|LDS Church}}
7 : 1985 books|1986 books|American biographies|Cultural depictions of Brigham Young|History books about the Latter Day Saint movement|LDS non-fiction|Alfred A. Knopf books |
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