Book Notes & Review

A closer look at this book, including key ideas, highlights, and personal observations, along with an overall rating and topic tags.

To Be a Friend of Christ: The Life of Marion D. Hanks

Richard D. Hanks

Book Rating: 3

Tags: Gospel - Church - Biography

Overall a great read about a great man. Marion D. Hanks was a wonderful General Authority and public speaker for years. He had a genuine love for individuals, which he showed over many years. He was the mission president of Jeffrey R. Holland and Quentin L. Cook. He presided over the mission in England after years of what is now publicly known as an unwise LDS Church growth emphasis. He made changes and got things back in order. His messages over the years were always about the gospel and how it lifts individuals.

I gave the book a slightly less positive rating because the author, Elder Hanks' son, seemed to try hard to fit a narrative that he had going into writing the book. Specifically, he put a lot of emphasis on the frustrations Elder Hanks had with the institution, not the gospel. In making this narrative choice, it taints the legacy of the subject. It seems like the author had an axe to grind against the church that Elder Hanks spent his whole life working to build. As his son, I'm sure he knows a great deal of intimate details of Elder Hanks' personal feelings, but it often felt like a son was trying to get some sort of vengeance for his father.