Reddit mentions of The Mormon Hierarchy: Extensions of Power

The brethren used to publicly disagree about things. Now they disagree in a closed room. Because members are not privy to these disagreements, they assume:

1. that the brethren are completely united
   
2. that anything from church headquarters = the literal voice of God
   
   I’d love to see more of this healthy public debate among church leaders. The gospel of “having all the answers” is falling short for people in my generation. We ask deep, challenging questions. The exploration of deeper questions is far more fulfilling to me than having rote answers. I wish church leaders were engaging in this discussion rather than implying that they have all the answers and to just “get in line”.
   
   >> “You must work through the Spirit. If that leads you into conflict with the program of the Church, you follow the voice of the Spirit.” (Elder S. Dilworth Young, First Council of the Seventy, 1945; quoted here, p. 17)
   
   >> “We have hitherto acted too much as machines, as to following the Spirit. I will confess to my own shame that I have acted contrary to my own judgment many times. I mean hereafter not to demean myself, to not run contrary to my own judgment. …When President Young says that the Spirit of the Lord says thus and so, I don’t consider that all we should do is to say let it be so.” (Elder Orson Pratt, 1847, quoted here, cover jacket)

Sources for some of this (disclaimer: some of this research is my own, but I believe it to be sound):

1. D&C and the reduced usage between about 1900 and 1950: See the third chart in this post. Usage drops by about 2/3.
   
2. Stopping the formal education of seminary teachers: See Lynn Packer video.
   
3. Regarding renaming of temple marriage, see this analysis
   
4. Regarding the other bits, probably your best source is Michael Quinn, Extensions of Power.
   
5. Regarding the use of science, logic, etc., in the 1930s in general conference, I have done some word analysis on this topic. Look at the 1930s-1940s and how they compare with other ears in the charts in this post.

A very in-depth and fully documented look at the early church can be found in D. Micheal Quinn's Origins and Extensions of Power books.

Yes, I actually just recently came across this because it's always been a question of mine how they determined who sat where in the temple. I noticed that it's not a left/right thing, and I never could figure it out. Then I read that Brigham Young instituted the policy of separating the genders in sacrament meeting where the women sat on the NORTH side of the chapel. I thought back to it, and for the few temples I can place a compass direction on, the women in the temple sit on the north.

I'd be interested in hearing if anyone else can confirm the north/south orientation in the temple they're familiar with.

But yes, Brigham Young did it because....well... Brigham Young.

Edited to add source:
2 Jan, 1859 - Brigham Young begins custom of having all Mormon congregations sit with women on north side of center aisle, men on south side, and children on front benches. This seating arrangement lasts for decades, remains in temples to this day.

This one, this one, and then this one. In fact, read those even if you don't go.

The Mormon Hierarchy: Origins of Power and Extensions of Power, by D. Michael Quinn. I'd venture to say there does not yet exist a scholar of Mormon history that equals the caliber of Dr. Quinn. Quinn's books cover the rise of the Latter Day Saint movement and the eventual Salt Lake branch by tracing how the power structure of the Church developed over time under Joseph Smith and after. If you feel like you want to know more about how the early LDS Church operated you need to read this set.

I'm not well equipped to provide many accessible sources on this, But the church's history in Utah is rife with blackmail and using prostitution etc.... as a means to this end. Smith seems to have done it, As did Young and his predecessors.

Right now I can only offer one credible online source as well as a few books, I've never really kept sources on this issue. EmmaHS, curious_mormon, AnotherClosetAtheist or Mythryn are typically better at providing sources, I'm just a local idiot. You can try bothering them to get something more useful, Mythryn keeps some information on his website, but it's not easy to search.

Here is a link to a Report by C. S. Varian, who was Assistant US Attorney in Utah territory during the 1880

The Mormon Hierarchy: Extensions of Power, has information that falls into this area. It's also a very good book for looking at the reality of the LDS leadership and their skeleton filled closets.

Prostitution, Polygamy, and Power: Salt Lake City, 1847-1918 by Jeffrey D. Nichols is another useful read.

That's the best I can do right now, I can't locate better/more available sources. But the Mods/power users I named above have also done posts and stuff about it in the past.