Richard Lyman Bushman:Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling by Richard Lyman Bushman (English) Paperback B
- Paperback ISBN: 9781400077533
The Nile on eBay Joseph Smith by Richard Lyman Bushman In this well-researched biography, an esteemed American cultural historian and a practicing Mormon tells how Joseph Smith for… More...
The Nile on eBay Joseph Smith by Richard Lyman Bushman In this well-researched biography, an esteemed American cultural historian and a practicing Mormon tells how Joseph Smith formed a new religion from the ground up. FORMATPaperback LANGUAGEEnglish CONDITIONBrand New 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. Author Biography Richard L. Bushman was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, in 1931. He took his B.A., M.A., and PhD. degrees at Harvard University. He has taught at Brigham Young University, Boston University, University of Delaware, and Columbia University, where he is currently Gouverneur Morris Professor of History, Emeritus. His previous books are From Puritan to Yankee- Character and Social Order in Connecticut, 1690-1765 (1967), Joseph Smith and the Beginnings of Mormonism (1984), King and People in Provincial Massachusetts (1985), and The Refinement of America- Persons, Houses, and Cities (1992). Review "Remarkable. . . . A tale that's as colorful, suspenseful and unlikely as any in American history...Bushman earns a place for his biography on the very short shelf reserved for books on Mormonism with appeal to initiates and outsiders, too."—The New York Times Book Review"A fascinating definitive biography. . . . Stirs deeper questions about American religious convictions and how they shape lives and culture." —The Christian Science Monitor"An exhaustively researched and beautifully written biography of Mormonism's enigmatic founder."—Christianity Today"Fascinating. . . .Bushman captures all the harrowing events of Smith's short life, rife with converts and cabals, while meticulously dissecting the revelations that continue to haunt the Smith story." —The Providence Journal"Well-researched and lucidly written. . . . An excellent source for learning about the Mormon faith." —The St. Louis Post-Dispatch Long 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. Review Quote "Remarkable. . . . A tale that's as colorful, suspenseful and unlikely as any in American history...Bushman earns a place for his biography on the very short shelf reserved for books on Mormonism with appeal to initiates and outsiders, too." The New York Times Book Review "A fascinating definitive biography. . . . Stirs deeper questions about American religious convictions and how they shape lives and culture." The Christian Science Monitor "An exhaustively researched and beautifully written biography of Mormonism's enigmatic founder." Christianity Today "Fascinating. . . .Bushman captures all the harrowing events of Smith's short life, rife with converts and cabals, while meticulously dissecting the revelations that continue to haunt the Smith story." The Providence Journal "Well-researched and lucidly written. . . . An excellent source for learning about the Mormon faith." The St. Louis Post-Dispatch From the Trade Paperback edition. Excerpt from Book THE JOSEPH SMITH FAMILY to 1816 My Last request & charge is, that you will Live together in an undivided bond of Love; you are maney of you, and if you Join together as one man, you need not want aney thing; what counsil, what comfort, what money, what friends may you not help your Selves unto, if you will, all as one contribute your aids. asael smith, "A few words of advice" (1799) Lucy Mack Smith bade farewell to her sons Joseph and Hyrum a few days after their deaths in June 1844. Joseph''s secretary, Willard Richards, and their brother Samuel had brought the bodies back from Carthage to Nauvoo, and after the corpses were washed and dressed in burial clothes, the Smith family was admitted to the room. "I had for a long time braced every nerve," their mother wrote, roused every energy of my soul, and called upon God to strengthen me; but when I entered the room, and saw my murdered sons extended both at once before my eyes, and heard the sobs and groans of my family, and the cries of "Father! Husband! Brothers!" from the lips of their wives, children, brother, and sisters, it was too much, I sank back, crying to the Lord, in the agony of my soul, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken this family!" Six months later, Lucy began a narrative of the early life of Joseph Smith. She was sixty-nine, afflicted with disease and saddened by "the cruelty of an ungodly and hard hearted world." Within a month she had lost three sons: Joseph and Hyrum to vigilante bullets and Samuel to a fever contracted while escaping the mob. Of her seven sons, only the unstable William survived. Her husband, Joseph Sr., had died four years earlier, and she lived with her daughter, another Lucy, and later with Joseph''s widow, Emma, who was carrying her husband''s unborn son. In this troubled and uncertain moment, the question of the Prophet''s successor remained unsettled. Lucy''s son William was soon to be among the contenders. The "Gentile" countryside expected the Mormon kingdom to crumble and the Saints to disperse. When they proved inconveniently adamant, the citizens forced the Mormons to leave. But trouble did not slow Lucy''s dictation to Martha and Howard Coray through the winter of 1844-45. One crisply told story after another covered the pages, making her narrative the central source for the early life of Joseph Smith. Lucy Smith reacted to the sorrows and distresses of her life with indignation, not regret. Recollecting the murder of her sons, she wrote that "my blood curdles in my veins." At the close of the book, she consigned the malicious and indifferent government officials who had darkened her family''s lives--the governors Lilburn W. Boggs, Thomas Carlin, and Thomas Ford, and President Martin Van Buren--to the judgment of God. She was a proud, high-strung woman, belligerent, capable of anger, grief, and sublime confidence in the final triumph of the innocent. She concluded her account with a lofty judgment: "And I shall leave the world to judge, as seemeth them good, concerning what I have written. But this much I will say, that the testimony which I have given is true, and will stand for ever." Lucy did not mention the name of Joseph Smith, Jr., until page 56 of her record. As she told the story, no signs or portents accompanied the birth of her most famous son. She said quite simply that "in the meantime we had a son, whom we called Joseph, after the name of his father; he was born December 23, 1805. I shall speak of him more particularly by and by." Joseph''s revelations and writings, his part in constructing the city of Nauvoo, the tens of thousands of followers, and his national notoriety--none of this overwhelmed Lucy Smith''s story. The Smith family stood at the center. Lucy''s pride was the pride of family. When she saw the bodies of Hyrum and Joseph, she spontaneously asked why had God "forsaken this family." Her narrative began with her father, Solomon, and devoted six chapters to her brothers and sisters before telling about herself. Lucy calculated that six Smith martyrs had fallen because of persecution: Joseph Sr.; sons Don Carlos, Hyrum, and Samuel; William''s wife Caroline; and Joseph the Prophet. She had little worldly to boast of. Lucy knew of the "attention and respect which are ever shown to those who live in fine circumstances," but of her sister Lydia, who "sought riches and obtained them," Lucy wrote but two paragraphs: not that Lydia was less loved, "but she seemed to float more with the stream of common events."7 Lucy''s pride arose from the way her family met adversity. Joseph and Hyrum lay in triumph in their coffins because justice and charity gave them power over their enemies. She honored those who overcame. Her narrative turned the misfortunes of the Smith family into exemplifications of family character. solomon and lucy mack Lucy Mack Smith was the youngest of eight children born to Solomon Mack and Lydia Gates. Lucy briefly mentioned her father''s adventures in the French and Indian War and the American Revolution, and then said little more about him. He was absent for years at a time while Lucy was growing up, and until he experienced a drastic change of heart late in life, he was preoccupied solely with the pursuit of wealth., Random House USA Inc<
