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Viper on the Hearth: Mormons, Myths, and the Construction of Heresy (Updated)
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Viper on the Hearth: Mormons, Myths, and the Construction of Heresy (Updated) Paperback - 2013

by Terryl L. Givens

From the publisher

Published in 1997, Terryl Givens's The Viper on the Hearth was widely praised as a landmark work--indeed, The Wall Street Journal hailed it as "one of the five best books on Mormonism." Now, in the wake of a tidal wave of Mormon-inspired artistic, literary, and political activity--ranging from the Broadway hit The Book of Mormon, to the HBO series Big Love, to the political campaign of Mitt Romney--Givens presents an updated edition that addresses the continuing presence and reception of the Mormon image in contemporary culture.

The Viper on the Hearth showed how nineteenth- and twentieth-century American writers frequently cast the Mormon as a stock villain in such fictional genres as mysteries, westerns, and popular romances. If today some authors like Tom Clancy use "Mormon" as shorthand for "clean cut and patriotic," earlier writers more often depicted the Mormons as a violent and perverse people--the "viper on the hearth"--who sought to violate the domestic sphere of the mainstream. Givens is the first to reveal how popular fiction constructed an image of the Mormon as a religious and social Other. The list of authors includes both American and English writers, from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's first Sherlock Holmes mystery to Zane Grey's Riders of the Purple Sage, from Robert Louis Stevenson's The Dynamiter to Jack London's Star Rover.

For this edition, Givens has expanded the final chapter, shedding further light on the Mormon presence in contemporary American culture, with insightful discussions of topics ranging from the musical, The Book of Mormon, to the political campaigns of Mitt Romney and Jon Huntsman.

Details

  • Title Viper on the Hearth: Mormons, Myths, and the Construction of Heresy (Updated)
  • Author Terryl L. Givens
  • Binding Paperback
  • Edition Updated
  • Pages 256
  • Volumes 1
  • Language ENG
  • Publisher Oxford University Press, USA, 2013. 256p. Paperback. Series: Religion in America. A wonderfully thought-through look at the interrelationships between fiction
  • Date 2013-01-31
  • Illustrated Yes
  • Features Bibliography, Illustrated, Index, Table of Contents
  • ISBN 9780199933808 / 0199933804
  • Weight 0.75 lbs (0.34 kg)
  • Dimensions 9.2 x 6.1 x 0.9 in (23.37 x 15.49 x 2.29 cm)
  • Reading level 1560
  • Themes
    • Religious Orientation: Christian
    • Religious Orientation: Lds (Mormon) Interest
    • Theometrics: Academic
  • Library of Congress subjects American literature - 19th century - History, Mormon Church - Controversial literature -
  • Library of Congress Catalog Number 2012025138
  • Dewey Decimal Code 305.683

About the author

Terryl L. Givens is Professor of Literature and Religion and James A. Bostwick Chair of English, University of Richmond. His books on Mormonism and American religious culture include By the Hand of Mormon, People of Paradox and (with Matthew Grow) Parley P. Pratt: The Apostle Paul of Mormonism.

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The Viper on the Hearth: Mormons, Myths, and the Construction of Heresy (Updated Edition) [Religion in America]

by Givens, Terryl L.

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The Viper on the Hearth: Mormons, Myths, and the Construction of Heresy (Religion in America)

by Terryl L. Givens

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The Viper on the Hearth: Mormons, Myths, and the Construction of Heresy (Updated) (Religion in...

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by Givens, Terryl L.

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The Viper on the Hearth: Mormons, Myths, and the Construction of Heresy

The Viper on the Hearth: Mormons, Myths, and the Construction of Heresy

by Terryl L. Givens

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The Viper on the Hearth: Mormons, Myths, and the Construction of Heresy (Religion in America)
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The Viper on the Hearth: Mormons, Myths, and the Construction of Heresy (Religion in America)

by Givens, Terryl L.

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The Viper on the Hearth: Mormons, Myths, and the Construction of Heresy (Religion in America)

by Givens, Terryl L

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