OFFICIAL LDS CHURCH RESOURCES
LDS.org – Search Church History
VIDEOS
Top 10 Mormon Problems Explained
Mormon Origins Explained, Dan Vogel
Overview of Church Essays – An Introduction to the Gospel Topics Essays
Dan Vogel – Mormon Origins Explained
Grant Palmer – My Ah-Ha Moments While Researching Mormon History
Brother Jake – entertaining short clips
PODCASTS
Gospel Tangents: Exploring Mormon History – Rick Bennett
Year of Polygamy
WEBSITES
The CES Letter
FAIR – Reflections on CES Letter
Grant Palmer, former CES Director
Utah Lighthouse Ministry, Jerald and Sandra Tanner – A massive data cache
Mormon Primer
Church is True – good articles about religion transformation
Institute for Religious Research
Gentle Awakenings: Summary of Major LDS Church Concerns
Arrest and imprisonment of Joseph Smith
Thoughtful Sunday School: A guide for uncorrelated church lessons
BOOKS
Joseph Smith, The Making of a Prophet, Dan Vogel – A thorough examination of how Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon came to be.
Natural Born Seer, Richard Van Wagoner – An astonishingly detailed chronicle of the Smith family only up to 1830.
Studies of The Book of Mormon, B.H. Roberts – A hero of early Mormon thinking, but nobody listened.
No Man Knows My History, Fawn Brodie – A less apologetic portrait of Smith, she got a lot more right than wrong. Ebook available here.
Rough Stone Rolling, Richard Bushman – Covers the same material as Brodie but with more a more inspiring spin, various key details omitted to comply with Deseret Book screeners.
Early Mormonism and the Magic World View, Michael Quinn – The definitive account of the Smith’s magical beliefs and practices.
Leonard Arrington: The Writing of Mormon History – A first-hand account from prominent church historian during critical decades and the civil rights movement.
An Insider’s View of Mormon Origins, Grant Palmer – Palmer was a revered pioneer in exploring truth in Mormonism.
The Mormon Hierarchy: Origins of Power, Michael Quinn – a detailed exploration of Mormonism’s priesthood evolution and increasingly controlling command structure.
The Book of Bad Arguments – A fun exploration of mental pitfalls.
This is My Doctrine – The Development of Mormon Theology, Charles Harrell.
Mormon Enigma – Emma Hale Smith, Linda Newell – A well researched reconstruction of Emma Smith’s (Joseph’s first wife) life.
In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith, Todd Compton – A chronicle of the lives of Joseph’s numerous polygamous wives, largely through their own words and letters.
Mormonism Unvailed – Published in 1834, the first major expose of early Mormonism and Joseph Smith’s character.
Devil’s Gate: Brigham Young & the Great Mormon Handcart Tragedy, David Roberts – You won’t likely send your teenagers to re-enact pioneer heritage treks after reading this.
History of Joseph Smith by his Mother, Lucy Mack Smith – Published decades after Smith’s death, his mother sheds new perspectives on his life.
The Ghost of Eternal Polygamy, Carol Pearson – Portrays a different narrative than the one learned in Sunday School.
Massacre at Mountain Meadows, Walker, Turley, Leonard – One of the darkest episodes in Mormon history.
The Odyssey of Thomas Ferguson, Thomas Stuart Ferguson
Standing Apart, Miranda Wilcox, John Young – Illustrates how the notion of a great apostasy is primarily a Mormon thing and definitely not what we were taught in Sunday School.
Blood of the Prophets, Will Bagley – Chronicles both the Mountain Meadows Massacre and Brigham Young’s role.
The 1838 Mormon War in Missouri. Stephen C. LeSueur – A fascinating description of how Mormonism’s militancy, isolation and unique world view fostered self-destructive violence and animosity.
A Reason For Faith – Pure apologetics, has helped many see how illogical and desperate the traditional narrative has become.