Although scholars have increasingly investigated the impact of religion and religious movements on nature, studies of the interactions between Mormons and the natural environment are few. This volume applies the perspectives of environmental history to Mormonism, providing both a scholarly introduction to Mormon environmental history and a spur for historians to consider the role of nature in the Mormon past. Mormons have interacted with nature in significant ways-whether perceiving in it a place to find God, wildness needing domestication and control, uncorrupted spaces in which to build communities to usher in the Second Coming, or a world brimming with natural resources to ensure economic well-being. The essays in this volume-written by leading scholars in both environmental and Mormon history-explore how nature has influenced Mormon beliefs and how these beliefs inform Mormons' encounters with nature. Introducing overarching environmental ideas, contributors examine specific aspects of nature and Mormon theology to glean new insights into the Mormon experience.
Jedediah S. Rogers is co-managing editor of the Utah Historical Quarterly. He is the author of Roads in the Wilderness: Conflict in Canyon Country and editor of two documentary accounts of Mormon history. Matthew C. Godfrey is the managing historian of the Joseph Smith Papers. He is the author of Religion, Politics, and Sugar: The Mormon Church, the Federal Government, and the Utah-Idaho Sugar Company, 1907-1921.
Introduction: The Promise and Challenge of Mormon Environmental History, by Jedediah S. Rogers and Matthew C. Godfrey History, Nature, and Mormon Historiography, by Jedediah S. Rogers Part I: Theology and Ideology The "Lion of the Lord" and the Land: Brigham Young's Environmental Ethic, by Sara Dant Lost Memory and Environmentalism: Mormons on the Wasatch Front, 1847-1930, by Thomas G. Alexander Part II: Perception and Place The Natural World and the Establishment of Zion, 1831-1833, by Matthew C. Godfrey "We Seldom Find Either Garden, Cow, or Pig": Encountering Environments in Urban England and the American West, by Brett D. Dowdle Mapping Deseret: Vernacular Mormon Mapmaking and Spiritual Geography in the American West, by Richard Francaviglia American Zion: Mormon Culture and the Creation of a National Park, by Betsy Gaines Quammen Part III: Agrarianism and Urbanism Before the Boom: Mormons, Livestock, and Stewardship, 1847-1870, by Jeff Nichols "The People Cannot Conquer the River": Mormons and Water in the Arid Southwest, 1865-1938, by Brian Frehner "There Are Millions of Acres in Our State": Mormon Agrarianism and the Environmental Limits of Expansion, by Brian Q. Cannon "The Prophet Said to Plant a Garden": Spencer W. Kimball and the Transformation of the Mormon Agrarian Tradition, by Nathan N. Waite "For the Strength of the Hills": Casting a Concrete Zion, by Rebecca K. Andersen Epilogue: On the Moral Lessons of Mormon Environmental History, by George B. Handley Appendix: Righteous Dominion and Compassion for the Earth, by Marcus B. Nash Acknowledgments Notes Bibliography Contributors Index
"This felicitous collection deepens our understanding of the changing relationship between Latter-day Saints and the environmental world that here encompasses land, water, habitat, place, and home. A milestone in Mormon studies and a benchmark for future scholarship." - Jared Farmer, author of On Zion's Mount: Mormons, Indians, and the American Landscape "A significant contribution. These essays provide a synthesis of the growing literature in the field as well as a springboard and road map for future studies." - Andrew H. Hedges, professor of church history and doctrine, Brigham Young University
