Arrington was historian of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1972 to 1982. The first professional historian and the first noncentral authority to occupy this position, Arrington opened archival resources and presided over an unprecedented era of enlightenment in Mormon scholarship. Arrington's appointment came at a crucial point in LDS history -- as the institution was being transformed from a regional church whose ecclesiastical hierarchy presided directly over its congregants into a modern, worldwide church with an elaborate bureaucracy. Riveting chapters on the actions of the controversial Historical Department reveal details of his release and replacement as the old system gave way to the new.

    There is no middle ground. It is the Church and kingdom of God or it is nothing."--LDS President Gordon B. Hinckley, April Conference, 2003. Many Mormons assume that this and other similar proclamations by Mormon Leaders are rhetorical statements. But what if the LDS leaders meant something else? It is estimated that more than 1-1.5 million Mormons have resigned from the LDS Church since 1995. This book exposes why there is such a recent, formal abandonment of Mormonism by, in many cases, previously devout members of the Church. Admittedly, the LDS Church "stands or falls," on the divinity of "The Book of Mormon." However, it has been proven that "The Book of Mormon" is not a translation of ancient American history engraved in "reformed Egyptian," on golden plates buried by an early American prophet. Instead, it has been shown to be a 19th-century work of fiction authored by Joseph Smith and perhaps others. Until the advent of widespread internet access, most members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Mormons, rarely read outside the strictly proscribed canonized scriptures, books and magazines approved by Church leaders. But over the past 10-15 years, Mormons have begun to discover facts about LDS history that had only previously been known to very few, mainly scholarly historians of Mormonism. Through the discovery of these primary historical sources, now available on numerous internet sites, most intelligent and curious Mormons have reached a critical point and are furious. If they read, they have become disaffected and disoriented. Many are experiencing existential crises. Those who refuse to look outside Mormon Society for Truth have become increasingly self-righteous and insular. The first third of "An American Fraud: One Lawyer's Case against Mormonism," chronicles the Author's journey out of the Religion. The second two-thirds of the Book, the last six chapters, are an exposé including an analysis under the law. The Author, an experienced civil trial attorney, places the activities of Mormon Leaders over almost two centuries in their proper legal framework, analyzing not only the misrepresentations, but the resulting damages: political, environmental and especially psycho-social. Ms. Burningham writes that a determination of whether Mormon Leaders have historically misrepresented the origins of LDS theology does not involve a judicial evaluation of the truth of religious beliefs and is therefore not beyond the reach of the American legal system--it is not constitutionally barred. The issue is not whether Jesus Christ is the Son of God, or the efficacy of prayer. These things could never be determined by a secular court of law. Instead, the fraud committed by generations of Mormon Leaders is that they have misrepresented the facts surrounding the source of their scriptures, presenting that source as divine, when they have known otherwise. Neither the golden plates, nor the writings by the Old Testament prophet, Abraham, claimed to have been inscribed on Egyptian papyri, ever existed. Furthermore, the claimed visitations by biblical apostles to restore lost priesthoods to Smith and his colleagues never occurred.  Yet for decades LDS leaders have at least ignored, if not suppressed and grossly misrepresented, the true facts surrounding Mormonism's origins, reworking and re-packaging the founding facts and the theology as necessary. Those who joined the Church or continued on in the Religion reasonably relied on LDS leaders' misrepresentations to their significant detriment. Given what has been proven about its sources, the Author claims that the Mormon Religion cannot continue to be defended under any guise as a religious organization for the good of its members.

    Douglas Thayer was such a boy. In this poignant, often humorous memoir, he depicts his Utah Valley boyhood during the Great Depression and World War II.Known in some circles as a Mormon Hemingway, Thayer has created a richly detailed work that shares cultural DNA with Frank McCourt's Angela's Ashes, Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and William Golding's Lord of the Flies. His narrative at once prosaic and poetic, Thayer captures nostalgia for a simpler time, along with boyhood's universal yearnings, pleasures, and mysteries.

     The Real Struggle is That Travel is Just Too Expensive You know you’d love to travel more, but the typical budget travel advice says you should sleep on the couches of strangers, pile into crowded “chicken” buses, or eat Top Ramen in your hostel dorm room. There has to be a better way to travel cheap over the long-term and save money. Ryan Shauers’ new book Big Travel, Small Budget helps you look at long-term travel in a whole new way. Based on the lessons learned in nearly three years of travel, this book will show you how to save money traveling and provide you with an inexpensive path to a rich life. Introducing: Big Travel, Small Budget - How to Travel More, Spend Less, and See the World. This book includes sections on: How much money you really need to have on hand and how long it will last you (it probably isn't as much as you think). How traveling as an overlander can be one of the most liberating (and affordable) ways to travel. How to fly around the country or around the world for pennies on the dollar. How you can move overseas, become a temporary expat, and live nearly rent free thanks to the new sharing economy. How to find lodging for weeks or even months in some of the most desirable places around the world and not pay for it. Your biggest obstacle to achieving your travel dreams (and how to overcome it). And much, much more! Each tactic outlined in this book when used by itself will provide you with a big win, but the synergistic effect when combined is where you can save not just hundreds, but many thousands of dollars. But more important than just saving money is the realization that you can finally make your travel dreams come true, even on a limited budget. It’s time to stop putting off your travels for “someday” and some to-be-determined date in the future. Big Travel, Small Budget provides a simple framework that will change your perspective on how you can travel more affordably whether for a few weeks, a few months, or even longer. Scroll to the top of the page and click the “buy now” button to turn your travel dreams into your reality!

