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Michael Quinn’s Memoir and Dan Vogel’s Annotated
Wilford Woodruff Journals (digital version)
Released This Month
Signature’s next releases, available this month, are the long-awaited book by D. Michael Quinn, Chosen Path: A Memoir, and the digital version of Dan Vogel’s annotated Wilford Woodruff Diaries.
Quinn, one of Mormonism’s most prolific historians, had a long career as a member of Leonard Arrington’s Church History Division, at Brigham Young University, and for the last thirty years of his life as an independent researcher and writer. Quinn the historian is known to thousands, but who was Quinn the man? This candid memoir is the key to understanding Quinn, his faith, his struggles, and his journey toward authenticity. The foreword is written by his son, Moshe Quinn, who made the manuscript available to Signature after his father’s death. Scroll to the bottom of this newsletter to read what reviewers have to say about this remarkable memoir.
Wilford Woodruff’s journals, significant not only because Woodruff served as an apostle and as the fourth president of the LDS Church, but also because he wrote almost daily, filling several volumes over a period of sixty-five years, from 1833 to 1898. Print versions of his diaries were issued as limited editions, which makes this digital release of Wilford Woodruff's Journals so welcome. Beginning December 18 everyone can own these searchable and illuminating journals at an affordable price!
Put a Signature Book under the Christmas Tree This Year!
Signature has published outstanding books in 2023! We are confident that we have something for everyone, so remember our titles when you do your Christmas shopping.
Do you like biography? If so, this year we published Dan Vogel’s thoroughly researched and detailed work covering Joseph Smith’s middle years, Charisma under Pressure: Joseph Smith, American Prophet, 1831–1839. Three more titles were added to our Brief Biography series, including Stephen Carter’s Virginia Sorensen: Pioneering Mormon Author, Kenneth L. Cannon II’s George Q. Cannon: Politician, Publisher, Apostle of Polygamy, and Thomas G. Alexander’s John A. Widtsoe: Scientist and Theologian.
Diaries and memoirs make great Christmas gifts for history lovers. We recently published one of the most important diaries of nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Utah, Useful to the Church and Kingdom: The Journals of James H. Martineau, Pioneer and Patriarch, 1850–1918, edited by Noel A. Carmack and Charles M. Hatch. D. Michael Quinn’s Chosen Path: A Memoir is also scheduled for a December 18 release. Remember also that Dan Vogel’s six-volume The Wilford Woodruff Journals is coming as individually published ebooks this month also.
Cold winter nights are perfect for curling up with a good book of poetry––or two. This year we published Dayna Patterson’s O Lady, Speak Again, and a second edition of Utah Poet Laureate Lisa Bickmore’s Haste. These will even fit in a stocking! For fiction lovers, we can help you there too with the newly released anthology, The Path and the Gate: Mormon Short Fiction, edited by Andrew Hall and Robert Raleigh.
Scriptural studies just got better with the release of Alex Douglas’s The Old Testament for Latter-day Saints, which will create excitement to tackle the too-often ignored Hebrew scriptures, and thus a much appreciated gift.
Enthusiasts of twentieth-century Mormonism will enjoy Sara M. Patterson’s The September Six and the Struggle for the Soul of Mormonism, a timely release reflecting on this year’s thirtieth anniversary of the LDS disciplinary actions of September 1993 and of the purity culture of that era. The audiobook is also being readied for release, which will be available early next year.
What better Christmas gifts than books? We can help you with everyone on your list. And you can also support a local bookstore by giving your loved one a gift certificate or gift card to a bookstore that carries our titles. A Merry Christmas to all you readers out there!
Latest Signature Books Podcast Episodes
November’s exciting podcast and YouTube releases represent the diversity of Signature’s publications. The first, which began airing on November 14, was an interview with Thomas G. Alexander about his new book, John A. Widtsoe: Scientist and Theologian. Alexander, an award-winning historian and biographer, knows his subject well as this interview demonstrates. Widtsoe was an important figure within twentieth-century Mormonism and his sharp, scientific mind made him an asset to the Quorum of Twelve Apostles and to the general church membership as a staunch supporter of truth wherever it could be found. Listen to it here, or watch the YouTube video here.
Alex Douglas talked about his new release, The Old Testament for Latter-day Saints, which is an accessible yet scholarly work looking at the Hebrew scriptures from the standpoint of Higher Criticism and the most credible conclusions within modern biblical scholarship. This episode, released on November 28, talks about the evidence for multiple authors of the first five books of the Old Testament as well as the Book of Isaiah, and what this means to Latter-day Saints in view of what the Book of Mormon says about these ancient texts. Douglas believes that biblical scholarship need not diminish faith in spite of some challenges it poses. Listen to it here, or watch it on YouTube here.
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