Hundreds gathered at Historic Carthage Jail on June 27, the 181st anniversary of the martyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum Smith.

John G. Turner’s new book is a nimble account that showcases the frenzied core of Smith’s soul.

In 2012, scholar John Turner published an award-winning biography of Brigham Young, a mountain of a man in Western Americana. But there remained a bigger fish to pursue, namely Joseph Smith, the ...

Jana Riess: Yes, LDS founder Joseph Smith practiced polygamy “The evidence for Joseph’s polygamous sealings is pretty overwhelming,” says historian John Turner, who has penned a new ...

Recently we’ve seen a rise in what some scholars are calling “polygamy denial,” with some Latter-day Saints now claiming Joseph Smith never practiced polygamy, or at least not sexual polygamy.

The LDS Church has revised illustrations explaining polygamy to kids, eliminating some cartoons and changing the message from "obedience" to "a rare exception" to the teaching of monogamy.

The curriculum uses church founder Joseph Smith’s decision to practice polygamy as an object lesson that we should all have “faith to obey a law from the Lord, even when it’s hard.” ...

Joseph Smith ruined everything when he brought in plural marriage for eternity. This is hell, not heaven. I’m 69 and still worry this may become my hellish future that no, I will NEVER agree to.

But the real reason people find the cartoon so troublesome “is the message,” Park says. “Any attempt to explain Joseph Smith’s practice of polygamy, especially to children, ...