    

    In the first of three volumes spanning the entire Hebrew Bible, David Bokovoy dives into the Penateuch, showing how and why textual criticism has led biblical scholars today to understand the first five books of the Bible as an amalgamation of multiple texts into a single, though often complicated narrative; and he discusses what implications those have for Latter-day Saint understandings of the Bible and modern scripture.

    If you haven’t yet met the Thomas family, you are in for a real delight! “Every era has its own refiner's fire, and World War II put general Church membership and Utah to a test,” Dean Hughes explains. In Children of the Promise, his first historical fiction series for adults, Dean shows through the eyes of the Thomas family how LDS families were tested to the limit. Volume 1: Rumors of War - The first volume, Rumors of War opens in 1938 with Elder Alex Thomas and his companion serving in Germany. It soon becomes obvious that he will never complete his mission. War is coming, and that will affect not only Elder Thomas but also his family back home in Salt Lake City.Volume 2: Since You Went Away - Picking up where the bestseller Rumors of War left off, Since You Went Away continues with Wally Thomas's struggle to survive as a prisoner of war on the Bataan Peninsula while his family begin to disperse due to the war. Bobbi and Alex Thomas are leaving for military duty at the infant stages of World War II — Bobbi as a naval nurse at Pearl Harbor and Alex in army basic training. A gripping novel filled with memorable characters, Since You Went Away will draw you into a past charged with danger, action, romance, and the importance of family and faith.Volume 3: Far From Home - In Far From Home, Alex Thomas is still battling the Nazi forces. He’s also worried about whether or not he can preserve the lives of the men in his company, especially Howie, a particularly young and inexperienced soldier. But his biggest concern is staying alive for his wife, Anna, in England. Far From Home is a moving, powerful novel about the effects of adversity, and about the love of family members for each other.Volume 4: When We Meet Again - Following the Battle of the Bulge, Alex Thomas is reassigned — not without reluctance — to an intelligence unit in Germany. The new assignment challenges Alex's deepest moral values and is more life threatening than combat. As a POW in Japan, Wally suffers torture that may only find relief in death, while Bobbi sorts out her true feelings when she runs into Professor David Stinson thousands of miles away from home.As Long As I Have You - The war is over, and the Thomas family is slowly coming back together at home in Salt Lake City. But that doesn't mean all is well in Zion. In As Long As I Have You, the final volume of the Children of the Promise series, author Dean Hughes presents a moving picture of what life was like for an ordinary LDS family at the end of World War II.

    Ron Hubbard—begins in Brooklyn's working-class Bensonhurst neighborhood, where she was introduced to the religion by her mom. More than three decades later, Leah summoned the courage to leave the church—something few celebrities at her level of fame have ever done before and almost none have ever talked about. This People Spotlight Story explores Leah Remini and her escape from Scientology.

    We've heard daunting stories about young women forced into marrying older men and the admirable journey to escape their way out of the polygamous life they were taught they belonged. We've seen a large family grow on a TLC show, documenting the Mormon religion and discipline from a positive perspective. Today, the Mormon and polygamous culture has shown itself into the limelight more than ever before. This series of seventeen stories focuses on the Barlow family, a family that epitomized the Mormon, polygamous lifestyle. It was led by Albert Barlow, a father of thirty-four children and a husband to three women for over fifty years. The seventeen living daughters of Albert's family here to tell their story. They have seen it all, they have experienced it all. Here we can observe how one lifestyle can branch out to seventeen different perspectives, seventeen different dreams, and seventeen different outcomes.

    Hinckley, president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, tells how we each can be an example of the believers and outlines some of the basic beliefs of the Latter-day Saints. Chapters for the book have been adapted from addresses delivered by President Hinckley in general conferences of the Church, and deal with such basic subjects as honesty, forgiveness, self-discipline, avoiding contention, and opposing evil. "Paul never hedged nor quibbled when setting for the requirements of the gospel of Jesus Christ," he writes. "It is so today." He writes as he speaks with forthrightness and with conviction.

    This autobiographical history of Scientology is told by one of L. Ron Hubbard’s staunchest defenders.

