Skip to content
Main Street Plaza

A Community for Anyone Interested in Mormonism.

Main Street Plaza

A Community for Anyone Interested in Mormonism.

What should I do?: Johnny Townsend’s “Behind the Zion Curtain”

chanson, November 2, 2014

With all big problems in this world, it’s easy to feel small — like there’s nothing you can do to make a dent in any of them — and wonder whether your life has any value. Religion to the rescue, right? Well, not exactly. The CoJCoL-dS can provide answers to these problems, but can’t really promise they’ll be satisfying.

That’s where Johnny Townsend’s new book Behind the Zion Curtain comes in. He doesn’t offer easy answers, but he understands. In his signature style, with humanity and humor, Johnny Townsend offers portraits of a variety of people grappling with questions about who they want to be and what they want to do with their lives. The characters are at different places with respect to their Mormon roots and faith, and while Mormonism influences their perspectives, individuals have to direct their own lives.

If you’re looking for an interesting read that is thought-provoking without getting too heavy, I recommend picking up a copy of Behind the Zion Curtain.

Book Review

Post navigation

Previous post
Next post

Related Posts

America’s Greatest Mystery Novel

April 27, 2019April 27, 2022

Once you strip away all the Book of Mormon’s pretenses of scriptural import, what you have is nothing more nor less than a lusty tale of America’s favorite subject: families and murder…. Murder and ruin are written across the breadth of Joseph Smith’s pre-American panorama, and because violence always demands…

Read More

An Ode to Life and Love: “Free Electricity” by Ryan Rhodes

December 14, 2014December 14, 2014

Everything was suddenly different, but what had just happened would not fall into place in my mind. The circuitry had never been laid for this — like learning a foreign language. The verbs were reversed with the nouns and the vowels were crashing into the consonants and every adverb and…

Read More

In Vacuums

July 28, 2010January 15, 2011

We had a long discussion recently about an author’s personal background here. The discussion centered around whether or not an author’s personal background was fair game. Particularly if an author’s background appears to relate to their work (or illuminate parts of their work).

Read More

Comment

  1. Donna Banta says:
    November 2, 2014 at 8:59 am

    Great cover for a great new book! Thanks for posting this review, chanson.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Mormon Alumni Association Books

Latest Comments:

  1. Anon on Collecting Nominations for the 2025 Brodie Awards!!December 12, 2025

    Most humorous episodes Britty the Apostate https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRYqwEy6rhk Best new humorous/satirical channel: Britty the Apostate https://www.facebook.com/people/Britty-The-Apostate/61579368354784/ https://www.tiktok.com/@brittytheapostate https://www.youtube.com/@BrittyTheApostate

  2. chanson on Collecting Nominations for the 2025 Brodie Awards!!December 10, 2025

    Abstract Atheists for best new channel 2025.

  3. chanson on Collecting Nominations for the 2025 Brodie Awards!!December 10, 2025

    I've found two for a new category of personal survival stories (if we get one more, we can make this…

  4. chanson on Collecting Nominations for the 2025 Brodie Awards!!December 10, 2025

    For best history (or narrative nonfiction) book: The Juvenile Instructor Office: The Growth of Specialized Publishing in Utah in the…

  5. chanson on Collecting Nominations for the 2025 Brodie Awards!!December 10, 2025

    Thanks for the great nominations so far!!! I'm going to add some nominations here myself. I'll consolidate later. For Best…

8: The Mormon Proposition Acceptance of Gays Add new tag Affirmation angry exmormon awards Book Reviews BYU comments Conformity Dallin H. Oaks DAMU disaffected mormon underground Dustin Lance Black Ex-Mormon Exclusion policy Excommunicated exmormon faith Family feminism Gay Gay Love Gay Marriage Gay Relationships General Conference Happiness Homosexual Homosexuality LDS LGBT LGBTQ Link Bomb missionaries Modesty Mormon Mormon Alumni Association Mormonism motherhood peace politics Polygamy priesthood ban Sunstone temple

Awards

William Law X-Mormon of the Year:

  • 2024: Nemo the Mormon
  • 2023: Adam Steed
  • 2022: David Archuleta
  • 2021: Jeff T. Green
  • 2020: Jacinda Ardern
  • 2019: David Nielsen
  • 2018: Sam Young
  • 2017: Savannah
  • 2016: Jeremy Runnells
  • 2015: John Dehlin
  • 2014: Kate Kelly
  • 2013: J. Seth Anderson and Michael Ferguson
  • 2012: David Tweede
  • 2011: Joanna Brooks
  • 2010: Monica Bielanko
  • 2009: Walter Kirn

Other Cool Sites!

WasMormon.org
©2025 Main Street Plaza | WordPress Theme by SuperbThemes