History and Faith: book cover

	History & Faith: Reflections of a Mormon Historian by Richard D. Poll Signature Books; Salt Lake City, Utah © 1989 by Signature Books. Table of Contents: Introduction 1. What the Church Means to People Like Me 2. Liahona and Iron Rod Revisited 3. God and Man in History 4. The Happy Valley Syndrome 5. Of Ignorance and Action 6. Myths, Documents, and History 7. Our Changing Church 8. Confronting the Skeletons 9. God’s Human Spokesmen 10. The Challenge of Living with Change cover


			For more than forty years, Richrd D. Poll has been an articulate, thoughtful historian whose writings on the Mormon past and present have touched the lives of thousands of readers. In this collection, Poll brings together ten of his most insightful personal essays, some of which are published here for the first time. He wonders if historians and scholars should give their readers all of the “facts” or only some? Are some “truths” better left unsaid? Or is suppression in the long run more harmful? Where does one draw the line between openness and privacy? How should one deal with discrepancies regarding the way history has been recorded? Poll’s honest, refreshing voice may be more relevant and needed today than ever before. “Institutions and movements, like the people who comprise them, have a capacity for selectively embellishing, revising, and forgetting aspects of their experience: The myths and half-truths
	which result are understandable but vulnerable and potentially injurious. However, the exploration of the closets of the historic past, like the investigation of other fields of knowledge, ... presents no unmanageable threat to those who agree with former University of Utah sciences dean Henry Eyring when he says, ‘In this Church you have only to believe the truth. Find out what the truth is.’” About the Author Richard D. Poll is professor emeritus of history at Western Illinois University, where he was also Vice-President of Administration. Previously he taught American and Mormon history for over twenty years at Brigham Young University. Dr. Poll is co-author, with Eugene E. Campbell, of Hugh B. Brown: His Life and Thought; co-editor, with Thomas G. Alexander, Eugene E. Campbell, and David E. Miller, of Utah’s History; and author of Howard J. Stoddard: Founder, Michigan National Bank. Now retired, he lives in Provo, Utah, with his wife, Gene.
	title page History and Faith Reflections of a Mormon Historian Richard D. Poll Signature Books Salt Lake City / 1989 Copyright page for Gene © 1989 by Signature Books. All rights reserved Signature Books is a registered trademark of Signature Books, Inc. Printed in the United States of America Cover design: Easton Design Interior design: Connie Disney Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Poll, Richard Douglas, 1918- History and faith “ reflections of a Mormon historian / Richard D. Poll p. cm. 1. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints–Historiography. 2. Mormon Church–Historiography. 3. Poll, Richard Douglas, 1918– I. Title. BX8611.P64 1989 289.3'09–dc19 88-30198 ISBN 0-941214-75-3 Cover photo: Mrs. Albert Manwaring and children, Springville, Utah, 1903; by George Edward Anderson, courtesy of Rell G. Francis