Of the making of books about Joseph Smith, there seems to be no end. I counted my own personal library -- 32 books about the Mormon prophet. Not a very large collection, but probably good enough for a non-member!

And now I have 33.

Joseph Smith is the latest volume in a series published by Penguin and titled "Penguin Lives." Previous volumes in the series include studies of Herman Melville, Simone Weil, Pope John XXIII, Winston Churchill and Joan of Arc, among others. Its vision is to provide brief, objective views of the lives and accomplishments of these famous people.

Remini, professor emeritus of history and the humanities at the University of Illinois at Chicago, has written previously about Andrew Jackson and the Jacksonian period of American history. Research into this period exposed him to the person and the religion of Joseph Smith. This volume represents his interest in the American phenomenon known as Mormonism, and the Mormon prophet, in particular.

The founder of this Church, the Prophet, Joseph Smith Jr., is unquestionably the most important reformer and innovator in American religious history, and he needs to be understood if we want to have a clearer idea about what this country was like in the Jacksonian era, just prior to the Civil War. Because he made such an enduring contribution to American life and culture and because he was influenced by the intellectual milieu and events of his time, I have made a special effort in this book to show the extent to which he and his work reflect the unique characteristics of this extraordinary age. (ix)

This is a very important note, and informs the balance of his book. As a historian, Remini has taken the remarkable position that 1) Joseph Smith is the "most important reformer and innovator in American religious history" -- a claim that may be disputed by Christian Scientists and Seventh-day Adventists, for example; and 2) we can understand our history better if we understand Joseph Smith. This latter argument is somewhat other than what I'm accustomed to reading. Mostly, we read that we can understand Joseph Smith by understanding history. Here we have the opposite, and it makes for a fascinating thesis.

The nine chapters of this book are:

1. The Second Great Awakening
2. First Vision
3. Moroni
4. The Book of Mormon
5. Organizing the Church of Christ
6. Kirtland
7. Far West
8. Nauvoo
9. Assassination

If the chapter headings give the impression of a sterile, almost clinical approach to the subject, this is hardly the case. Remini offers a very readable, and entertaining, overview of the life of the Prophet Joseph Smith, placing it firmly in the environment of early America.

Indeed, if one is to see a common theme running through this book, it is that Joseph Smith was at the very least a product of his times. Remini takes a middle road between faith and doubt, between faithful acceptance of the prophetic role of Joseph and dismissal of the supernatural nature of the Prophet and the Church.

This middle road is quite pronounced in some places. While faithful histories often dismiss naturalistic explanations for the early Church narratives, Remini places the faithful and the faithless side by side, allowing the reader to make up his or her own mind.

And, to his credit, it's usually difficult to tell which side Remini takes. He plays the neutral broker fairly well. Sometimes, though, he lapses into the role of non-believer, as in the following:

In the midst of this turmoil, on Sunday, September 21, 1823, at the age of seventeen, he went to bed and prayed that God would forgive all his "sins and follies" and make him worthy of salvation. He worked himself into an ecstatic state of longing and desire. (43)

By describing Joseph's "ecstatic state" as self-induced, rather than supernatural, Remini betrays his bias toward naturalistic explanations. And, for the record, I don't fault him for this. Non-Mormons, in particular professional historians, will address issues of faith and the miraculous from the point of view of the enlightened skeptic. Once a historian embraces the faith, he automatically becomes suspect as a dispassionate reporter.

This is not to say that believing Mormons don't produce good history. It is only to say that we should not be surprised when even the fairest observer retreats to a rational, rather than a supernatural, explanation for phenomena under study.

A word, if I may, about research and completeness. Of course, at fewer than 200 pages, this is hardly a complete biography, and was not intended to be so. In some places, Remini displays either a lack of understanding, or a decision to short-cut an explanation. For example:

His revelations instituting these additions [explained earlier in the paragraph], along with others -- a total of 138 revelations, were finally published in 1835 as "Doctrine and Covenants." (102)

You can easily spot the errors here -- viewing the current state of the D&C as its state at the time of its publication in 1835.

