Has anyone read it?

Thoughts?

Which memoir?

https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2024/02/25/historian-predicted-lds-church/

This may be a gift article from the trib and not pay walled.

Within the last few months, his memoir "Chosen Path" from Signature Books was published from a lifetime of his journals and other writings.

I understand some of it is quite graphic.

I'm hopeful that Bro. Toscano won't mind...

This is his review of "Chosen Path, A Memoir" which he wrote on Amazon:

Paul Toscano
5.0 out of 5 stars

Troubled Mormon historian passed into troubled Mormon history

Reviewed in the United States on February 20, 2024

    "It took me three days to read carefully every word and nearly every footnote of D. Michael Quinn’s 550 page “self-biography,” Chosen Path, posthumously published (and rather lamely edited) by Signature Books in 2023.  I say “lamely” because the editors do not make it easy to ascertain the date or time-frame when Mike originally recorded an event and when thereafter he reflected upon it.  So, I found it annoyingly difficult to trace the maturation of his reflections on his experiences over time. Nevertheless, it is well worth the trouble.

    "Chosen Path is not, strictly speaking, a memoir.  It is a diary with later-added addenda presented in Mike’s flat-affect style that details the pounding blows delivered upon him with wrecking ball brutality by assorted family members, Church leaders, professional rivals, and erstwhile friends, all of which added to his own brutally punishing guilt over his gay feelings and fantasies made worse by the cruel homophobia of the church he loved and of its quorum of apostles he respected and believed himself to have been called to join.

    "I’m not sure Mike would have consented to the publication of the confessional disclosures of his intimate struggles and insights.  But the dead can neither consent nor object; and Mike may not have found firm footing successfully to argue against the revelation of what had been hidden in his own story when he had dedicated his professional life to the often-unwelcome revelation of what had been hidden in the stories of others.

    "In this book, historian D. Michael Quinn is revealed as a tragic figure within the cryptic and convoluted history of Mormonism—a history he championed and in large measure mid-wived.  I consider him to be, in life and death, an unwavering advocate and exemplar of a Mormonism uncontaminated by corporate hierarchy, power, hypocrisy, and greed—a Mormonism that may have existed only in the minds of those who experienced first-hand the promise and ultimate disappointment of the spiritually and intellectually intense exploration of Mormon history and theology that unfolded in the years 1966 to 2000.

    "That was a Mormonism I knew and experienced myself and find chronicled in Mike’s sad, stress-inducing, and soul-shaking reminiscence.  "Chosen Path" brings into sharp focus many of the important feminists, intellectuals, homosexuals and their fellow-travelers with whom I was well-acquainted and whose identities, sufferings, sacrifices, writings and artistic contributions are fast fading into virtual obscurity.  These are contributors and contributions about which most current social media critics and apologists (with their often laughably shallow polemics) appear to be nearly always appallingly ignorant.

    "This book should be read along with the writings footnoted and referenced therein by all those seeking to comment intelligently on Mormonism, its history, theology, sociology, and ecclesiology.

    "The book deserves 5 stars for both its important content and for its tragic and cautionary narrative arc."



I'm not going to read it.  D. Michael was born less than a year before I was, and he's only half Mexican.  From what I know of him, it's doubtful we could have been friends, since he was apparently always organized, diligent, dutiful, and probably didn't like Spanish-speakers.  He was at the Y the same time I was but he didn't know who I was so he never stopped me on the campus to ask for my autograph.

Didn’t like Spanish speakers?

That sounds very sad.

Another reason why I wouldn’t read the book about him.

Someone please correct me.

> Didn’t like Spanish speakers?


I was being half-way (okay, maybe three-quarters) facetious...

Here's a more egalitarian bio: https://issuu.com/utah10/docs/utah_historical_quarterly_volume90_2022_number1/s/15082746

His paternal surname was Peña. (I'm reasonably certain that American prejudice or ignorance is why ñ was replaced by n.)  

The above cited bio says he changed his surname to Quinn to honor his "future actor friend, Anthony Quinn" but that just stupid!  Anthony Quinn was born in 1915 and appeared in his first movie in 1936. Per Wikipedia, "By 1947, Quinn had appeared in more than 50 films and had played a variety of characters, including Indians, Mafia dons, Hawaiian chiefs, Filipino freedom fighters, Chinese guerrillas, and Arab sheiks. He returned to the theater, replacing Marlon Brando as Stanley Kowalski in A Streetcar Named Desire on Broadway."


There seems to be a lot of drama in describing D. Michael's life and times...  Check this one out:

"Finally, as early as eight years of age, he became increasingly aware of a samesex attraction, as his uncle cradled his body and lovingly lowered him into the warm water of the baptismal font."

Apparently D. Michael was certain that ghawd had picked him out to be someone special, which was made evident by hearing voices and feeling promptings of the spirit.

But, yeah, half Mexican and he totally turned against that fact...

> His paternal surname was Peña. (I'm reasonably
> certain that American prejudice or ignorance is
> why ñ was replaced by n.)  

Dammit. Now I have to find a teenager who can teach my laptop how to make those squiggly lines.

"Not by works, but by faith..."

I believe, Father Ferment. I believe!

