Twenty years ago, Michael Quinn demonstrated that plural marriage had been actively practiced within the Church after the 1890 Manifesto. Kathleen Flake’s recent book tries to explain why that was and what finally motivated the Church to abandon the practice between 1905 and 1910 in the context of the seating of Apostle Reed Smoot in the U.S. Senate. This session will explore ways of understanding these pivotal, turbulent, and dramatic changes, and why it matters.

Kathleen Flake, D. Michael Quinn, Elbert Eugene Peck