CENTERVILLE — Mormons are more than just Mitt Romney.

Davis County native Matthew Bowman is proving that with his recent book, “The Mormon People: The Making of an American Faith.” Bowman, who is a member of The Church of Jesus-Christ of Latter-day Saints, will speak at the Centerville Branch of the Davis County Library on Aug. 9 at 7 p.m. about his book and why the media has become so interested in the church.

“When Kennedy ran for president, Catholics made up about 25 percent of the American population,” said Bowman. “There was a Catholic family on every block, and most people worked with a few. Mormons, however, only make up 2 percent of the population. So most people know very little about them.”

Random House asked Bowman to write the book based on a recommendation from cultural historian Richard Bushman, who is generally seen as an expert on LDS prophet Joseph Smith. Bowman, who grew up in Woods Cross but did his graduate work at Georgetown University, had just finished his doctoral thesis about early evangelicals in New York City a few months before he was approached.

“When a major publisher says they’ll publish something you write, it’s very difficult to say no,” he said. “But I had a very tight deadline. Luckily, I was familiar with LDS history, so I knew where to start looking.”

For more information check out the August 9 edition of Davis Clipper.