Review
Title: Song of Names: A Mormon Mosaic
Authors: James Goldberg & Ardis Parshall
Illustrator: Carla Jimison
Publisher: Mormon Lit Lab
Genre: Poetry/Essay/History
Year Published: 2020
Number of Pages: 205
Binding: Softcover
ISBN-13: 979-8664627848
Price: $ 15.99
Reviewed by Andrew Hamilton for the Association of Mormon Letters
I am a lover of books. If you come into my home, you will see that every room is filled with shelves of books, stacks of books, or both. I own fat books, thin books, red books, blue books; signed books, leather books, old books, new books. Though I love them all, only a small handful of them are special to me, and there are just a select few that are gifts. One such gift is Song of Names: A Mormon Mosaic by James Goldberg and Ardis Parshall with illustrations by Carla Jimison.
Song of Names can best be described as an amazing and successful experiment. In Song, Goldberg, Parshall, and Jimison have managed to seamlessly meld “historical record, poetic interpretation, and artistic imagination” (p. 2) into a perfect whole that you did not even know that you needed, but you will absolutely love once you taste it. Think of Song as the Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup of books[1].
The structure of Song is unusual, each of its 22 chapters tells the story of a different Latter-day Saint. Each chapter starts with a historical introduction. The introduction is followed by a poem dedicated to the subject of the chapter. These poems often include direct quotations from the people that they are about. After the poem, the chapter/story concludes with a meditation. The purpose of all of this is to tell of “deeply human moments in the lives of everyday Latter-day Saints” (p. 1). Periodically, these “Deeply human moments” are augmented by the elegant expressionism of Carla Jimison’s paintings. Through this symmetry of story, poetry, art, and devotional rumination, Song of Names masterfully achieves its creator’s purpose of “bridg(ing) past and present, (and) turning hearts not just to the names of those who went before us, but to the rich complexity of their lives (p. 1).
You are likely familiar with the adage, “History Is Written by the Victors.” I would append to that, “Most history is written about the key players.” In Mormonism, this means that, as long as they have read a book or two, or have made it through a year’s worth of Church history Sunday school lessons, most Latter-day Saints can tell you all about the lives of men like Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, and John Taylor. They can maybe recite a few highlights from the lives of major supporting players such as Heber C. Kimball, Parley P. Pratt, and WW Phelps[2]. And IF they are lucky and attentive, they might even know a little of the lives of important Latter-day Saint women such as Emma Smith, Eliza R Snow, and Zina Young. Sadly, in the way that we normally tell history, it is rare for any of us to ever learn about the struggles, hopes, and accomplishments of “them of the last wagon.”[3]
THAT is the gift of Song of Names. Song inspires and blesses the lives of its readers by using the ordinary, everyday struggles, successes, and even failures of the “common” Mormons of history to create a beautiful Mosaic wherein the “pressures of the past … serve as laboratories of discipleship, giving us insight into what it means to follow Christ in ALL times and places” (p. 3, emphasis mine). I find that I am seldom if ever inspired anymore by the lionized heroics of the people on the pedestals of the past. In Mormonism, we have painted the stories of our past heroes so perfectly and elevated their deeds so high, that one sometimes wonders if they ever broke a sweat or got a hair out of place. I know that Smith, Young, and the leaders of the past endured difficulties, but we tell their stories so formulaically, and with such grandiosity, that it is hard for me to feel that I can learn from their experiences. Song of Names, however, stimulated and encouraged me because, in Ardis’s words, it allowed me to see “the dirt, the stink, the bruising, (and) the raucous shouting” (p. 91) that has been endured by the common folk of the past. Reading Song gave me hope, clarity, and insight because through its elegant prose and beautiful poetry I experienced moments from the lives of average people who found ways to trust God and make the “unholy … sacred” (p. 91). The stories in Song also reminded me that frequently we experience more loss than success and that when we look to those of the past for guidance and inspiration we need to remember to “think through the implications of their success as well as the pain of their trials” (p. 56).
In Song of Names, I met many amazing people. I met William and Marie Graves who were baptized into the Church in Oakland, California in 1909. They were warmly embraced into their branch and actively participated in its activities despite being under the racial restricting that the LDS Church placed on those of African descent. Later, when they visited Atlanta, Georgia, they were turned away from church services due to the color of their skin. “We found the right Church, all right,” stated Maria, “but found the wrong people” (pp. 51-57).
I became better acquainted with Abel Paez. In the mid-1930s, a large number of Mexican Latter-day Saints broke with the Church in Salt Lake. The saints in Mexico felt that their needs were being neglected and ignored by the white leadership in Utah. Abel Paez was selected to be their leader. For ten years, Paez lovingly led this group. Then, in that same love, he led them back into the main body of the Church. His story needs to be known.
The name of the book comes from the story of Pisappih Timbimboo who later was given the name Frank Warner. On January 29th, 1861, Pisappih was about two years old. That was the day that his mother and most of the Northwestern Band of Shoshone were murdered by the US army at the Massacre at Boa Ogoi.[4] When the massacre ended, Pisappih, who had received seven wounds, was found wandering among the dead, clutching a bowl of frozen pine-nut gravy. After the loss of his mother, Pisappih was raised by a Mormon family who named him Frank Warner. As Elder Warner, he served as the first Native American missionary for the LDS Church. During this time, he became known for his great faith and his extraordinary ability as a healer. (pp. 93-102).
On November 15th, 1881, eighteen-year-old sex-worker Indiana Maybert, known at different times in her life as Ina and Inez, died by a self-induced morphine overdose in Montana. Ina was born in India and brought at the age of two to Utah by her Mormon grandmother. Her grandmother soon died and Ina was raised in one of the homes of Brigham Young. At fifteen, Ina was unhappy and wrote to extended family who had her moved to the home of a local protestant minister. Ina became something of a celebrity as local newspapers reported that she had been “saved” from the Mormons. Unfortunately, Ina’s emotional needs were not met in her new environment and by the age of seventeen, she was living and working in a local brothel. Rather than reach out to her and address her needs, both the Mormon and Anti-Mormon press argued publicly that Ina’s “fall” was the other side’s fault. Ina soon relocated to Montana where a failed relationship led to her untimely death. (pp. 131-138) AS I read the stories of William and Maria, Abel, Pisappih, and Indiana, I kept feeling over and over that they were trying to tell me, “We need you to know that we really lived and that we really mattered. And we want you to know that you matter to us.” The lives of the people of Song of Names touched me, and they will touch you too,
Song of Names is a gift and reading it will bless your life. Goldberg, Parshall, and Jimison succeeded in their experiment. As I read Song of names I WAS “giv(en) insight into what it means to follow Christ in ALL times and places.” You will have this same insight if you read this book. Song of Names: A Mormon Mosaic was published by the Mormon Lit Lab and made possible in part by a grant from the Mormon Arts Center.[5] I encourage you to purchase a copy and support independent authors and artists so that they may continue to bring beauty into our lives.
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[1] “You got your chocolate in my peanut butter! You got your peanut butter on my chocolate! MMM, perfect!” “You got your poetry and art on my history! You got your history on my poetry and art! MMM, perfect!”
[2] Mormons LOVE leaders with lots of initials!
[3] “To Them of the Last Wagon” was a tributary talk given by J Reuben Clark on 5 October 1947 in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Mormons in Utah.
[4] Boa Ogoi is the Shoshone name for the area known as Bear River in Southern Idaho where the massacre took place/
[5] Now the Center for Latter-day Saint Arts