22 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A great life from Penguin by a great historian, December 13, 2002
This review is from: Joseph Smith (Penguin Lives Biographies) (Hardcover)
Robert Remini is the best historian of the Jacksonian era. His previous efforts have focused on the political leaders, three volumes on Jackson himself, one on Clay, and one on Webster, another on Van Buren. He has also examined whole hosts of smaller issues related to this period. He is in full command of the subject matter related to this period.
Whoever had the idea of assigning Remini to write on Joseph Smith should get an award. For he is a novel and interesting choice. Usually books on religious leaders are written by people steeped in theory and dogma. It is far better to have Smith's biography written by one who can place his ideas within their proper context. Remini knows and understands the particulars of the "Second Great Awakening" and the various religious and intellectual trends that marked the period of roughly 1812-1840. In doing so, he is able to explain much.
Remini shyes away from the question of whether or not Smith was was a prophet or con man and leaves the reader to make up his own mind about this, in doing so he steers a path between those who write books of praise about the Morman church's founders and those who criticize it.
This book is an outstanding addition to the Penguin Brief Lives series and yet another triumph for the foremost historian of age of Jackson.
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25 of 28 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Fair Account, December 8, 2002
This review is from: Joseph Smith (Penguin Lives Biographies) (Hardcover)
This short biography of the man now considered "My Joseph" by author Robert Remini, covering the life and death of the Mormon prophet Joseph Smith, is a well-researched, even-handed and concise examination of the life of a unique and great American. Drawing from sources as far apart as Joseph Smith's Personal Writings and John C. Bennett's Expose of Joe Smith and Mormonism, from scholars across the spectrum such as Fawn Brodie, Richard Bushman and Donna Hill, Remini has synthesized the important historical, biographical and often controversial information to be found about the life of Joseph Smith. The work is brief, as necessitated by the series, and can easily be read in one sitting.
Divided into nine chapters, Remini first introduces the reader to the American political and cultural context of the early 19th century, as the extent, fanaticism and individual, similar occurences to those of Smith during the Second Great Awakening are not a well-known part of his story. Indeed, Mormon readers well versed in the subject matter may find these interjections scattered throughout the book some of the most interesting and challenging material. Here and throughout the rest of the work Remini casually implies that Joseph Smith, the Book of Mormon and much of what has become the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was a product of timing, a product of the unique American environment during the nation's infancy. Tracing and lightly touching Smith's ancestry, the author mentions episodes from Smith's adolescence he believes helped shape the character and disposition of later years. Smith's angelic and divine visitations are covered, along with the origins of the Book of Mormon and the beginnings of the Church. The reader is present during the fantastic events of the Church in Kirtland and its near subsequent collapse, for the wars with the old settlers of Missouri and during the flourishing, while controversial, period of Nauvoo and polygamy. The biography closes examining and ultimately denouncing the assassination of Joseph Smith, not as a slain prophet, consistent with the author's non-partisan stance, but as a great American, a victim of a society that bordered on the fringe of lawlessness.
As already mentioned, the book is even-handed and mostly accurate, the occasional detail, a misquotation from the Book of Mormon, for example, excusable for a reputable scholar undertaking this kind of endeavor. Mormons will disagree with some observations while non-Mormons will others. Not uncommon verbage found throughout the book often reads, "Mormons support or agree...while critics point out..." and vice-versa. All readers will find an entreating and page-turning presentation of Joseph Smith the man, innovator, prophet, politician, leader, family man, military leader and American.
"Smith admitted that some accused him of 'pretending to be a Savior, a worker of miracles, etc. All this is false...He is but a man, he said; a plain, untutored man, seeking what he should do to be saved.'"
To readers interested in a similarly unbiased, scholarly appraisal of the Book of Mormon, I would suggest the recent book By the Hand of Mormon by Terryl Givens, a professor of English at the University of Virginia. While Joseph Smith reads like an artistic biography, By the Hand of Mormon scrutinizes the possible origins of the Book of Mormon, internal and external evidences of its veracity, arguments on both sides of the divide and other topics.
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
good for being short, September 9, 2005
This review is from: Joseph Smith (Penguin Lives Biographies) (Hardcover)
This is a very good short biography by a great historian. Remini is very fair in his interpretation of Joseph Smith. Remini basically tells the story of Joseph Smith as Joseph Smith himself told it. Remini being an expert on the period that Smith was born in makes his opinions of what influenced Smith very convincing. The only reason I rate this only a four star is it is very short and leaves out a lot of details. But if all your looking for is basic knowledge on the life of Joseph Smith I highly recommend this book. For a more detailed book on his life I would recommend "Joseph Smith the First Mormon" by Donna Hill as Remini himself recommends in his bibliography. Currently there are other biographies being worked on about Joseph Smith which will further our understanding of his complex life.
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