Signature Books

Signature Books is a press specializing in subjects related to Utah, Mormonism, and Western Americana. The company was founded in 1980 by George D. Smith and Scott Kenney and is based in Salt Lake City, Utah.

History

In the late 1970s, Scott Kenney decided there needed to be a Mormon press that didn’t have political ties to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and in 1980 he and a few investors created Signature Books and in 1981 published its first book, "Saintspeak" by Orson Scott Card. Several of Signature Books' publications have won awards from the Association for Mormon Letters, the John Whitmer Historical Association, the Mormon History Association, the Mountain West Center for Western Studies, and the Utah Center for the Book. Among those present at Signature Books inception were George D. Smith and Scott Kenney, assisted by a distinguished board of directors comprised of historians and business leaders: Eugene E. Campbell, Everett L. Cooley, David Lisonbee, D. Michael Quinn, Allen Dale Roberts, and Richard S. Van Wagoner; and a similarly impressive editorial board: Lavina Fielding Anderson, Maureen Ursenbach Beecher, Davis Bitton, Orson Scott Card, and Jay Parry.

Present

Signature Books produces from eight to ten books a year, which deal with topics of western and Mormon history, fiction, essay, humor and art. Among these are the diaries of Mormon leaders such as Joseph Smith, William Clayton, Heber C. Kimball, Wilford Woodruff, L. John Nuttall, Anthon H. Lund, John Henry Smith, Rudger Clawson, B. H. Roberts and Reed Smoot. Noted studies of the best early Mormon theologians such as James E. Talmage, B. H. Roberts, Orson Pratt, Parley P. Pratt, Brigham Young, John Widtsoe and award winning biographies of significant early Mormons such as, Joseph Smith, Sidney Rigdon, Wilford Woodruff, John Taylor and thirty three of the plural wives of Joseph Smith.

Controversy

A number of books produced by the publisher related to Mormon history have been considered controversial. Some authors view this as "quality liberal thinking on controversial LDS topics." [Harvnb|Ostling|Ostling|2000|p=353] Terryl Givens states that the publisher is "the main vehicle for publications that challenge the borders of Mormon orthodoxy." [Harvnb|Givens|2002|p=296 note 123]

Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies (FARMS)

The publisher is sometimes viewed as being at odds with the Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies (FARMS), a collaboration of Mormon apologists devoted to defending orthodox Mormon historical scholarship. Author Simon Southerton referred to Signature Books as "a perennial thorn in the side of FARMS." [Harvnb|Southerton|2004|pp=148-149] One example was Signature Book's publication of Grant Palmer's book "An Insider's View of Mormon Origins". The publication of this book immediately resulted in five negative book reviews by FARMS. [Harvnb|Cobabe|2003] Ron Priddis of Signature Books responded to these reviews by stating: "Is nothing beyond the reach of sarcasm by FARMS polemicists?" Priddis refers to the book reviews by FARMS as "tabloid scholarship." [cite web| last=Priddis| first=Ron| title=A Reply to FARMS and the Joseph Fielding Smith Institute| publisher=Signature Books| url=http://www.signaturebooks.com/excerpts/insider's4.htm| accessdate=2007-02-01] At one point in early 1991, FARMS claims that Signature Books threatened a lawsuit over several reviews of its books that appeared in the "Review on Books of the Book of Mormon". [Harvnb|Peterson|1992] The item which initiated the lawsuit threat was a book review published by Stephen E. Robinson in which he characterized Signature Books by stating, "Korihor's back, and this time he's got a printing press...In its continuing assault upon traditional Mormonism, Signature Books promotes with its recent and dubiously titled work..." [Harvnb|Robinson|1991]

