Books for review are often accompanied by a press release from the publisher. Deseret Book included the following note with this book:

For every person who will be able to travel to Nauvoo this spring there will be a hundred who want to, but will not be able to make the trip.

John Telford, Susan Easton Black, and Kim C. Averett have created a book for the armchair traveler to Nauvoo. First published in 1997, "Nauvoo" contains beautiful, full-color photographs by Telford and text by Black and Averett; re-released in 2002, the book has been updated to feature photographs of the new Nauvoo Temple from construction to completion.

Okay. So one would expect this book to be larger than its predecessor. Wrong. The previous volume, titled simply "Nauvoo," is physically larger (nearly coffee-table size), goes to 96 pages (including an index and notes, missing from the current volume), and sold for a whopping $34.95.

So how is this volume an "update"? Most obviously, photos of the Nauvoo Temple are now included, photos not available, for obvious reasons, in the 1997 edition. So how do you accomplish the smaller size? Sadly, the current volume lacks an extensive running commentary on the historical events that surround the photographs, so nicely provided in the earlier book. This text provided background that I think is essential to understanding the flow of Mormon history in Nauvoo. A simple caption helps, but is not as useful.

Why not retain the text of the older edition, and simply add the updated Nauvoo Temple material? I suspect they needed to find a way to shrink the book down a bit so that they could sell it at a more reasonable price.

(I tried to determine whether photos were omitted, but the lack of an index in the new volume made this an awful task I decided to abandon.)

Pages 57-64 of the earlier edition are dedicated to "The Nauvoo Temple," a brief but informative history of the Temple and its impact on the city. I regret that the publishers omitted this strong narrative from the new edition. Given the stated reason for the new volume -- the inclusion of the rebuilt Temple -- it would have made this a better book.

My naturally cynical nature also suspects that the publisher has decided that background text isn't nearly as important as beautiful pictures, that people may be willing to give up text in favor of more pictures and reduced price. This is not a particularly Mormon trait; society as a whole seems to be favoring visual delight over serious text. It's too bad.

Together, the two books make for a pleasant journey through Nauvoo. Having never visited the city, I appreciated the opportunity to see how the early Church built a major city in a most unlikely place.

Despite its lack of background text, "Nauvoo, The City Beautiful" does offer brief captions with the photos, helping the reader to identify the time and place. Those interested in further information, however, will have to look elsewhere.

Nauvoo, The City Beautiful does not constitute a major contribution to Nauvoo studies. But it does provide a fairly low-cost alternative to previous display volumes, and may be of interest to Church members who want to view the city, then and now, and perhaps develop a deeper interest in historical study. Those who can obtain both volumes should do so, as the current volume, despite the press release, really isn't a re-release at all, but a reduced, and less detailed, version.

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Jeff Needle
jeff.needle@general.com