BYU ScholarsArchive

Article Title

Dime Novel Mormons

Authors

Veronica Anderson

Keywords

BYU Studies, notice

Abstract

In Dime Novel Mormons, editors Michael Austin and Ardis E. Parshall invite the readers to experience late nineteenth- to early twentieth-century portrayals of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and its members. Beginning in the 1860s, dime novels gained popularity in the United States. These novels, full of thrilling storylines and heroic characters, often included negative stereotypes of various groups of people. Among them, “Mormons” were often depicted as murderous villains who kidnapped women for polygamist marriages and operated an underground society of Danites— dangerous vigilantes out to kill “gentiles” (x–xi).

Recommended Citation

Anderson, Veronica (2020) "Dime Novel Mormons," BYU Studies Quarterly: Vol. 59: Iss. 2, Article 22.
Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/byusq/vol59/iss2/22