If I have one complaint about the book, it is that I yearned after reading each entry for more context.
Our foremothers speak for themselves in this volume, with the authors providing minimal but helpful context by way of introduction to each excerpt. (Yet when one reads cover to cover, the narrative becomes clear and Story is everywhere present.) The book includes eighteen topics, and many sub-topics, ranging from “Gifts of the Spirit” to “the Book of Mormon” to “Abrahamic Sacrifices.” It is a collection of women’s experiences and testimonies from the early days of the Church, organized by topic for ease of use. It is not, as it states itself, a standard historical narrative. The Witness of Women is an unprecedented and long-overdue resource. Its introduction describes its audience as “Gospel Doctrine teachers, Young Men and Young Women teachers, religion professors, family history researchers, and church members in general.” Any of the above will find it a useful and approachable tool. Academic in methodology, the book is yet wonderfully accessible in presentation. Include them, and our vision of our history expands, our understanding of modern Mormon women sharpens, and we have new potential to understand the course of our people’s future.Ī recent and welcome momentum in Mormon Women’s history continues with the publication of The Witness of Women, by Janiece Johnson and Jennifer Reeder. Remove the women’s voices and experiences - remove half the dots - and the image loses half its color, half its clarity. Thousands of stories in delicate pointillism convey the grand picture of the Restoration.
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