The Mormon Hierarchy: Extensions of Power Volume 2

by D. Michael Quinn

The Mormon church today is led by an elite group of older men, nearly three-quarters of whom are related to current or past general church authorities. This dynastic hierarchy meets in private; neither its minutes nor the church's finances are available for public review. Members are reassured by public relations spokesmen that all is well and that harmony prevails among these brethren.

But by interviewing former church aides, examining hundreds...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1560850604
• ISBN13: 9781560850601
• Release Date: January 1997
• Publisher: Signature Books
• Length: 960 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 2.1" x 6.3" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Very valuable book for students of Mormon History

This book is a remarkable accomplishment that will probably never be surpassed as many of the sources Quinn uses have been sequestered away by the church leadership. In reading the book, I felt the author tried to paint a sympathetic picture of church leadership and the challenges they faced. However, with the church's current focus on blind obedience and the building of personality cults around past church leaders, it isn't surprising that some reviewers find offense with the book and will try to discredit it by nitpicking an inaccuracy here or there. Reading the book, it looked like a series of essays to me. One of the most interesting of the essays was the chapter on Ezra Taft Benson and his attempts at directing the membership of the church towards the extreme right-wing doctrines of the John Birch Society. His success is illustrated in Utah and Mormon areas of Idaho and Arizona being some of the most Republican in the nation. In this regard, this book is relevant to anyone wanting to understand the current demographics and attitudes of church members and how they evolved. One of the best parts of the book is the huge appendix. Any student of Mormon history will find it very helpful and interesting. Dr. Quinn is to be commended for his wonderful book.

High marks

I was terribly impressed with Dr. Quinn's efforts in 'Extensions of Power'. If you want to know how the Mormon Church is governed and operates, this is the book to have. Dr. Quinn's use of anecdotes, coupled with his extensively researched factual information, makes this book, nearly as good a read as anything I've ever read before. It's something that's very hard to put down (I read it nearly non-stop for 3 days!). More engaging that Tom Clancy, for sure.Another reviewer said that Dr. Quinn's extensive use of quotes was somehow not a good thing, that it was distracting (?). I found his use of quotes to be extremely useful. Above all, it showed that his research was well founded in the Church's own records.This is a tremenduous work and I'd highly recommend it to anyone seeking to understand how the Mormon Church really works.

The Human History of "Gods in Embryo"

Dr. Quinn's book is a remarkable accomplishment. For a brief time, in the 70's and 80's, the historical office of the LDS church allowed for some objective, professional examination of its records. Quinn brings us some of the fruits of that time. This is not "faith-promoting" history-Deseret Book and Bookcraft have taken care of that-but shows the Brethren in all their human glory. Some reviewers have indicated that this volume has not threatened their LDS testimonies, but only confirmed what they already knew, that church leaders are human and fallible; other reviewers may be threatened by this realization, although many past presidents have pointed it out. The marketing of the infallibility of church leaders continues, perhaps because it gives comfort to those church members who are intolerant of ambiguity, but also because toadying is often rewarded in organizations.Extensions of Power is actually several books. It is topically arranged to consider more or less controversial aspects of the church leadership-violence, involvement in politics, etc. It also includes, as the earlier companion volume did, hundreds of pages of notes and a detailed chronology of church activities from 1848 to 1996. We are afforded a glimpse into the complex personalities, power factions, and challenges of maintaining, growing and adapting a religious movement to a constantly changing and evolving U. S. and world culture. I was by turns frustrated with church leadership and empathetic with them in their struggle to understand and accommodate `the world' without losing their unique identity. I was also able to see how present problems have their roots in the past, and the futile efforts of those leaders--such as Gordon B. Hinckley and Boyd K. Packer--who would like to bury the past. Mormonism is a religion which was established and grew during historical, literate times, and leaders and members must come to terms with the difficulties of their history. Despite Correlation committees, Strengthening the Members Committees and million dollar public relations and marketing campaigns, and particularly since the advent of the internet, historical problems will not go away. For the questioning believer or the student of religions and U. S. history, Dr. Quinn's book is a very useful tool in understanding how the present Mormon church came to be.

Incredible accomplishment

I have read the Extensions of Power, and found that the accomplishment of such a study is on par with ground breaking studies in other fields of historical research. Quinn has obviously spent a great deal of effort in providing a clear and concise and convincing argument. I hope that he will continue his work and perhaps augment the appendices - particularly the chronology section with footnotes. Again, extremely well written by a reliable historian, and a pleasure to read and recommend.

The best Mormon-history book I've ever studied!Money.To.Lend

I would like to add my comments about this book as one who has been an active member of the Mormon Church nearly all my life. I did not find this volume to be negative toward the leaders of the church at all. In fact, I gained a better appreciation of what church history I already knew by the author putting all of the material in true context. It doesn't hurt my testimony of the restored truth and priesthood to know that the men who ran the church were indeed humans who make mistakes - sometimes big mistakes - all in the name of "trying to do the right thing". Rather than bring the "brethren" down in the minds of the reader, I felt that if the author could only find the few instances of misbehavior that he did, that these must be extrodinary men indeed. I do have a few questions of the author. If he reads this review, I would like to talk to him personally about the book. Please send me an email of where I may call you or where I can send you my phone number.