The Mormon Image in the American Mind: Fifty Years of Public Perception

Winner of the Mormon History Association Best Book Award What do Americans really think about Mormons, and why? Through a fascinating survey of Mormon encounters with the media, including such personalities and events as the Osmonds, the Olympics, the Tabernacle Choir, evangelical Christians, the Equal Rights Amendment, Sports Illustrated, and even Miss America, J.B. Haws reveals the dramatic transformation of the American public's understanding of Mormons in the past half-century. When the Mormon George Romney, former governor of Michigan, ran for president in 1968, he was admired for his personal piety and characterized as "a kind of political Billy Graham." When George's son Mitt ran in 2008, a widely distributed email told hundreds of thousands of Christians that a vote for Mitt Romney was a vote for Satan. What had changed in the intervening four decades? Why were the theology of the Latter-day Saints and their "Christian" status mostly nonissues in 1968 but so hotly contested in 2008? For years, the American perception of Mormonism has been torn between admiration for individual Mormons-seen as friendly, hard-working, and family-oriented-and ambivalence toward institutional Mormonism-allegedly secretive, authoritarian, and weird. The Mormon Image in the American Mind offers vital insight into the complex shifts in public perception of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, its members, and its place in American society.

About the Author :
J.B. Haws is Assistant Professor of church history at Brigham Young University. He is a Hooper, Utah native. He and his wife, Laura, and their four children now live in Provo, Utah.

Review :
"An important contribution to Mormon historical studies...This book provides a rich resource for those interested in the ongoing tension between Mormons and non-Mormon America."--Mormon Studies Review "This is an excellent source for scholars of Mormonism or cultural studies, and would be useful for students of Protestant Christianity in America as well."--Nova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions "J. B. Haws's recent study The Mormon Image in the American Mind: Fifty Years of Public Perception is a welcome addition to the field [of Mormon history]... While some elements of his narrative have been treated at length in other works, his perspective in dealing with their effect on public opinion is fresh and useful... [A]n accessible study of the last fifty years of Mormon history through the lens of media coverage and popular opinion." --The Association for Mormon Letters "An engaging account of Mormonism's 50-year journey out of the wilderness. J. B. Haws presents a lively story of a modern church's transition from 'building bunkers to bridges.' Thorough and judicious." --Terryl Givens, Professor of Literature and Religion and James A. Bostwick Professor of English, University of Richmond "The book is well cited, and its conclusions and commentaries are well supported....Haws has made an important contribution by pulling together into new configurations a large body of previous research from diverse sources about particular historical events."--BYU Studies Quarterly "The Mormon image in the American mind is, as J. B. Haws so eloquently demonstrates, an ever-moving target ranging from hostility, to invisibility, to grudging acceptance, to Broadway musicals. Of particular interest and value is Haws's careful nuancing of the image of Mormonism as refracted through the presidential campaigns of Mitt Romney. This smart, provocative book invites a wide and attentive readership." --Harry S. Stout, Jonathan Edwards Professor of American Religious History, Yale University "The Mormon Image in the American Mind breaks new ground in the fields of American religious history and Mormon studies. J. B. Haws has done remarkable historical spadework to uncover and overturn new sources and unconventional evidence to tell the recent story of the Mormon experience in America. A gifted writer, Haws helps connect and reconnect stories that have not been told or need retelling." --Reid L. Neilson, Managing Director, LDS Church History Department