★★★★★ 5
This wonderful biography focuses on what the contemporary records actually tell us.
Format: Paperback
I am very grateful to Richard Bushman for this book. Writing about Joseph Smith invites a storm of criticism because skeptics only want him debunked and believers want their faith supported. Each wants their pre-conceived image of who Joseph was to be proven correct. Bushman takes a strong stance that lets the evidence we have speak for itself, preferably as close to Joseph himself and contemporary witnesses as possible, and tell the story of his life to high scholarly standards.
For me the book read somewhat sparer than a biography that includes anecdotes as if they are history. Many familiar stories that I learned growing up are simply not here. However, relying as much as possible on contemporary accounts and what Joseph himself wrote or said provides a a biography more consistent in its view of Joseph than the books that either extol him or those that tend to attack him and try to debunk him. For example, the famous Brodie biography seemed to me to want Joseph to be both a genius and a dolt, a highly energetic man yet lazy, a crazed believer and a cynical con man, and on and on with similar contradictions. Bushman achieves a more consistent lens on Joseph, despite the complications of the man and his life. I think this is both a great achievement and a real help in trying to understand Joseph. I mean it as high praise for the book when I say that I think that almost everyone who reads this book thoughtfully will take away a broader and deeper conception of who Joseph Smith was and what he did.
Rather than try to recount the book to you I want to share several things that I learned from the book and really value. I could list dozens more, but you can read the book for yourself (which I encourage you to do). Yes, I am a believing member of the LDS Church, but I think the book is intelligent and honest and complete enough to provide interesting and thought provoking material for both the believer and the skeptic and for someone who comes with no knowledge of Joseph at all. Believers will have to consider the complications of the man and his flesh and blood temperament and the misjudgments he made in his life about the people he trusted and some of the actions he took. Skeptics will have to deal with the reality of the man and his achievements. Simply dismissing him as a con man or a crazed visionary will not work because that is not what the actual evidence says. Joseph did not run the Church as the single central figure nor did he turn it into a cult of Joseph Smith.
Bushman showed me the power and genius of the organization of the Church and its balancing mechanisms of being flat with a broadly held male priesthood with a hierarchical leadership with doctrine of keys and how the later addition of women in the operation, governing of the Church, and caring of the needs of the Saints strengthened and enriched it. And while Joseph was the President of the Church and its Prophet and Seer he really did let local leadership govern itself according to the principles taught through the revelations. I think Bushman's focus on the development of the organization and its role in preserving the Church and its ongoing growth after Joseph's murder is spot on and helped deepen my appreciation of its dynamism and adaptability.
I also like the compromise language Bushman achieved in dealing with the realities of the revelations of Joseph Smith. The author always refers to them as Joseph's revelations. For believers, we accept them as revelations from God through Joseph Smith, but I can see them as "Joseph's" in that they were given through him. And skeptics who reject anything divine about the revelations can accept that, whatever they are, Joseph spoke them. I also liked learning how many of the revelations were given in the presence of others in meetings, how matter of fact they were, how they were immediately copied and circulated, and how difficult it was to get them collected and printed for a variety of reasons until we finally got them published as the Doctrine and Covenants.
Another thing I gained a deeper appreciation of was the utter daring and the monumental nature of building the Kirtland Temple so early in the Church's life. Most Mormon congregations (wards) have around 500 members. Kirtland at the time they were building the temple was growing, but only had around 600 members when the project began. I can't fathom taking on such a project with so few people and for a people living in log structures and less it is even more incredible. Yet they built it in that rugged frontier town. I also thought that Bushman handled the sense of the miraculous around the dedication of the temple very sensitively. I also did not realize that when Joseph and Oliver were receiving the visitation of the Savior, Moses, Elijah, and Elias on the altar of the temple that up to 1,000 members were in the temple on the other side of the curtain.
When I was growing up I did not understand clearly how early the Saints arrived in Missouri and how much larger the settlement there was than in Kirtland even though the temple in Kirtland was built and the proposed temple for Zion was not. Bushman also does a good job of giving a clear picture of the dynamics of the persecutions in Missouri and how the growing political power and anti-slavery stance of the Mormons antagonized the locals. The so-called Mormon War is also more critical to the rest of Joseph's life than I had realized.
The constant hounding from Missouri and Joseph having to fear for his life from then on was something I had not truly appreciated. I also think Bushman handles the issue of plural marriage as well as it can be handled. And I think I gained a deeper understanding of John C. Bennett's role in the persecution of the Mormons in Illinois than I had before. I think the actual martyrdom is given a little too light a treatment here, but it is well covered material, and as Bushman notes, a great deal of faith promoting stories have accumulated around that event over the years. And I think he was probably wise in not opening up his book to attacks because he debunked someone's favorite story about Joseph's last days. Just laying out what is actually documented from the time is very helpful.
Even with all the praise I have given, I could heap a great deal more if I had the space and time. But I do want to share an honest perspective I have of the book. It is superior, truly marvelous, from Joseph's early life through the dedication of the Kirtland Temple. That is the zenith of the book. From that point on, while good, the author himself cites difficulty in getting to Joseph directly after that point because his life and the nature of the work of the Church and the lives of the Saints changed. The rest of the book is not as exquisite. Very good, interesting, and informative, but not quite equal to the previous material. It becomes more of a narrative than it had been probably for the reason Bushman cites.
I did find the footnotes and bibliography quite useful. They enriched my reading and sent me on to other reading I found illuminating and will help me in selecting other directions for study for years to come. So, I am especially thankful for the hard work in putting all that material together, as well.
This is a monumental work and a treasure. Read it. Evaluate it for yourself no matter your present attitude or judgments of Joseph Smith. You will have a more considered and informed view for having read it.
And, I don't know why this is in the paperback section. I bought and read the hardcover of the book.
Reviewed by Craig Matteson, Saline, MI
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Reviewed in the United States on May 15, 2012
