Cristina Rosetti (Joseph W. Musser), 3/12/24

EVENING WITH AN AUTHOR

We are excited to announce that Cristina M. Rosetti will be here to speak about Joseph White Musser: A Mormon Fundamentalist (published by University of Illinois Press) on Tuesday, Mar 12. She will be here from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., will speak at 6:00, and answer questions and sign books before and after that time. We hope you will be able to make it that night but, if not, we can mail a signed copy or hold one here at the store for pick-up. To RSVP on Facebook, click here.

In 1921, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints excommunicated Joseph White Musser for his refusal to give up plural marriage. Cristina M. Rosetti tells the story of how a Church leader followed his beliefs into exile and applied the religious thought he began to develop in the mainline faith to become a foundational theologian of Mormon fundamentalism.

Musser’s devotion to Joseph Smith’s vision and the faith’s foundational texts reflected a widespread uneasiness with, and reaction against, changes taking place across society. Rosetti analyzes how Musser’s writing and thought knit a disparate group of outcast LDS believers into a movement. She also places Musser’s eventful life against the backdrop of a difficult period in LDS history, when the Church strained to disentangle itself from plural marriage and leaders like Musser emerged to help dissident members make sense of their lives outside the mainstream.

The first book-length account of the Mormon thinker, Joseph White Musser reveals the figure whose teachings helped mold a movement.

Joseph White Musser: A Mormon Fundamentalist (from the Introductions to Mormon Thought series). University of Illinois Press. 112 pp. Paperback, $14.95/Hardback, $110.00 (special order only—would be signed at a later date). To purchase online, click here.

Cristina M. Rosetti is an assistant professor of humanities at Utah Tech University. Her research looks at the history and lived experience of Mormon fundamentalists in the Intermountain West. She has published articles in Dialogue, Journal of Mormon History, American Religion and Mormon Studies Review. Beginning in 2025, she will be the co-editor of Mormon Studies Review.