Harvest, The

The Book of Mormon mocked the Church of Latter-Day Saints, but Samuel Hunter recognizes fully the confusion inherent in the melding of youthful restlessness with a creed as mystical in its rituals (ecstatic chanting, for example) as it is rigid in secular dynamics exacerbated by the environmental isolation of rural Idaho. To be sure, the call to evangelism may serve as an escape route, but the way is hard for those confronting the complexities of a global culture after a life of contemplative seclusion.

Audiences with the courage to invite genuine empathy for these marginalized citizens would do well to take advantage of the opportunity offered by this microcosmic glimpse of pilgrims seeking a path out of the wilderness.