Rutherford’s Coup is available on Amazon.
See below for errata and updates.
From the back cover, comment by Barbara Anderson:
Raised a Baptist, in 1906, Joseph Franklin Rutherford, a provincial Missouri attorney with a shrewd and scheming legal mind, became a baptized “Bible Student.” In 1907, Rutherford became the legal counselor for the group’s legally chartered corporation, the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania. Ten years later, he became the corporation’s president, serving as such for twenty-five years. From the beginning of his presidency to his death, Rutherford turned a small relatively unknown sect into a major religious empire which, in 1931, he named Jehovah’s Witnesses. As a former staff researcher for the Watch Tower Corporation, I guarantee that no one is more knowledgeable about Joseph Rutherford´s presidency than Rud Persson. This unique, eye-opening book is the result of decades of meticulous research. With an engaging style, and drawing on evidence from countless documents, he details how Rutherford and his cronies accomplished an illegal coup d´état. This book represents the first methodical attempt to examine Rutherford’s rise to executive power amidst forceful opposition to his harsh authoritarianism, and it deserves a place on your bookshelf.
Errata, first edition:
- Paperback p. 154, hardbound p. 113: “Accordingly the minutes the board meeting of July 17, 1917” should read “Accordingly the minutes of the board meeting…”
- Paperback p. 352, hardbound p. 251: footnote 18 wrongly refers to “February 17, 1918, p.40.” It should be “February 17, 1919, p. 40.” Johnson´s paper The Present Truth had not started in February 1918.
- Paperback p. 400, paragraph 4, line 5, hardbound p. 284: punctuation correction: Change to “I.C. Edwards from Victoria, British Columbia; C.E. Heard…”
- Paperback p. 456, hardbound p. 323: “if Rutherford was able to pull…” should read “if Rutherford were able to to pull…”
- Paperback p. 459, hardbound p. 325: “the eldest child, John Adams was born in 1858” is incorrect. “John Adams” should be “John Adam”.
- Paperback p. 467, paragraph 3, line 2, hardbound p. 331: should read “the Lake Chautauqua convention” instead of “the Chautauqua Lake convention”
- Paperback p. 493, the last paragraph, hardbound p. 348: “among the members of board” should be expanded to read “among the members of the board”.
- Appendix 3, paperback p. 554, hardbound p. 389: The Charter of the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society is presented incorrectly. The number of articles is wrong: article VIII should be expanded to include all that is currently numbered as article IX, and what is now numbered as article X should be changed to article IX. What is now numbered as article XI should actually be article X. There were only ten articles in the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society charter, as can be seen in The Watch Tower, December 1, 1917, page 327. A corrected version of Appendix 3 may be viewed here.
- Paperback p. 611, hardbound p. 433: “Holy Bible” should precede “Revised Version Improved and Corrected”, thus “Holy Bible, Revised Version Improved and Corrected.”
- Paperback p. 612, hardbound p. 434 under “The Stand Fasts”: “Hardley R.O.” should read “Hadley, R.O.”
- Paperback p. 621, hardbound p. 441: The book “Salvation” by Rutherford should have the date “1939” added. Compare page 452., footnote 96.