    And the book itself provides some intriguing clues. But only recently has enough information come to light to make it possible to place the book in a plausible geographical, historical, and cultural setting. In An Ancient American Setting for the Book of Mormon, Dr. John L. Sorenson, chairman of the Department of Anthropology at Brigham Young University, presents a credible model for an ancient American background for the Book of Mormon. This model takes notice of extensive details given in the Book of Mormon descriptions of the land southward and of the land northward, of battle movements, of cities built and abandoned, of population and demographic data. Hundreds of geographical, historical, and cultural facts fall into place as his model is carried to its logical conclusions. How does Dr. Sorenson proceed? In a word, he asks more questions than he answers. His words are probing and carefully weighed. The results are great surprises and rewarding insights on every page. He asks questions like "Who were these people?" "What might they have looked like?" "Who were their neighbors?" "How many of them were there?" "How did they live, eat, speak, work, or fight?" He finds plausible answers to these questions by matching specific data from reliable archaeological and anthropological studies of Mesoamerica with the entire spectrum of cultural and historical information from the Book of Mormon. An Ancient American Setting for the Book of Mormon is a thorough work of scholarship, a book that must be read by every serious student of the Book of Mormon.

    But instead of snoozing, what if you devoted that time to growing yourself and your relationship with your Heavenly Father? Imagine how much better things would be. Learn how to transform you life and create a healthier, happier, more successful, and more spiritual life by using a special morning routine just for you.

     For about a decade, Kelly O’Neill Young has studied current and past academic research about RA, reading hundreds of journal articles for this book alone. Kelly, widely known as the RA Warrior, has also gained a unique perspective by listening to millions of visitors to her website and social network. Patients will be armed to fight against becoming a victim of the RD mortality gap Doctors will know how to better diagnose and treat RD Friends and family will understand that their loved one with RD has a serious disease Rheumatoid Arthritis Unmasked is more than a gripping account of the dangers of RD - it is a path for change. This book equips all RA warriors to guide their own medical care and safeguard their health. This book will arm you with facts that will save lives. “I admire deeply your ability to collect information, express feelings, write clearly and compelling, and point to why it matters. That’s what the best change agents do, and you’re tops.” e-patient Dave deBronkart EXCERPT FROM CHAPTER 1 One unfortunate effect of viewing the disease solely in terms of joint symptoms is the undocumented smoldering disease activity that takes place even in so-called “responders” to treatment. Nearly every patient I’ve met who has been told she is “in remission” experiences joint symptoms either regularly or in the form of periodic flares. Furthermore, I have observed several people who experienced serious extra-articular illness after long periods of treatment-induced joint-symptom “remission.” Likewise, an editorial by Harvard rheumatology investigator Daniel Solomon points out that even when medical treatment successfully improves joint symptoms, “patients with RA continue to suffer from a variety of extra-articular manifestations, including cardiovascular disease (CVD).”⁠1 Health care professionals are mainly aware that the disease affects hands, but other disease symptoms are less readily acknowledged, examined, or measured. While the disease is referred to as “a type of arthritis,”⁠2 it is difficult for people with rheumatoid disease to obtain appropriate medical attention for non-joint symptoms or for lesser-known “joints” such as vocal cords. Effective treatments do not yet exist to eliminate every disease effect in every patient. However, making health care workers, academics, and investigators aware of systemic disease effects is a necessary first step. Note: Excerpt provided since Amazon does not provide the “Look inside” feature during pre-orders of Kindle books. This book discusses rheumatoid arthritis symptoms that are beyond joints, often mistakenly thought of as rheumatoid arthritis complications. This is a rheumatoid arthritis guide like no other, a medical reference book for patients, medical students, and health professionals who care for rheumatoid arthritis patients. Most people understand rheumatoid arthritis / rheumatoid disease (RD) as an autoimmune disease that results in chronic pain in joints. However the notion of autoimmune arthritis is insufficient for RD since it usually limits perspective to the musculoskeletal disease only.

    If you've never been around Pit Bulls, you may think they are bloodthirsty man-eaters on the prowl for their next meal. If you've lived with one you know they are, indeed, on the prowl for their next meal - but they plan to get it by conning you out of your meal by doing something irresistibly cute! A breed of satin and steel, Pit Bulls are a mixture of softness and strength, an uncanny canine combination of fun, foolishness, and serious business. If you think Pit Bulls should be purged from the face of the earth, Pit Bulls For Dummies will enlighten you. Perhaps you're curious about this breed and want to know what Pit Bulls are really like; if so, this book is for you. Who else needs this handy reference?Smart people who realize that all breeds have good and bad points New (and not so new) owners who need help with training Owners looking for just the right veterinarian Potential owners looking to adopt from a breed-rescue group Pit Bull owners who need help identifying Pit Bull health problems Too many dog care books are filled with unrealistic scare tactics that would cause anyone to just give up, while others are filled with hand-me-down dog lore that has no basis in reality. You won't find any of that in Pit Bulls For Dummies. Here's a sampling of the handy information you'll find in this essential guide:Understanding the Pit Bull's origins and characteristics Caring for a puppy or older Pit Bull Keeping your dog healthy with diet and exercise Dealing with bad behavior: Biting, barking, jumping, and more Training your Pit Bull in the basics such as sit, stay, heel, and come Understanding Pit Bull body language Helping your dog become a social animal Owning a Pit Bull isn't easy, but that's not because of the dogs. A special commitment to the breed and a special dog owner are needed. Pit Bulls are pretty special dogs, and they have to prove it every day.