Similarly, Remini recites the Articles of Faith in such a way as to suggest that they emerged, intact, as they appear today, with no changes. History tells us differently.

And Remini fails to factor into his thesis the various accounts of the First Vision. This seemed to me an odd omission, given his thesis -- Joseph Smith as a product of his times. If he wishes to demonstrate the degree to which Joseph was affected by his surroundings, and in fact mirrored the social, political and theological developments in early 19th century America, this would have been a helpful item in his study.

Such errors do not, in my view, detract sufficiently from the book to earn it a bad review. In fact, such slips as these are few and far between, and do not take away from the central theme of the work.

Pages 71-74 explore the Book of Mormon as a literary work. Here Remini echoes both the praises and the concerns of Book of Mormon critics over the years. "The Book of Mormon is an extraordinary work in several particulars," he says (p. 71). He cites the complex story line, the rapidity with which the translation was produced, etc. But he questions whether it is really an ancient document:

But the Book of Mormon is also an American work of the early nineteenth century. It has a distinctly American character. It is a story about people who crossed an ocean and settled in a wilderness. It is a story of bringing the Gospel to the Americas. It is a story that people of the Jacksonian era could easily relate to and understand because it is a part of a very American tradition. Moreover, it radiates revivalist passion, frontier culture and folklore, popular concepts about Indians, and the democratic impulses and political movements of its time. (72)

And herein we see a good example of Remini's approach. Faithful believers have plenty of "evidence" to support their belief. But detractors also have their evidence. Arguments are presented from both sides; the reader must finally decide as to the claims made by the Church.

Remini presents Joseph Smith as an enigmatic prophet. His contemporaries, and, indeed, many today, have a hard time reconciling some of his actions with the common understanding of the role of a prophet. After Joseph had been awarded the rank of lieutenant general of the Nauvoo Legion:

Delighted with his rank, Joseph immediately outfitted himself with a resplendent costume modeled after the U.S. army dress uniform. He wore a blue coat with gold epaulets, a hat crowned with ostrich feathers, boots reaching up to his knees, and a handsome sword .&nbps;.&nbps;. It may seem contradictory that a spiritual leader would delight in wearing a gaudy military uniform, but this is another example of Joseph's striking human qualities, qualities that endeared him to his people. As his many disciples repeatedly insisted, Joseph did not act or behave as one might expect of a prophet of God. He seemed as ordinary as any American. He rather enjoyed simple pleasures, they claimed, "just like most folks." (149-50)

And, Remini concludes, it may very well have been those "just like most folks" qualities that led to the imprisonment and assassination of the Prophet. He views such events as Joseph's flight from Nauvoo when it was clear he was about to be arrested as typical of Joseph's human side, a side we all share.

Stylistically, Joseph Smith contains precious few footnotes, and these are mostly explanatory. Sources are cited without footnotes; references to each chapter are offered at the end of the book. Given the variety of source materials used, I would have enjoyed more precise noting. However, considering the intended audience, his method may be more appealing.

And a minor quibble -- the binding of the book split after being opened only twice. It was shipped in a sturdy envelope, so I can't blame U.P.S. But it doesn't bode well for those who keep their books forever, as I do.

I found Remini's book both refreshing and a very nice read. Seasoned Mormon scholars are not likely to learn much from this volume. It isn't designed for the professional historian.

Instead, the non-Mormon reader will find here a comprehensive, and fair, treatment of the Joseph Smith story. And Mormons will find herein a nicely executed study of the cultural, religious and historical context of the beginnings of Mormonism. If, as Remini insists, Joseph Smith was "unquestionably the most important reformer and innovator in American religious history," then it behooves members to spare no effort to better understand the Prophet, to move beyond the standard discussions, and learn for themselves just how remarkable, and how human, the Prophet Joseph Smith really was.

Joseph Smith earns high marks, and is highly recommended.

----------------
Jeff Needle
jeff.needle@general.com