Joseph Smith
Rough Stone Rolling
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4.2 • 78 Ratings
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
Founder of the largest indigenous Christian church in American history, Joseph Smith published the 584-page Book of Mormon when he was twenty-three and went on to organize a church, found cities, and attract thousands of followers before his violent death at age thirty-eight. Richard Bushman, an esteemed cultural historian and a practicing Mormon, moves beyond the popular stereotype of Smith as a colorful fraud to explore his personality, his relationships with others, and how he received revelations. An arresting narrative of the birth of the Mormon Church, Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling also brilliantly evaluates the prophet’s bold contributions to Christian theology and his cultural place in the modern world.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
How should a historian depict a man's life when that man, and his religion, remain a mystery to so many 200 years after his birth? Bushman, an emeritus professor at Columbia University and author of Joseph Smith and the Beginnings of Mormonism, greatly expands on that previous work, filling in many details of the founding prophet of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and carrying the story through to the end of Smith's life. Many continue to view Smith as an enigmatic and controversial figure. Bushman locates him in his historical and cultural context, fleshing out the many nuances of 19th-century American life that produced such a fertile ground for emerging religions. The author, a practicing Mormon, is aware that his book stands in the intersection of faith and scholarship, but does not avoid the problematic aspects of Smith's life and work, such as his practice of polygamy, his early attempts at treasure-seeking and his later political aspirations. In the end, Smith emerges as a genuine American phenomenon, a man driven by inspiration but not unaffected by his cultural context. This is a remarkable book, wonderfully readable and supported by exhaustive research. For anyone interested in the Mormon experience, it will be required reading for years to come.
Customer Reviews
Fantastic book
As an active member of the church and a fan (for lack of a better term) of Joseph Smith I do not agree with a review that says that Joseph didn't have faults. I love Joseph Smith and appreciate all that he did, but he was a man. The author in this book gives light on Joseph Smith's life, the good and bad, and also let's the reader know that he was called of God without being off-putting to the non-member reader.
Says it how it is
I am a Mormon and believe Joseph Smith was a prophet. There has been much said and written of the man as he himself said there would be. This book is written objectively and is a great testament to a great man. He was a man of God or of the devil, there is no in between. This book will let you come to your own conclusion and I believe in essence the truthfulness of Joseph Smith's message is of the utmost importance to decide yourself.
Great Book!
I've studied Joseph Smith extensively and this book would have save me a lot of time. It's all in one place, well written and compiled in such a way that allows the reader to get to know the characters, time and roles of those involved in what I consider the some of the most impactful religous events of the 19th century that carry on to today.