A01=Erik J. Freeman
abolitionism
american west
anarchism
Author_Erik J. Freeman
book of mormon
brigham young
british chartists
capitalism critique
Category=JPF
Category=QRMB5
chartism
church history
church of jesus christ of latter-day saints
communal living
communism
communitarian socialism
conversion
cooperative economics
cooperatives
cultural history
democratic socialism
emigration
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eq_isMigrated=1
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_society-politics
europe
faith and politics
forthcoming
fourierism
french socialism
german socialism
global mormonism
harmonists
immigration
joseph smith
labor history
latter-day saints
lds church
marxism
mexico
millenarianism
missionary work
mormon history
mormon socialism
mormon studies
mormon utopianism
mormonism
nineteenth century
owenites
political radicalism
polygamy
protestant sects
religion and politics
religious conversion
religious radicalism
romantic socialism
sectarian movements
shakers
social reform
socialism
socialist movements
swiss socialism
transnational history
transnational movements
united order
united states history
utah
utopian communities
utopian socialism
western history
women and religion
world religions
Product details
- ISBN 9780252089510
- Dimensions: 152 x 229mm
- Publication Date: 01 Dec 2026
- Publisher: University of Illinois Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Paperback
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During the nineteenth century, socialists and workers from outside the United States converted to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and flocked to Mormon communities to build a social utopia. By 1890, working-class immigrants or their children comprised two-thirds of the LDS population in Utah.
Erik J. Freeman uses the lives of radical converts to explore the international socialist politics that permeated the early Church. These energetic newcomers fueled LDS expansion even as they laid the foundation for a global religion. At the same time, utopian socialists within the Church helped lay the groundwork for later political and social movements and progressive ideas. The Church in the United States pivoted toward capitalism after the turn of the century, but socialist thought remained—and remain—an important thread throughout LDS communities around the world.
Provocative and sweeping, A Radical Convergence tells the surprising story of utopian socialism's place in Church history.
Erik J. Freeman uses the lives of radical converts to explore the international socialist politics that permeated the early Church. These energetic newcomers fueled LDS expansion even as they laid the foundation for a global religion. At the same time, utopian socialists within the Church helped lay the groundwork for later political and social movements and progressive ideas. The Church in the United States pivoted toward capitalism after the turn of the century, but socialist thought remained—and remain—an important thread throughout LDS communities around the world.
Provocative and sweeping, A Radical Convergence tells the surprising story of utopian socialism's place in Church history.
Erik J. Freeman is an assistant professor of history at Idaho State University.
