Joseph Smith III: PRAGMATIC PROPHET [Paperback]

Roger D. Launius (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This interesting, well-researched biography of the founder of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints covers the 54 years of his presidency, a tenure marked by Mormon factionalism that he succeeded in controlling. The son of the founder of Mormonism, Joseph Smith III at first resisted succeeding his father as leader and prophet but, as his biographer underscores, his governance from 1860 until his death in 1914 was fiercely committed to the religious legacy of his parent. Differing in style from the elder Smith's "sometimes disastrous impracticality," his son exemplified rugged individualism with a secular pragmatism that sprang from his legal education. An opponent of polygamy, as proclaimed by Brigham Young, the younger Smith established a viable bureaucracy and a style of leadership that characterizes the Mormon community today, notes the author, a military historian. Illustrations not seen by PW.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

This is an important appraisal of the man who guided the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints for more than a half century. "Young Joseph" took his brand of Mormonism in a direction completely different from that of the Utah-based followers of Brigham Young. Smith, who was 12 years old when his father was murdered, "experienced first hand the hardships and triumphs" of Mormonism's early years. Though he resembled his father in some ways, the son was a "practical man, not a visionary and dreamer" who sought to "purify" church doctrinesespecially regarding plural marriageand functioned as a "manager, planner, promoter, master politician and superb organizer." Well written and well researched; for all academic libraries. John R. Sillito, Weber State Coll. Lib., Ogden, Ut .
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 424 pages
• Publisher: University of Illinois Press (September 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0252065158
• ISBN-13: 978-0252065156
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,512,136 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Roger D. Launius is a senior curator in the Division of Space History at the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. Between 1990 and 2002 he served as chief historian of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. A graduate of Graceland College in Lamoni, Iowa, he received his Ph.D. from Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, in 1982 and worked as a civilian historian with the United States Air Force until 1990.

He has written or edited more than twenty books on aerospace history, among others including "Smithsonian Atlas of Space Exploration" (HarperCollins, 2009); "Robots in Space: Technology, Evolution, and Interplanetary Travel" (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008); "Space Stations: Base Camps to the Stars" (Smithsonian Books, 2003; 2nd ed. 2009), which received the AIAA's history manuscript prize; "Flight: A Celebration of 100 Years in Art and Literature" (Welcome Books, 2003); "Reconsidering a Century of Flight" (University of North Carolina Press, 2003); "To Reach the High Frontier: A History of U.S. Launch Vehicles" (University Press of Kentucky, 2002); "Imagining Space: Achievements, Possibilities, Projections, 1950-2050" (Chronicle Books, 2001); "Innovation and the Development of Flight" (Texas A&M University Press, 1999); "NASA & the Exploration of Space" (Stewart, Tabori, & Chang, 1998); "Frontiers of Space Exploration" (Greenwood Press, 1998, rev. ed. 2004); "Spaceflight and the Myth of Presidential Leadership" (University of Illinois Press, 1997); and "NASA: A History of the U.S. Civil Space Program" (Krieger Publishing Co., 1994, rev. ed. 2001).

He is also involved in other historical studies. His book, "Joseph Smith III: Pragmatic Prophet" (University of Illinois Press, 1988), won the prestigious Evans Award for biography. He has also published "Differing Visions: Dissenters in Mormon History" (University of Illinois Press, 1994), "Cultures in Conflict: A Documentary History of the Mormon War in Illinois" (Utah State University Press, 1995), "Kingdom on the Mississippi Revisited: Nauvoo in Mormon History" (University of Illinois Press, 1996), and several others. "Alexander William Doniphan: Portrait of a Missouri Moderate" (University of Missouri Press, 1997), discusses the role of the vital center in American politics during the Mexican-American War and sectional conflict.

More recently he has been studying the relationship of baseball to American culture and has published, "Charlie Finley: The Outrageous Story of Baseball's Super Showman" (Walker and Co., 2010), and "Seasons in the Sun: The Story of Big League Baseball in Missouri" (University of Missouri Press, 2002).

He served as a consultant to the Columbia Accident Investigation Board in 2003 and presented the prestigious Harmon Memorial Lecture in Military History at the United States Air Force Academy in 2006. In addition, he is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the International Academy of Astronautics, and the American Astronautical Society, and Associate Fellow of the American Institute for Aeronautics and Astronautics. He is frequently consulted by the electronic and print media for his views on space issues, and has been a guest commentator on National Public Radio and all the major television networks.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The writing is bland but overall a good scholarly work, May 24, 2004

By 

Blah (New York, New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Joseph Smith III: PRAGMATIC PROPHET (Paperback)

Roger Lanius is easily the most successful RLDS scholar. More importantly he is the best. This book offers the most complete picture available on the figure of Joseph Smith the third. In addition, it gives some great information on the formation of the RLDS church.
Despite Lanius' connection with the RLDS, this book shows little if any bias. It is a fair and accurate portrayal of the "pragmatic prophet" Overall, it is definitely worth the time of anyone interested in the RLDS, polygamy, Emma Smith or the succession crisis that occurred after the death of Joseph Smith.

6 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Pragmatic and faithful, January 1, 2005

By 

Conny Svensson - See all my reviews

This review is from: Joseph Smith III: PRAGMATIC PROPHET (Paperback)

How is it to be the son of a prophet? How is it to loose your father by a hand of an unidentifed mob which never got condamned? And how is it to become another prophet, like your father but differently? Well, these questions are answered in this biography.

The book is easy to read and the chapters discuss the issues that puzzled Joseph III untill his death. Joseph III was more down to earth than what his father was and he gained respect because of that. The author focuses on the pragmatic side of Joseph, which can be a bit repetitive and minimalistic. It feels wiered that a person could only have one single quality. There is some authoritarian qualities in Joseph which cannot be hidden behind the pragmatic discourse, as the reader will notice in the middle of the book. The reader get acquainted with Joseph's family, his fatherhood and how he tried to clean his father's name from polygamy. His strategy was to create a Book of Mormon-believing community which could be integrated into overall American culture. Reading this book would give those who are a part of the Reorganisation (RLDS/Community of Christ) the confirmation that Zion-building and a Christ-focused worship was Joseph's main doctrines. The book would also give those non-affliated with the Restoration movement (like me) an idea about the psyche of the son of a prophet! It seems that Joseph, having a lawyer background and knowing the weaknesses and the strenghts of his father, tried to do it in his own way. An encouragement for all of us, who try to go our own way.

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good information on an interesting subject, May 12, 2001

By 

Craig Matteson (Saline, MI) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Joseph Smith III: PRAGMATIC PROPHET (Paperback)

This book filled in a lot of information for me that I had wondered about. It is well written and easy to read. If you are interested in early Mormonism and the origins of what used to be called the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (RLDS), this is a good source.

However, it does have some gaps. It doesn't give us much about his mother and their relationship. It doesn't really delve into the man's spiritual life beyond what he did when and only talks about his revelations as they affect some program he was trying to bring about.

But I was very interested to learn about his role in the persecution of the Utah Saints in trying to end polygamy. And I did find it kind of funny that a man who was obsessed with others having more than one wife ended up having three and children with two of them. The last one being far younger than him. Sure it is a serial form of polygamy, but...

I am glad that I own it and have read it.