David O. McKay and the Rise of Modern Mormonism

I was looking forward to this book since came out to high praise and I'm particularly interested in 20th century LDS history. It's writing is easy to follow and well paced. It draws from a vast collection of sources including dozens of unpublished manuscripts, oral histories, and personal interviews performed by the authors. It seems like they interviewed almost everyone for years, including family members, housekeepers, secretaries, civic leaders, mission presidents, even Gordon B. Hinckley while he was President of the Church in 1996. No stone was left unturned.

They made full use of the detailed and frank Ernest Wilkinson diaries and they had extensive interviews with Paul H. Dunn, a retired LDS General Authority. The book was really show more born from of the vast collections of McKay's personal secretary Clare Middlemiss and passed down to her nephew Robert Wright, who is coauthor on this book. (Some have questioned the wisdom in relying so much on Middlemiss and Dunn, who both have their own baggage, but I think the authors produced a very balanced and careful treatment.) I really don't know how they were able to distill all this material into an accessible book.

This biography really just focuses on David O. McKay's years as President of the Church, starting when he was 77 years old until his death at age 96. The story is divided into several major themes of his presidency, such as civil rights, moral agency, struggle against communism, politics, and the explosions in missionary work and church construction.

The authors were able to tell the behind-the-scenes story not published in church magazines about successes, failures, struggles, and conflict that exist in every large, complex organization like the LDS Church. This came to empathize with McKay and the other capable men who were charged with leadership over such a rapidly growing and internationalizing church. I was surprised how many times President McKay chose to let problems work themselves out instead of getting involved and trying to control everything. Sometimes it was wisdom and sometimes I think he just didn't know what to do. He was a reasonable man capable of seeing both sides to an argument and was at times convinced by each opposing side. At times he could be refreshingly unconventional.

In many ways this biography is really an intimate story as told by those who worked with him closely and knew him well. I am left with a flavor for his character and a greater respect for the man. Forty years after his death this book has helped raise the profile of David O. McKay in a generation that never knew him. This is a story of real people dealing with the complexity of the real world, full and rich, free from empty praise or cynical criticism. show less

This is one in a series of beautifully-produced biographies of Latter-day Saints recently published by the University of Utah Press. This particular biography stands out for at least three reasons:

1) David O. McKay was an unusually charismatic and cheerful person, and it's hard to read about his life without feeling optimistic yourself.

2) Many progressive Mormons seem to look back with nostalgia to the McKay administration as a better time. This book gives an extensive, even-handed account that sheds light on the accuracy (or not) of that perception.

3) Pages 103 and 104 record President McKay's accounts of the answers he received when he prayed about ending the Priesthood ban. ("I've inquired of the Lord repeatedly. The last time I did show more it was late last night. I was told, with no discussion, not to bring the subject up with the Lord again; that the time will come, but it will not be my time, and to leave the subject alone.") No revisionist narrative of the ban that ignores or suppresses these accounts should be taken seriously. show less

I had heard this biography of the 9th president of the LDS church was the best on McKay. It was certainly very thorough. I'm not entirely sure it captured the essence of who he was. I felt it was a little oddly organized, by subject, which wasn't a problem really, but it seemed to just sort of jump into things instead of giving any preface to what was going on. I haven't read any of the other books about President McKay, but I just wasn't crazy about this one. It also seemed to go out of its way to explore any controversies, detail by tiny detail, and then eventually try to resolve them. Way more than I wanted to know, and I admit that I skimmed a lot. Worth reading only if this is the only book about McKay that you can find.