OVERVIEW

        This site celebrates the 30th anniversary of the landmark book Women and Authority:
Re-emerging Mormon Feminism, and its re-release on Kindle in December 2022.  The book was edited by Maxine Hanks and first published in December 1992.  

         Links to all versions of the book are listed here (on right column).
Kindle version in 2022  https://www.signaturebooks.com/books/p/women-and-authority
Paperback version first gave readers a copy of their own in 1992 (see Amazon).
Text version gave public access in 2012 (Archive.org version removed in 2022).

        Women and Authority has an uncommonly enduring status of significance, interest, and use for a book 30 years old. There are several reasons for this:  

       The book was a watershed moment in Mormon feminism and Mormon Studies, by asserting the existence of Mormon feminism and feminist theology as its own inherent movement within LDS tradition, from Church origins to the present time.  It recovered and legitimized a previously-unrecognized tradition of feminism and feminist theology within LDS history, theology, culture and practice. 

      The book offered groundbreaking information and perspectives on Mormon women's history, theology, agency, authority, ministry, priesthood, feminism and discourse. It was the first book about Mormonism to focus entirely on feminism, and the first to use the word "feminism" in the title, as well as the first book to apply and use the term "feminist theology" to Mormon history and discourse.

      The book also attained controversial status when it triggered the legendary "purge" of Mormon feminists and scholars beginning in Feb. 1993 and continuing through that year and through the 1990s. Six of the book's contributors were excommunicated or disfellowshipped from the Church in 1993 or the following years for their work on these feminist topics. 

      The resulting Church backlash against the book and its topics discouraged further feminist theological work for years, thus very few books have engaged these same themes after 1992. Only in recent years has LDS discourse acclimated to such public discussion of feminism and feminist theology. 

      This site is an editor's cut of the book, with additional related resources, information and materials, and some corrected or updated text portions of the book:

Home - Overview introduces the book and its significance, impact.
Mormon Feminism gives context for understanding the books' role in feminism.
Contents & Authors describes each individual chapter and author info at a glance.
Preface, Intro, Prologue provides corrected text material in this section.

Media & Reviews discuss the book and its impact in 1992 or afterward.

Additional Articles were intended for inclusion but were omitted due to book size limits.

     It is hoped that this site gives readers an easy access to a major watershed moment in Mormon history and a long-beloved classic in Mormon and religious feminist studies.  

     The book has been used a women's studies and Mormon studies text at numerous universities across the country since 1992, including the University of Utah, Utah Valley University, BYU, Utah State University, Harvard Divinity School, Claremont Graduate University, Oregon State University, California Institute of Integral Studies, and many other major schools and programs.  

      The book's copyright is owned by Signature Books Inc. in Salt Lake City (for further inquiries contact the editor or publisher). 

~ M. H,  December 2022