In 1990 John W. Welch's book The Sermon at the Temple and the Sermon on the Mount presented a thorough Latter-day Saint interpretation of the Savior's greatest sermon, drawing on insights from Jesus's Sermon at the Temple in 3 Nephi to shed light on his Sermon on the Mount in the Gospel of Matthew. Illuminating the Sermon at the Temple and Sermon on the Mount builds on that earlier study with substantial additions based on insights gleaned throughout a decade of continuing research. The basic analysis remains unchanged: understanding the Sermon (meaning both texts in their shared, collective meaning) as a temple text reveals that it has far more power and unity than a mere collection of miscellaneous sayings of Jesus.

Native American literature has always been uniquely embattled. It is marked by divergent opinions about what constitutes authenticity, sovereignty, and even literature. It announces a culture beset by paradox: simultaneously primordial and postmodern; oral and inscribed; outmoded and novel. Its texts are a site of political struggle, shifting to meet external and internal expectations. This Cambridge History endeavors to capture and question the contested character of Indigenous texts and the way they are evaluated. It delineates significant periods of literary and cultural development in four sections: “Traces & Removals” (pre-1870s); “Assimilation and Modernity” (1879-1967); “Native American Renaissance” (post-1960s); and “Visions & Revisions” (21st century). These rubrics highlight how Native literatures have evolved alongside major transitions in federal policy toward the Indian, and via contact with broader cultural phenomena such, as the American Civil Rights movement. There is a balance between a history of canonical authors and traditions, introducing less-studied works and themes, and foregrounding critical discussions, approaches, and controversies.