To The Peripheries of Mormondom

The Apostolic Around-the-World Journey of David O McKay, 1920-1921

By Hugh J Cannon
Edited by Reid L Neilson

The year-long fact-finding mission of apostle David O. McKay and his traveling companion Hugh J. Cannon to places historian Leonard J. Arrington has called the "geographic and organizational periphery" of Mormondom was one of the most significant moments of the twentieth century for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. While the contemporary LDS church has grown to become a global presence, the early decades of the last century found missionaries struggling to gain converts abroad. Cannon's rich and vivid account of his and McKay's 61,646-mile around-the-world journey illustrates the roots of Mormonism's globalization. The account is without doubt one of the more significant texts in the historical cannon of global Mormon studies.

Reid L Neilson annotates Cannon's account, enriching the experience for scholarly and lay readers alike. Ancillary material, including the transcripts of Cannon's letters to the Deseret News detailing the journey, the complete text of Cannon's original journals (available for the first time ever), a collection of 60 photographs, maps, and illustrations culled from McKay's own collection, as well as comprehensive lists of names and places, will be available digitally.

Winner of the Mormon History Association Geraldine McBride Woodward International Book Award.

Hugh J. Cannon (1870-1931) was traveling companion to apostle David O. McKay from 1920 to 1921. Reid L. Neilson is an assistant professor of church history and doctrine at Brigham Young University. He is the author of Proclamation to the People: Nineteenth-Century Mormonism and the Pacific Basin Frontier.

Table of Contents:

Editor’s Preface
Introduction: Around-the-World with Elder David O. McKay and Hugh J. Cannon by Reid Neilson
Photo Essay

1. Accepting the Apostolic Call

2. Crossing the Pacific Ocean

3. Arriving in the Islands of Japan

4. Touring the Japan Mission

5. Dedicating the Chinese Realm

6. Exploring the Interior of China

7. Visiting Oahu and Maui

8. Calling on Hawaii and Kauai

9. Steaming the South Pacific

10. Staying in the Society Islands

11. Sightseeing in Rarotonga

12. Discovering New Zealand

13. Meandering through Melanesia

14. Stopping over in Western Samoa

15. Resting in American Samoa

16. Surveying Sauniatu

17. Observing in Tonga

18. Returning to New Zealand

19. Inspecting Australia

20. Traveling up the Malay Peninsula

Praise and Reviews:

“Anyone interested in David O. McKay must be interested in this journey.”—James B. Allen, Brigham Young University

"An exciting history of a remarkable, and somewhat forgotten, journey undertaken at a time when most of the world considered Latter-day Saints to be a solely American institution."—Deseret News

"Neilson's careful annotations clarify names, terms, and places along the journey, making the story easy for any reader to follow. Neilson further enriches the McKay-Cannon journey by including a photographic essay consisting of fifty-four images, both photographs and postcards, that visually document the journey."—BYU Studies Quarterly

"Neilson's editorial comments are insightful. Crucial source material for subsequent scholarly treatments of this important era of LDS Church history."—The Journal of Mormon History