This item can be returned in its original condition for a full refund or replacement within 30 days of receipt. You may receive a partial or no refund on used, damaged or materially different returns.

Read full return policy

Payment

Secure transaction

Payment

Secure transaction

We work hard to protect your security and privacy. Our payment security system encrypts your information during transmission. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. Learn more

Details

$8.72

Get Fast, Free Shipping with Amazon Prime FREE Returns

FREE delivery Thursday, June 20 on orders shipped by Amazon over $35. Order within 4 hrs 12 mins

Arrives after Father's Day. Need a gift sooner? Send an Amazon Gift Card instantly by email or text message.

Select delivery location

Only 1 left in stock - order soon.

$$14.83 () Includes selected options. Includes initial monthly payment and selected options. Details

Access codes and supplements are not guaranteed with used items.

Enhancements you chose aren't available for this seller. Details

${cardName} not available for the seller you chose

${cardName} unavailable for quantities greater than ${maxQuantity}.

Sold by Martistore and Fulfilled by Amazon.

Other sellers on Amazon

New & Used (48) from $6.26 & FREE Shipping

Follow the author

Robert Vincent Remini

Follow

Joseph Smith (Penguin Lives) Hardcover – October 14, 2002

by Robert V. Remini (Author)

4.4 45 ratings

Part of: Penguin Lives (32 books)

See all formats and editions

Sorry, there was a problem loading this page. Try again.

{"desktop_buybox_group_1":[{"displayPrice":"$14.83","priceAmount":14.83,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"14","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"83","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"9zLKwLwNo6zXXbf%2F1nmhFmZqUY%2Fw9CAqoOEch2xgDLK0DSZoPR5NJ9YaxlNzbqhnmdAYZXfFtSL5D8%2BvcU4UoxZ1UADyd1Z9WZntic1kMrG9qPimFS1TUkl2vLkYQpAk%2F3AXbCYLToVELtd92dWCiOf6Yg9HzD0a6o1HfJgctdhsZeTmibcMQXo%2FoyFQdoy1","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"NEW","aapiBuyingOptionIndex":0}, {"displayPrice":"$8.72","priceAmount":8.72,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"8","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"72","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"9zLKwLwNo6zXXbf%2F1nmhFmZqUY%2Fw9CAqEutC%2Bbp%2FBtxN9wL5w9l4P83WDBxql8XyWnr6UntdaJi1M9aYBMNGbc4xx5iBl1wFSLqZXXlwtsJOVPdWMgxXB7Xv8dMhvWZ4661K2P8xBN4LE4loA3wam0r4ihPiQmk0LczjLWMrc%2B9cHD4tPKr3QUWycNONU1hN","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"USED","aapiBuyingOptionIndex":1}]}

Purchase options and add-ons

Robert Remini's work on the Jacksonian epoch has won him acclaim as well as the National Book Award. In Joseph Smith, he employs his keen insight and rich storytelling gift to explore one of the period's major figures. The most important reformer and innovator in American religious history, Joseph Smith has remained a fascinating enigma to many both inside and outside the Mormon Church he founded.

Born in 1805, Smith grew up during the "Second Great Awakening," when secular tumult had spawned radical religious fervor and countless new sects. His contemplative nature and soaring imagination—the first of his many visions occurred at the age of fourteen—were nurtured in the close, loving family created by his deeply devout parents. His need to lead and be recognized was met by his mission as God's vehicle for a new faith and by the hundreds who, magnetized by his charm and charismatic preaching, gave rise to the Mormon Church. Remini brings Smith into unprecedented focus and contextualizes his enduring contribution to American life and culture within the distinctive characteristics of an extraordinary age.

Part of series

Penguin Lives
Print length

190 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Viking
Publication date

October 14, 2002
Dimensions

5.5 x 0.75 x 0.75 inches
ISBN-10

067003083X
ISBN-13

978-0670030835
See all details

Richard Lyman Bushman
1,055
Hardcover
70 offers from $5.30
John G. Turner
195
Hardcover
10 offers from $9.50
Linda King Newell
133
Hardcover
18 offers from $8.45

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

In 1820, a tall New York teenager received a vision from two angels, warning him that all existing churches were corrupt abominations and that "he must join none of them." So Joseph Smith founded the Mormon church.

Robert Remini, the noted biographer of Andrew Jackson and historian of the Jacksonian era, locates Smith and the origins of the Mormon faith in the heady early-nineteenth-century epoch of religious evangelicalism. None of the many new sects and creeds that came out of that period has enjoyed the success of Smith's church, Remini notes. None has undergone the same intense degree of persecution, either, provoked by Smith's quest for secular political power and "such teachings as polygamy, eternal matter, baptism of the dead, a plurality of gods, men and women becoming gods themselves, [and] God the Father being once a man who passed through a stage of mortality before becoming God"--teachings that inspired charges of heresy, and that, in the end, cost Joseph Smith his life in what Remini calls an act of political assassination.

