The main goal of Seeking the Promised Land is to identify and account for the role of Mormons and Mormonism in contemporary American electoral politics. This fine and somewhat pathbreaking – if limited and oddly flawed – book's main tool is survey data. While that tool may imply unfathomable tables and dry prose to some potential readers, a strength of the book is its lively and even witty presentation. Relying on often sophisticated statistical procedures, the argument is nonetheless accessible to statistics novices. Similarly, a strong background in the study of Mormonism is not a prerequisite.

The book has three sections. The first introduces Mormons, defines them as an ethno-religious group (a category more prominent a century ago in American politics), and identifies their religious distinctiveness. It notes that a primary tendency in Mormonism is the always shifting balance between being known as peculiar and as quintessentially American. Along the way, it suggests that Mormons reside in a “sacred tabernacle,” a metaphor referring to the group's propensity to band closely together socially and culturally while simultaneously spreading themselves within and strongly interacting with the larger society.

Part II identifies Mormons’ political tendencies. They are strongly Republican and conservative now, though that was not always so. Mormons have not fully aligned themselves with American conservatism on issues such as immigration, abortion, and even gay rights. The Church has signaled its dissatisfaction with hard-right positions on these issues, and Mormons have generally responded to the cues. Yet when the Church decides to mobilize on social issues with political ramifications, steps it does not often take, Mormons are like “dry kindling,” the book suggests, a source of quick and reliable political energy. Such mobilization was probably most strongly noticed in efforts to defeat the Equal Rights Amendment in the 1970s and 1980s, and to pass California's Proposition 8 in 2008.

The final section explores how Americans view Mormons (ambivalently, but a bit more negatively than positively), how Mormons have fared in campaigns for the US presidency and whether they have been hamstrung by their religion (the evidence is mixed), and the mutual impact of Mitt Romney's presidential campaigns and the Mormon image in US society (surprisingly small, though with important caveats). Mormons, the authors conclude, will likely remain a partially peculiar, partially accepted force within American politics into the foreseeable future.

While elements of the Mormonism–electoral-politics relationship have been studied previously, Seeking the Promised Land will undoubtedly, and deservedly, be regarded as a key go-to source for several years. Its dexterity in using, and innovation in creating, a wide range of survey data is impressive. Its contextualization in history is solid. Its appeal to both specialists and generalists will be strong. Its interpretations, though not unassailable, are sensible and will open productive scholarly conversations. Its insights are broad and deep.

I have three main anxieties. First, production appears to have been rushed. For example, from getting part of the Church president's name wrong (xi) to the occasional graph that appears to show slightly different values from what the text indicates (170); from miscalculating simple averages at the bottom of a data table (52) to the data table that throws the reader off by displaying categories in reverse order of the text's discussion (142); or even in regard to the periodic missed apostrophe (195), omitted word (200), or wrong word (251), the care taken in production does not match the content's quality.

Second, the presentation and explanation of data left me wanting a bit more. To be fair, distilling a treasure trove of data and quantitative analyses and squeezing an argument into well under three hundred nicely flowing pages means that difficult decisions were made. But to take two examples: the authors usually derived interpretations from analysis of averages; standard deviations were rarely discussed or even displayed, even when that might have added insight. Additionally, the authors seemed so intent to root explanations in religion at times that other factors of apparently or possibly interesting statistical significance were often ignored – age, education, region, and race, in particular. For example, is it African Americans generally or just black Protestants (which the book emphasizes) who, along with evangelicals, most strongly distrust Mormons?

Finally, the authors’ definition of politics seems narrow. For readers most interested in elections, a handful of hot-button issues, and opinions/values of commonly surveyed types, the book provides a wonderful entry point into Mormons and American politics. Others may wish for more. The book has much less to say to readers who regard politics as centrally about control and influence over particular spaces or to those who wonder how Mormons’ last-days sensibility affects their choices of and strategies within political battles, for example. Readers interested in the political narratives circulating through the Mormon “sacred tabernacle,” or those who wish to understand the roots, variety, and expressions of Mormon political philosophies, will find only small hints.