Comments on: Emma’s Family (Review)

By: John Hamer

John Hamer — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 17:06:06 +0000

Hi guys, I missed this review earlier. Thanks, Ardis, for the very informative review. As you've realized in the comments, Ron's edited two Emma books in addition to Martin Harris's Kirtland. Part of the problem is that the cover of the second book Emma's Family, ended up printing much closer in color to the first, Emma's Nauvoo, than I originally thought it would. They're too close and you don't immediately see the different picture and title. We're going to be releasing a new version of Emma's Family that changes the cover color to either blue or green to make the difference more apparent. I love annotated books too. As a history nut, I love to lose myself in the footnotes and context. (And if someone is working on a manuscript like that, John Whitmer Books is interested in publishing it.) But as you've surmised here, the goal of this series is to get primary sources into the hands of non-scholars. The short lenght, the images and the look are designed to invite regular people --- for example, tourists visiting Nauvoo --- to take back a souvenir that connects them to actual history. That said, even though tourists and other non-specialists are a big target for the series, this is still good history and I'm glad that real buffs like you also find a lot to enjoy.

By: Ardis E. Parshall

Ardis E. Parshall — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 16:54:55 +0000

Ha! Reed, I looked at the webpage you pointed to and noticed that my copy had a different cover design … and didn’t even notice the difference in title! Some researcher I am.

So that makes at least three entries in this series. I like this one very much and think commenters will, too, if you accept it for what it is, while still hoping for an eventual edition of the letters with all the geeky footnotes we love.

By: J. Stapley

J. Stapley — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 16:23:02 +0000

John Whitmer is publishing some very interesting and handy items lately. This book appears to follow suite. I agree with your assessment of the footnotes, Ardis. A major slight to scholars, but probably less overwhelming for those not familiar with critical history.

By: Reed Russell

Reed Russell — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 16:11:39 +0000

Okay – that clears up the confusion.

Ron has written two Emma books in the past two years:

Emma’s Nauvoo and Emma’s Family.

Sorry, Ardis – initially, I confused your review with the earlier book. The Whitmer Book site has yet to be updated with this new release.

http://www.amazon.com/Emmas-Family-Ronald-E-Romig/dp/1934901245/ref=si3_rdr_bb_product

http://www.johnwhitmerbooks.com/books/details_EN.asp

By: Researcher

Researcher — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 14:45:54 +0000

Thank you for the book review and all the notes in the comments. The amazon page for Emma's Family has a nice sample of selections from the book including several photographs.

By: Michelle Glauser

Michelle Glauser — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 09:31:26 +0000

Thank you so much for sharing this! It’s good to hear about titles like this whose research is very respected.

By: Rick Grunder

Rick Grunder — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 05:56:31 +0000

Thanks, Ardis. I just received my copy from Ron a few days ago, so have not had time to read it yet. The photograph of Lucy Mack Smith was quite a startler to me – looking much different from the standard Piercy engraving which we usually see in publications. The Community of Christ naturally has many texts and images which are not so familiar to those of us who were raised in the Utah Church. I think this book, designed for distribution at their visitor centers, should be a valuable addition and enlargement to our perspectives.

By: Reed Russell

Reed Russell — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 03:41:18 +0000

Hmmm – strange. My copy is a 2007 second edition with the picture cluster of Emma on page 9.

By: Ardis E. Parshall

Ardis E. Parshall — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 23:18:15 +0000

Thanks, Reed; that gives a very good feeling for the friendly page layout I was trying to describe. My edition is apparently different from that pictured, though — mine has no maps, and the photos of Emma appear on various pages rather than clustered on a single page.

By: Ardis E. Parshall

Ardis E. Parshall — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 23:12:41 +0000

Hunter, they’re transcriptions, although a photograph of a single letter is used as an illustration. Everything possible has been done to make this material accessible to an interested non-specialist — well, except for modernizing the spelling and punctuation. Preserving the original spelling, which is easily comprehensible, adds that antique flavor that most of us love.