Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling | Richard Lyman Bushman | Shows both sides of this religious...

Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling | Richard Lyman Bushman | A Historical and Biographical Tour De Force

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Joseph Smith: Roug...

	Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling Richard Lyman Bushman Vintage, 2007 - 784 pages average customer review:based on 95 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Shows both sides of this religious leader

Excellent book. I have read it in its entirety. It tells the story of a human being, with all the foibles and weaknesses that entails, who was learning to lead people in religion.

The wise reader will be able to tell this is a far more even-handed and objective study of Smith's background than books such as F. Brodie's "No man knows my history" and those books with sensational titles that were written more just to get us to buy them than to to present research as objectively as possible.

If you want to know the good and negative to Smith's background in tremendous detail (the book is thick), this is the book to read. If you want to read something that supports what you have already concluded, positive or negative, you'll want to choose some other book.

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A Historical and Biographical Tour De Force

Dr. Richard Bushman is to be commended for writing one of the best, most balanced biographies of perhaps the most controversial man in American history. The fact that Mormon Mullahs and rabidly hateful Mormon detractors both dislike this book sez something good. Dr. Bushman's work is as objective as possible without the polemics, charactor assassinations, deifications, etc. that are found in other works. For this, Dr. Bushman deserves 5 stars and the congratulations of all open minded persons.

I started reading history at quite an early age, and Mormon history was always one of my topics of fascination. I remember Joseph Fielding Smith, as Church Historian, wrote a book entitled "Essentials In Church History", and other titles as well. I was surprised, even as a newly returned missionary, at the excessively defensive posture taken in these earlier books. Further, I have read more controversial books from the Mormon perspective, including the hate pieces written by Sandra and Gerald Tanner, as well as the disingenuous Brodie. None of these rang of truth or were very satisfying. This book does ring of truth largely because Dr. Bushman presents the cold hard facts and lets the reader come to his/her own conslusions.

Dr. Bushman does not confuse Smith family history with Church history, one of the bigger mistakes made in previous Church sponsored works--particularly as late as the 1970s. Church Historians often were members of the Smith family. Dr. Bushman professionally steps back and looks at Joseph Smith as a man, which to me makes him much more remarkable than a person to be deified.

This book has much to make Mormon Mullahs uncomfortable. Certainly, Joseph Smith Senior's inability to provide for the family because of drunkeness answers many questions not previously answered, let alone addressed. The folk magic episodes, the temper, the plural wives, etc, are not ignored. For that reason, I wonder how some Mormon critics reviewing this book can honestly charge that Dr. Bushman is sweeping controversial matters under the rug. Unless they are reading documents produced by Mark Hoffman, I don't think there is any controversy regarding Joseph Smith that Dr. Bushman doesn't address in a forthright and honest manner. If there is, they should articulate such things instead of only alluding to the "whitewash" by Dr. Bushman.

During the 1940's, Fawn Brodie was given access to Church Archives by the Church hierarchy because she represented she would be writing a faithful biography of Joseph Smith. Instead, she made her fame and fortune at Joseph's expense by denouncing him as a sex addict and charlatan/fraud. She used very questionable/flimsy material to support these conclusions...she frankly was quite leading and dishonest in her conclusions. Later, it was no surprise that Brodie was slammed by fellow historians who previously had applauded her assasination of Joseph Smith when she tried the same tactics on Thomas Jefferson.

I would recommend this book to anyone for the integrity of Dr. Bushman's writings, warts and all. Best of all, the reader doesn't feel manipulated as one does after reading Brodie's book.

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Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling, a valuable biography

This book provides a view of Joseph Smith that helps the reader understand him as a person, his struggles and his goals. As with the prophets of the Bible, he had foibles and overcame problems in his personal as well as his professional life. We felt that the explanations were sufficiently helpful that we purchased this copy to give to a relative.

Difficult Read, but Very Enlightening

I am LDS. A big Joseph Smith Fan. The book was a difficult read for many of the chapters. Still the book was very insightful of Joseph's day and the cultural setting his life was lived in. It clearly demonstrated how imperfect of a man he was but how he truley was a mouth-piece of God the Father.

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