In 2004, Signature Books posted on its web site a speech given by John Hatch before the Sunstone Symposium titled "Why I No Longer Trust the FARMS Review of Books." Hatch said, "After reading the (FARMS) reviews myself, it appears to me, and is my opinion, that FARMS is interested in making Mormonism's past appear as normal as possible to readers by attacking history books that discuss complex or difficult aspects of the church's past. As one who hopes to some day contribute to the body of the New Mormon History, I am deeply troubled by what I see as continued efforts to attack honest scholarly work." [Harvnb|Midgley|2004 Although Hatch's essay was present on the Signature Books website on 24 April 2004, it has since been removed.] A news item posted on Nov. 16, 2006 titled “FARMS is at it Again” responds to an article published in the "FARMS Review" by Dr. David G. Stewart Jr. by stating: “It goes to show that Stewart is smarter than the so-called experts, who don't know much of anything—a complaint one often hears from FARMS.” [Citation|title=FARMS Is At It Again| year=2006| date=Nov. 16, 2006| url=http://www.signaturebooks.com/news.htm#stewart| accessdate=2007-05-17]

Authors

Orson Scott Card later disassociated himself from Signature Books. Card claimed that the publisher attempted to persuade "Sunstone Magazine" to stop publishing his work after the magazine published an essay with which they disagreed. Card stated that it was "a thinly veiled attempt to suppress my ability to get my writings published, even while Signature was still profiting from publication of my book "Saintspeak", which I had sold to them under different editorial leadership." [Harvnb|Card|1993|pp=187-188] Card also claimed that the publisher was on a "clear and relentless crusade to persuade Mormons to take currently fashionable worldly wisdom as a better source of truth than the teaching of the prophets." [Harvnb|Card|1993|pp=187-188]

Notes

References

*Harvard reference
last=Card
first=Orson Scott
authorlink=Orson Scott Card
title=A Storyteller in Zion
publisher=Bookcraft
place=Salt Lake City, Utah
year=1993
id=ISBN 1-57345-808-2 .
*Harvard reference
last=Cobabe
first=George E
title=A Summary of Five Reviews of Grant Palmer's "An Insider's View of Mormon Origins"
year=2003
publisher=Foundation for Apologetic Information & Research (FAIR)
place=Provo, UT
url=http://www.fairlds.org/Book_of_Mormon/Summary_of_Five_Reviews_of_Grant_Palmer.html
accessdate=2007-02-07 .
*Harvard reference
last=Givens
first=Terryl L
authorlink=Terryl Givens
title=By the Hand of Mormon: The American Scripture That Launched a New World Religion
place=New York
publisher=Oxford University Press
year=2002
date=March 1, 2002
id=ISBN 019513818X .
*Harvard reference
last=Midgley
first=Louis
authorlink=Louis C. Midgley
title=The Signature Books Saga
journal=FARMS Review of Books
volume=16
issue=1
publisher=Maxwell Institute
place=Provo, Utah
year=2004
url=http://farms.byu.edu/display.php?table=review&id=536
accessdate=2007-05-06 .
*Harvard reference
Surname1=Ostling
Given1=Richard N
Surname2=Ostling
Given2=Joan K
title=Mormon America: The Power and the Promise
place=San Francisco
publisher=Harper
year=2000
date=October 1, 2000
id=ISBN 0060663723 .
*Harvard reference
last=Peterson
first=Daniel C.
authorlink=Daniel C. Peterson
title=Editor's Introduction: Questions to Legal Answers
journal=FARMS Review of Books
volume=4
issue=1
publisher=Maxwell Institute
place=Provo, Utah
year=1992
url=http://maxwellinstitute.byu.edu/display.php?table=review&id=78
accessdate=2007-05-06 .
*Harvard reference
last=Robinson
first=Stephen E.
authorlink=Stephen E. Robinson
title=(Review of) The Word of God: Essays on Mormon Scripture
journal=FARMS Review of Books
volume=3
issue=1
year=1991
pages=312-18
publisher=Maxwell Institute
place=Provo, Utah
url=http://farms.byu.edu/display.php?table=review&id=74
accessdate=2007-05-14 .
*Harvard reference
last =Southerton
first =Simon G
authorlink=Simon Southerton
title =Losing a Lost Tribe: Native Americans, DNA and the Mormon Church
publisher =Signature Books
year=2004
place=Salt Lake City
id =ISBN 1-56085-181-3 .

External links

* [http://www.signaturebooks.com/ The official Signature Books Website]
* [http://www.signaturebookslibrary.org/ Out-of-print Signature Books on-line]
* [http://www.signaturebooks.com/about.htm About Signature Books]
*" [http://www.signaturebooks.com/outofprint/saint.htm Saintspeak] ", by Orson Scott Card