Interview with D. Michael Quinn author, Gary Topping

Signature Books Podcast

In episode 2, retired archivist and writer Gary Topping sits down with me to talk about his new biography, D. Michael Quinn: Mormon Historian, newly published by Signature Books. We discuss Quinn’s early life, the influences that led him to research and write Mormon history, as well as some insight into the man himself. His was not the typical Mormon upbringing, and it made him one of the more unlikely individuals not only to develop a passion for studying the Mormon past, but to research, write, and publish about it. Quinn’s books, especially his three-volume series on the LDS hierarchy, his work into the early practice of folk magic within the church and the Smith family, and his study of Mormon same-sex dynamics and post-Manifesto polygamy, earned him many critics, numerous admirers, and no shortage of controversy.

This biography is part of Signature’s Mormon Lives series and is available for $9.95 in paper, $4.99 as an ebook.