Remini delivers a nuanced, highly readable portrait of the controversial leader, one that sheds light on his time and beliefs and emphasizes his "striking human qualities." --Gregory McNamee

From Publishers Weekly

This accessible biography by Remini, a historian whose three-volume biography of Andrew Jackson won the National Book Award, makes a fine contribution to the field of Mormon studies. Remini has an engaging writing style, as when he suggests that Joseph Smith's future father-in-law "roared his refusal" to his daughter's marrying the young upstart, or that the prophet's friend Sidney Rigdon was a "fire-breathing Mormon." The book is strongest when it contextualizes the Mormon story in the larger fabric of U.S. history in the first half of the 19th century. Not surprisingly, Remini speaks eloquently about the sea changes that characterized the Jacksonian age, and explores how Smith and early Mormonism benefited from and were also hurt by the spiritual and economic cataclysms of the era. Remini helps readers understand how specific events in Mormon history were related to larger trends and affairs; for example, he situates the collapse of the Mormon-owned Kirtland Bank in the larger rubric of the financial panic of 1837. Remini states at the outset that this biography does not seek to pass judgment on the authenticity of Smith's prophetic calling, and with only a few exceptions, he successfully holds that neutral stance. There are several scattered and minor errors; there was no subtitle on the first edition of the Book of Mormon, as Remini claims, and Brigham Young is believed to have had 27 wives for "time and all eternity," not 20. But these are very insignificant problems in a book noteworthy for its balanced tone and thorough scholarship.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Viking; First Edition (October 14, 2002)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 190 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 067003083X
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0670030835
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 10.4 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 0.75 x 0.75 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #1,889,137 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #9,836 in Religious Leader Biographies
- #14,833 in United States Biographies

Customer Reviews:
4.4 45 ratings

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.

Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Videos

Help others learn more about this product by uploading a video!

Upload your video

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.

Robert Vincent Remini

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.

Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read author blogs and more

Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5

45 global ratings

Zero tolerance for fake reviews

Sort reviews by

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Robert V. Rose, retired education researcher

Essential book for American history buffs.

Reviewed in the United States on June 13, 2013

Verified Purchase

This biography of Joseph Smith was written by professor and Congressional historian Robert Remini (one of my favorite authors) in 2002. This biography of the founder of Mormonism puts it into the historical perspective of The Second Great Awakening, The Jacksonian era of great reform in religion, social mores, politics, and a time of great racism and violence on the American frontier.

Born in 1805, Smith was an extremely religious and inquiring young man who saw visions of God and of angels since the age of seventeen. He was also deeply involved in mysticism, divination and the search for subterranean treasure aided by divining rods and the equivalent of crystal balls.

He reported finding the buried golden printing plates of a long-lost Bible in 1827. As directed by holy visions, he translated the ancient language of this text to willing secretaries.

In this version, America and American Indians happen to play a central role in the mind of Jesus, and all other versions of Christianity turn out to be evil mistakes.

Smith was a charismatic evangelist and the followers of this new religion expanded rapidly. Because of the hostility of more traditional neighbors, the faithful were force to move from the "burned over" district of upstate New York to Ohio, and then the northern Missouri. In the latter state they were violently expelled, so they moved again to the banks of the Mississippi in Illinois, founding the Mormon city of Nauvoo.

This city rapidly grew to become the second largest city in the state after Chicago, and Smith became the virtual theocratic dictator there, wearing a gaudy military uniform and commanding a well armed militia for the protection of his co-religionists.

Eventually arrested by the governor of the state and charged with treason, Smith and several companions were jailed. But violent opponents stormed the jail and murdered him (at the age of 38). The next year his successor Brigham Young led a large group of Mormons out to Utah in 1856.

Thereafter follows the history we all know. But for a flavor of Joseph Smith's times, this book is indispensible.

3 people found this helpful

Helpful

Jon Linden

Highly Respectful & Cogent Biography

Reviewed in the United States on August 3, 2004

Verified Purchase

Robert Remini's book about the Mormon Prophet Joseph Smith, Jr. is highly respectful of the religion and the Prophet himself. His language is such, that not at any time does he fall victim to the negative and often inaccurate reports of those who are not happy with the LDS Church. Not a single time, does he say, that the Prophet's words are not true.

The beauty of Remini's book is that in 200 pages, he wrote a fast reading biography, that in essence overlays societal history side by side, with the history of Joseph Smith, Jr. and the creation of the LDS Church.

The long journeys, the hardships, the discrimination and the attempted exterminations are all validated and told with what appears to be historical accuracy. The point of Mr. Remini's book is not glorification, but truly accurate history. The author relied very heavily on the writings of Joseph Smith, Jr. and the LDS Church for his information. He also relied on hundreds of other sources, listed in his Bibliography.

For a fair and unbiased and quick reading understanding of the life of the Prophet Joseph Smith, Jr., I have not read a better book. This book is especially recommended to those interested in comparative religion.

16 people found this helpful

Helpful

Bob R

Excellent book

Reviewed in the United States on May 2, 2021

Verified Purchase

It was truly an amazing book. The author was excellent in providing a large amount of history in a small book. Very well edited and concise excellent writing. The author is very upfront about the help he received from the LDS church, but also, upfront about his determination to provide a true account of the history of Joseph Smith. I believe he did a superb job. I will look forward to reading his other material.

One person found this helpful

Helpful

Badazz

Joseph Smith Jr. To Understate: A Very Interesting Man

Reviewed in the United States on May 16, 2013

Verified Purchase

There is something wholly interesting and spiritual about America as it existed between Independence and the Civil War that is all but lost today. It was an America with dew still on it, where a young boy could discover great spiritual truths through the use of seeing stones, and with that truth create cities in the wilderness.

Such a man was Joseph Smith Jr. Rising from being sickly boy from New England, he became one of the greatest spiritual leaders that America has produced. The faith he founded is one of the uniquely American religions and on the whole its adherents walk a path of excellence.

This book clearly describes the life of the controversial Prophet of Mormonism in a fair way. It is a short book that ably captures the spirit of the times and Joseph Smith's struggles. It is perfect for youth/young adult readers-either Mormon or Non-Mormon.

3 people found this helpful

Helpful

Return this item for free

Image Unavailable

Follow the author

Joseph Smith (Penguin Lives) Hardcover – October 14, 2002

Purchase options and add-ons

Customers who bought this item also bought

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

From Publishers Weekly

From Booklist

About the Author

Product details

Videos

About the author

Robert Vincent Remini

Customer reviews

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.