The Viper on the Hearth: Mormons, Myths, and the Construction of Heresy by Terryl Givens

Nineteenth-century American writers frequently cast the Mormon as a stock villain in such fictional genres as mysteries, westerns, and popular romances. The Mormons were depicted as a violent and perverse people–the "viper on the hearth"–who sought to violate the domestic sphere of the mainstream. While other critics have mined the socio-political sources of anti-Mormonism, Givens is the first to reveal how popular fiction, in its attempt to deal with the sources and nature of this conflict, constructed an image of the Mormon as a religious and social "Other."

Reviews:

"A wonderfully thought-through look at the interrelationships between fiction, religion, and the culture of humor/hostility….It represents a significant contribution to our understanding of literary relations."–Larry H. Peer, Brigham Young University

In this fascinating study, he examines how Mormons have been constructed as the great and abominable "other". Interestingly, although the religion was once scorned for its weirdness,"it is now because Mormons occupy what used to be the center that they fall into contempt"(164).–Utah Historical Quarterly

"The prose, illustrations, and overall construction of the book are aesthetically pleasing. The exemplary scholarship significantly enriches Mormon historiography….Few books succeed, as this one does, in stimulating thought far beyond their own scope."–Journal of Mormon History

"Contains provocative insights into American culture, LDS identity, nineteenth-century literature, rhetorics of oppression, and religious formation….I highly recommend this book."–Religious Studies Review

"This is the first full explanation of why Mormons have been demonized by a nation that prides itself on open toleration of all faiths. Givens carefully appraises every past explanation for the printed attacks and physical persecutions that occurred from the 1830s onward, as newspapers, novels, and satires convinced a 'tolerant' public that Mormons should not be tolerated. He then makes a convincing argument that the primary affront the Mormons offered was theological: their anthropomorphic picture of God and of his continuing personal revelations to the one true church. The book is thus an impressive achievement that should interest not just Mormons or other religious believers but anyone who cares about how 'freedom-loving,' 'tolerant' Americans turned 'heretics' into subhuman monsters deserving destruction."–Wayne Booth, University of Chicago (Emeritus)