Robert Smith Jordan

A Diasporan Mormon's Life: Essays of Remembrance Robert Smith Jordan

Offering a glimpse into the lives of upwardly mobile Mormon professionals, this series of personal essays by author Dr. Robert S. Jordan describes his odyssey as a third-generation Mormon of polygamous descent whose family ascended from rural pioneer poverty to upper middle-class social and economic success. A Diasporan Mormon's Life chronicles the life of Jordan, a child of the Mormon Diasporans who left the social and cultural isolation of Utah for a more secular, modern America. This memoir describes his struggle to find his personal identity from the tensions created between his religious heritage and his secular upbringing. Jordan's life is remarkably varied. He studied at East Coast and California high schools, state universities such as UCLA and the University of Utah, and institutions such as Princeton and Oxford. He witnessed World War II, the Korean War, the Cold War, Vietnam, and survived Hurricane Katrina. He lived in large urban centers and locations on the global periphery. He engaged in academic research and teaching, university administration, and government service. A searching, informative, and entertaining memoir enhanced with numerous photos, this memoir distills and clarifies the experiences of his generation and contributes to the history and sociology of twentieth-century Mormonism.