Best known in Connecticut for “Without Reservation,” which challenged the legitimacy of the Mashantucket Pequots and some say helped derail federal recognition and casino development for other state tribes, Benedict is better-known nationally for “Out of Bounds” and “Pros and Cons,” about abuses in the sports industry.

Now comes “The Mormon Way of Doing Business: Leadership and Success Through Faith and Family,” which neatly fits the author's personal and career paths.

As a Mormon, said Benedict, it gave him great pleasure to interview some of the most successful businessmen in his church's history. And as a writer known for zeroing in on hot contemporary issues, its subject — religion and public life — couldn't be more timely.

“This book was not written for Mormons,” he said last week at home in Niantic, rather it is aimed at business people and general readers. Nor was it written to try to convert anyone to the Mormon faith.

“There's not a lot of news here for members of the church,” Benedict said. But it may surprise them to discover that men like Gary Crittenden, chief financial officer at American Express, and Kim Clark, former dean of the Harvard Business School, are Mormons.

It surprised Benedict, after all, when he first realized how many Mormons were so prominent in American business.

Through interviews with eight top executives who are devout Mormons, as well as their families, Benedict tells how these men's religion helped mold their success. But the values promoted aren't, by any means, exclusively Mormon.

Honesty. Fidelity. Charity.

The book illustrates how for the CEOs of Dell Computers, JetBlue Airways, Madison Square Garden and business advisory giant Deloitte & Touche, these practices aren't only pleasing to God, but good for the corporate bottom line.

At a time when the news is replete with stories of corporate scandals and lavish lifestyles of lavishly compensated CEOs, and with a Mormon ex-governor, Mitt Romney of Massachusetts, eyeing a presidential bid, it's not surprising that Mormon values should generate an unusual amount of interest.

Plus, the religion is still not well understood by many Americans, some of whom — egged on by a popular HBO series, “Big Love” — continue to associate it with polygamy, despite the fact that polygamy was outlawed by the (Mormon) Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1890.

Friday night, about 220 people turned out for a panel discussion in New Canaan, a kick-off event for the book and an accompanying documentary, made by Benedict. The atmosphere, all upbeat and appreciative, was in stark contrast to contentious forums held in the wake of the publication of “Without Reservation” in 2000.

Benedict followed up that book by leading an anti-casino expansion movement, and had a brief foray into politics, losing a 2002 bid for the Democratic 2nd District congressional nomination to Joe Courtney.

Today, he is every bit as driven as he was then, but sunnier, somehow, as he basks in the familial glow of “The Mormon Way of Doing Business.”

The father of four is age 40 this year, and this milestone is having a profound emotional effect on him. He realizes, he said, that in actuarial terms his life is probably half over, and he still has so much that he wants to accomplish.

This includes writing more books, such as one under way about the eminent domain controversy that began at New London's Fort Trumbull and went to the U.S. Supreme Court. That book and “Without Reservation” are the hardest he's ever done, he said, because there are so many different threads.

But primarily, he said, right now he wants to make films.

For the “Mormon Way” documentary, he said, he did everything himself, learning the craft along the way. It was exhilarating, he said.

He's also excited at the prospect of a feature film version of “Without Reservation,” having recently sold the movie rights, after a previous option expired without any action, to a former partner of filmmaker Oliver Stone.

Unlike his other books, Benedict said, both “Without Reservation” and the eminent domain saga are well-suited to feature films.

The main thing on his agenda now, however, is next week's trip to Mormon Country, Idaho and Utah.

There he will show his documentary film and speak at the Brigham Young University campus in Provo, Utah, his alma mater, and the BYU campus in Rexburg, Idaho. The film will air on BYU-TV and PBS affiliates in Idaho, Wyoming and Utah.

It will also be available in February on DirecTV.

Benedict plans only two book signings in Connecticut, at 7 p.m. Jan. 29 at the Waterford Public Library and Jan. 30 at RJ Julia Booksellers in Madison.

“The Mormon Way of Doing Business” is not a preachy book, and even readers who won't take all its recommendations to heart may find some useful or applicable advice on sensitive topics such as alcohol and adultery.

To stay sober when those around you aren't, the book puts forth, can be a tremendous business asset. So, too, can traveling with your wife.

And all that energy spent on acquiring and maintaining luxury items can wind up being a physical, emotional and spiritual drain.

The executives featured in the book were reluctant, at first, to discuss their private lives, said Benedict. None of them, he said, want to police their employees' personal lives, and while they may abstain from alcohol, for example, they realize it would be absurd to demand that others do the same.

Benedict said the impetus for the book was a casual conversation he had in 2004 with a friend and editor at Warner Books, Rick Wolff, who had invited him to be on a Sunday talk show. He reminded Wolff that he tried to reserve Sundays for his family, and that segued into a conversation about Mormons, business, and prominent Mormons in business.

Wolff had an idea, and two days later, Benedict had a book contract.

One of the more intriguing aspects of the Mormon religion is the practice of tithing, or giving 10 percent of one's income to the church. Tithing is an ancient practice, found in the Bible and not unique to Mormons.

But executives profiled in Benedict's book take it seriously, as does the author, he said.

The Mormon practice of young men, and some women, devoting two consecutive years to spreading the church's message door-to-door, while abstaining from dating, television and even regular contact with family, teaches a level of perseverance and sacrifice that few other people in business can call upon, Benedict said.

He did it, and it continues to serve him well, he said.

All the executives he profiled are men. Mormon women are free to enter business or politics, but the wives in this book, like Benedict's wife, Lydia, chose to defray a career and focus on raising their children.

At least they aren't doing it all alone. Benedict said he devotes all his time outside work to his family, and would rather take his children than one of his pals to a baseball game. That, he indicated, is no sacrifice.

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