In Mormon Circles: Gentiles, Jack Mormons, and Latter-Day Saints

A friendly observer of the Mormon way of life here examines the enigma of ``faith promoting'' activities that govern the lives of Latter-day Saints. Coates, the Chicago Tribune 's Rocky Mountain bureau chief, who grew up as an outsider in a Mormon community in Denver, professes his admiration for Mormonism's clean-scrubbed facade. As a journalist, however, he is acquainted with the troubles that beset their community--killings related to the controversial practices of polygamy and ``blood atonement,'' confrontations with police and other media events that puzzle non-Mormons, whom the LDS identify as ``Gentiles.'' America's fastest-growing religion, increasing in political power and influence, is examined from many aspects--its history and tenets, its internal conflicts between fundamentalists and mainstream Saints, etc.--in this absorbing, informative report. (Jan.)