The Mission: Inside the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints - Hardcover

The Mission was produced by Matthew Naythons, M.D., president of Epicenter Communications. Epicenter is a producer of prestigious photojournalism books and multimedia products. In 1992, the company produced Clinton: Portrait of Victory (Warner Books, 1993), a collection of campaign photographs by P.F. Bentely, as both a best-selling hardcover book and an Invision Award-winning CD-ROM. Other Epicenter titles include Sarajevo: A Portrait of the Siege (Warner Books, 1994), which was chosen as one of 1994s top books for young adults by the American Library Association, and The Face of Mercy: A Photographic History of Medicine at War (Random House, 1993), which includes an introduction by William Styron and images from more than 100 archives from around the world. Epicenter also produces The Multimedia Home Companion series (Warner Books), user-friendly consumer guides to the world of new media, and NetHealth Internet websites for authoritative online health information! , such as Diabetes.com, Alzheimers.com, Depression.com, and more.

This lavish and beautiful book is not just A Day in the Life of the Mormons, although the series of national photo portfolios is what its pictures of happy families, worshipers, and missionaries suggest. Its three parts present the essence of Mormonism. "Families Are Forever," proclaims the first part, demonstrating both the centrality of family ties to Mormonism and the Mormon belief that such bonds are eternal. The second part, "A New Church for a New Land," stresses the communalism of the church and the qualities of character--industriousness, reliability, sobriety, and optimism--that practicing full church membership fosters. Finally, "Spreading the Word" shows plenty of the familiar black-suited, white-shirted young Mormon men taking the gospel to such benighted places as the former Soviet Union and the South Bronx (nowadays, young women and older people also do this work) and performing a lot of good works--a Catholic nun remarks that others just talk to the elderly residents of her nursing home, "but when the Mormons come, they come to work." Altogether, this vibrant and moving album from the producers of the best-selling Clinton: Portrait of Victory (1993) affords a sunny view of a most sunny brand of Christianity that demonstrably works for an ever-growing number of adherents throughout the world. Ray Olson