Lot's Wife Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

> Dammit. Now I have to find a teenager who can
> teach my laptop how to make those squiggly lines.

to make an n with tilde (lower case)

Turn on NUM LOCK and hold down ALT while entering 0241 :ñ
For the capital enter 0209 Ñ


(and I am many decades past being a teenager)

If Gladys would stop typing ONLY with her pinkie fingers, she'd be able to do all that fancy stuff!

I use my index fingers, you silly goose.

Thank you.

I will probably just copy and paste someone else's "ñ" since that way I won't have to write down those details!



PS: Thanks to EOD for providing the "ñ" in Peña.

Lot's Wife Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I will probably just copy and paste someone else's
> "ñ" since that way I won't have to write down
> those details!

You only need two index fingers - turn on LUM LOCK, then one finger holds down ALT and the other one enter the codes on the number pad.

What if you don't have somebody else's ñ to copy?

I keep a small card next to my keypad with the codes for unusual characters.
Please feel free to copy and use it:

¢ 155 or 0162
@ 64
© 0169
½ 171
¼ 172


German (I write a lot in German)
ä 132 Ä 142
ö 148 Ö 153 or 0214
ü 129 Ü 0220
or 252
ß 225

French
ç 135

And now I ask the really embarrassing question: is that for Mac OS or whatever that monstrosity over the fence is?

Lot's Wife Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> And now I ask the really embarrassing question:
> is that for Mac OS or whatever that monstrosity
> over the fence is?

https://support.apple.com/guide/pages/accents-and-special-characters-tanec2c2fdfd/mac

Remember, Google is your friend: "Ask and it shall be given you!"

Yes, I figured that out earlier today and can now type señor with the best of them.

thank you!

For a complete chart of special characters for Windows:

https://www.alt-codes.net/

I simply can’t read a book like that.

I get devotion, but I think it’s important to ultimately figure out the whole thing is not worth our devotion, and we ought to move on to better things.

Just my take.

Someone please correct me.

Um, he did move on to better things. He could have covered up the history. He could have covered up his sexual orientation. He considered both of those more important than his desire to stay in Mormonism.

That said, I think his claimed acceptance of JS and the BoM was pretty weird. I'm pretty skeptical, based on the "ignore what they say, watch what they do" principle.

He wanted to belong.

I guess the only action that impresses me is complete repudiation of it all.

Again, I will consider an argument to the contrary.

    I believe he wanted to be a stud mormon, a leader, and a legend.  But ghawd fatally wounded him, although he did try to slip by the brethren by stifling a natural tendency and trying to pass for Straight ... and White.

    But I'm biased.

    There's another biography, "D. Michael Quinn: Mormon Historian," by Gary Topping, a contemporary of Quinn.  I could not find reviews of it on Amazon or Goodreads.  But then Google led me to this one:

https://www.associationmormonletters.org/reviews/older-reviews/topping-d-michael-quinn-mormon-historian-reviewed-by-cheryl-bruno/


    The review's author made an interesting point:  "Recently, I spoke to a younger colleague who had just read Quinn’s Early Mormonism and the Magic World View.  I rhapsodized at how the book had changed my entire conception, not only of Mormonism but of life itself. My friend fairly yawned.

    "The book had presented him with nothing new.  I mulled over this for a long time and realized that in the years since the book was published in 1987, Quinn’s ideas have thoroughly saturated Mormon culture to the point where they don’t seem that unusual.

    "In the late eighties, these ideas were truly original. Joseph Smith’s early involvement with magic was barely known and little understood."



    Finally, here's the Wikipedia entry on Bro. Quinn, as a member of the September Six (1993:

    "D. Michael Quinn was a Mormon historian.  Among other studies, he documented LDS Church-sanctioned polygamy from 1890 until 1904, after the 1890 Manifesto that officially abandoned the practice.  He wrote chapter 17, 'Mormon Women Have Had the Priesthood Since 1843' in the book Women and Authority: Re-emerging Mormon Feminism (1992).  He was excommunicated on September 26.

    "Quinn was summoned to a disciplinary council to answer charges of 'conduct unbecoming a member of the Church and apostasy,' including 'very sensitive and highly confidential matters that were not related to Michael's historical writings.'  (It is) ... suggested that the 'allusion to Michael's sexual orientation, which Michael had not yet made public, was unmistakable.'

    "Quinn afterward published several critical studies of Mormon hierarchy, including his three-volume work, The Mormon Hierarchy: Origins of Power; The Mormon Hierarchy: Extensions of Power; and The Mormon Hierarchy: Wealth and Corporate Power.  

    "He also authored the 1996 book Same-Sex Dynamics Among Nineteenth-Century Americans: A Mormon Example, which argues that homosexuality was common among early Mormons and was not seen as a serious sin or transgression.  

    "He also authored the 1987 book Early Mormonism and the Magic World View, which argues that early Mormon leaders were greatly influenced by folk magic and superstitious beliefs, including stone-looking, charms, and divining rods.

    "Despite his excommunication and critical writings, Quinn, who was after his excommunication openly gay, still considered himself to be a Latter-day Saint, which stance he continued to maintain until his death in 2021."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_Six

All I get from it is the opportunity to study why it’s so difficult for some people to completely repudiate something that is so obviously wrong.

Frankly, I prefer reading books about people who transcend their past, and display moral courage.

But that’s just me.

Again, please, someone correct me.

We are absolutely on the same wavelength.