Mormonism
and American Politics. Edited by Randall Balmer and Jana
Riess. 264 pp. New York: Columbia University Press, 2015. $30.
Mormonism and American Politics begins with the simple claim, “The story of Mormonism in
America is inextricably tied to politics” (ix). Thirteen insightful case
studies, written by some of the top Mormon studies scholars, persuasively argue
the truth of this statement. Randall Balmer and Jana Riess’ edited volume moves
beyond the familiar story of Mormons as political outsiders and gives voice to
diverse political discourses. Structured
chronologically, Mormonism and American
Politics is bookended by Joseph Smith’s 1844 campaign for president and an
analysis of Mitt Romney’s 2012 campaign. The pages within highlight the protean
history of Mormon isolation and participation in national politics and American
exceptionalism, the politics of polygamy, Mormon race relations, and the Church
of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ stalwart participation in the
twentieth-century Republican Party.
The volume offers concise examples of
Mormonism’s distinct and extensive participation in American politics. It
complicates a narrative of gradual assimilation and the increasingly common
project of comparing Mormon history with that of American Catholicism. One of
the most compelling chapters, “On the ‘Underground’: What the Mormon ‘Yes on 8’
Campaign Reveals About the Future of Mormons in American Political Life,” by
Joanna Brooks, highlights the internal conflicts of supporting anti-LGBT
legislation and the distinctive theological stance of Mormon support for
California’s Proposition 8.
Although Mormon women may not have
historically played a strong public role in American politics, their absence
from the volume is apparent. A strong chapter by Jana Riess looks at the
nineteenth-century Cult of True Womanhood and Protestant women’s protest against Congressman-elect and polygamist
B. H. Roberts, but Claudia L. Bushman’s “Mormon Women Talk Politics,” is an odd
amalgamation of songs and personal reflection, with little scholarly analysis.
As one might expect, Mormonism and American Politics spends a
substantial amount of time considering the legacy and influence of George and
Mitt Romney. “Like Father, Unlike Son: The Governor’s Romney, the Kennedy
Paradigm, and the Mormon Question” by Randall Balmer and “Mitt, Mormonism and
the Media: An Unfamiliar Faith Takes the Stage in the 2012 U.S. Presidential
Election” by Peggy Fletcher Stack, add depth and breadth to the debate.
Of particular interest to this blog
is the volume’s treatment of Mormonism not solely, or even primarily, as a
religious anomaly of the American West, but an active participant in national politics
and history. As Philip Barlow rightly notes, “The religion’s infancy was
harbored in the nation’s adolescence; both took form together” (109). Well-researched,
with short and concise chapters from a distinguished team of scholars, Mormonism and American Politics does not
offer a definitive history, but begins the conversation in stride.
