In 1879 Rudger Clawson became an LDS folk hero when his missionary companion, Joseph Standing, was murdered by anti-Mormons at Varnell's Station, Georgia. His renown escalated when he was imprisoned for "cohabitation" (polygamy) in 1887. After leaving the penitentiary he was appointed president of the Box Elder Stake, north of Salt Lake City. Twelve years later he was called as an apostle at the suggestion of then-LDS church president Lorenzo Snow, whom Clawson had known in prison.

Rudger Clawson's journals reflect an intimate, insider's look at the workings of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at the turn of the twentieth century. Particularly enlightening is his account of the meetings of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, their concerns for the church, and their dealing with members and non-members during these years. Their value is enhanced by the fact that such journals were later banned. On 5 October 1904, LDS Church President Joseph F. Smith charged the apostles not to record the details of apostolic meetings thereafter lest their personal diaries fall into the hands of enemies and be used against the church. It was, accordingly, moved that unanimously carried that "the brethren should not write in their journals that which took place in the Council meetings" (xiii).

Stan Larson and Signature Books are to be commended for making this portion of the Rudger Clawson diaries more readily accessible to researchers and to the general public as well in this fine edition.

Journal of Mormon History, Brian H. Stuy
Few decades brought more change for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints than the last ten years of the nineteenth century. Beginning with the announcement of the Manifesto in 1890, the Church made significant and substantial changes in both doctrine and policy, which effectively brought it from a small, geographically concentrated organization to the worldwide religion that it is today.

Many of these changes were made during the time that Rudger Clawson served as a junior apostle in the Church's hierarchy. Called to the apostleship in 1898, he kept an extensive record of the goings-on in the many leadership meetings that he attended. It is obvious from the onset that Clawson prides himself on detail, and the journal extracts contained in this volume attest to his propensity to record the minutia of the daily dealings of the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve, as well as his own life experiences.

Stan Larson acknowledges at the outset that A Ministry of Meetings is not Clawson's complete journal; rather Larson has selected entries from Clawson's 3,665 pages of diaries concentrating on the first six years of Clawson's tenure as apostle, beginning with Clawson's call to the apostleship on 8 October 1898, and ending with his 5 October 1904 letter to Heber J. Grant confirming Clawson's intentions to abide by the First Presidency request that the brethren no longer record meeting details in their private journals (xvi-xvii). This volume thus focuses on those first six years; they contain Clawson's record of nearly every meeting of the Quorum of the Twelve he attended then as well as many other leadership meetings.

As the Church approached the twentieth century, it struggled to assimilate itself into the larger landscape of American society. Clawson's journal is an invaluable source of information documenting this struggle. One area of continuing difficulty that flows through Clawson's entire record concerns the ongoing practice of plural marriage. Clawson details instructions from the First Presidency clearly instructing the Twelve that new polygamy sealings must cease (235, 249, 300-301, 425, 442). Yet, interestingly, discussions among the Twelve in meetings without the First Presidency openly advocated the continued practice of plural marriage, and Clawson convinces us that nearly all of the apostles shared this view. (130, 342,379, 487, 567, 638). Obviously Clawson did; in late 1904, he took a plural wife (x).

Clawson's journal is a virtual gold mine of interesting doctrinal and historical nuggets. The quorum struggled with questions of whether beer is against the Word of Wisdom (298- 299), whether there are daughters of perdition (560), whether performing temple work was appropriate for those destined for the telestial kingdom (476), or whether chess and checkers should be discouraged along with card playing (641). I was intrigued by Franklin D. Richard's teaching that, when the Holy Ghost is "conferred upon a man, in his opinion, it is a righteous spirit, or in other words, a Holy Ghost under the direction of the Holy Ghost" (21). Clawson records George Q. Cannon's declaration in a solemn assembly that "there are those in this audience who are descendants of the old 12 Apostles and, shall I say it, yes, descendants of the Savior himself" (72).

Also of great interest are discussions about potential stake and other local leaders. For example, President Joseph F. Smith contended, and George Q. Cannon agreed, that Joseph R. Murdock, prospective president of Wasatch Stake, lacked "backbone" and was unsuitable to hold the office (48-49). I felt sorry for Abraham Zundel, when President Lorenzo Snow asked him privately following a general leadership meeting, to resign as bishop of Willard Ward (Brigham City Stake). When Zundel asked the reason, Clawson, following President Lorenzo Snow's instructions, recited a litany of failings and leadership inadequacies (106-7). Similar appraisals of other leaders enrich our understanding about how callings and releases were extended.

My list of complaints contains only two items. I wanted more historical context provided for events that Clawson only alludes to. One example is the accusations of adultery leveled against Heber J. Grant (83). Second, Larson silently standardized Clawson's spelling and grammar, in an effort to make the material more readable (xv-xvii); but I find that spelling and grammatical abilities are important windows into the writer's personality, lending flavor to the reader's experience.

But these are minor issues. Clawson's journal contains a wealth of detail about the growth and evolution of Church doctrine and policy at the turn of the century. Stan Larson is to be commended for doing a fine job of editing Clawson's journals, and Signature Books has made an invaluable contribution in bringing this fascinating journal to general readership.