The viper on the hearth : Mormons, myths, and the construction of heresy / Terryl L. Givens.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Givens, Terryl.

Series:

Religion in America series (Oxford University Press)

Religion in America series

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Latter Day Saint churches--Controversial literature--History and criticism.

Latter Day Saint churches.

American literature--19th century--History and criticism.

American literature.

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints--Controversial literature--History and criticism.

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (228 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

New York : Oxford University Press, 1997.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Nineteenth-century American writers cast the Mormon as a villain in fictional genres. The Mormons were depicted as a violent people who sought to violate the domestic sphere of the mainstream. This work shows how popular fiction constructed an image of the Mormon as a religious and social ""other"".

Contents:

Contents; Introduction; 1 ""Out of the Sphere of Religion"": The Sacred, the Profane, and the Mormons; 2 ""This Upstart Sect"": The Mormon Problem in American History; 3 ""Manners, Habits, Customs, and Even Dialect"": Sources of the Mormon Conflict; 4 ""An Age of Humbugs"": The Contemporary Scene; 5 ""This Great Modern Abomination"": Orthodoxy and Heresy in American Religion; 6 ""Ground in the Presbyterian Smut Machine"": The Popular Press, Fiction, and Moral Crusading; 7 ""They Ain't Whites . . . They're Mormons"": Fictive Responses to the Anxiety of Seduction; 8 ""Murder and Mystery-Mormon Style"": The Mormon Image in the Twentieth Century; Notes; Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

1-280-52850-8

0-19-535634-9

1-4294-1526-6

OCLC:

466431783