The State Historical Society of Iowa invites you to join Annals of Iowa editor Andrew Klumpp to explore Iowa’s past with the Iowa History Book Club. Each quarter, the club will gather online to hear a discussion about a different book related to Iowa history, with insights from Klumpp and the book’s author or another Iowa historian. Participants are encouraged to submit questions during meeting and, ideally, convene their own local book-club discussions afterward with additional questions and resources provided by the State Historical Society of Iowa.
On April 14th, join Andrew Klumpp and University of Oklahoma Press author Richard E. Bennett as they discuss Bennett’s book, Mormons at the Missouri, Winter Quarters, 1846–1852. The historic trek that members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints took from Illinois to the Salt Lake Valley was an enduring accomplishment of American overland trail migration, but their wintering at the Missouri River near present-day Omaha was also a feat of faith and perseverance. In this book, Richard E. Bennett, who taught church history and doctrine for more than 20 years at Brigham Young University, presents new facts and ideas that challenge old assumptions—particularly that life on the frontier encouraged American individualism.
Registration is free but required for each event. Questions may be submitted with the online registration form or during the event itself. Participants are encouraged but not required to read the book before the meeting. All of the books can be purchased online or borrowed from most libraries.
