Ok, it's official. Bushman biog of Joseph Smith is the BOTB - cougarguard.com — unofficial BYU Cougars / LDS sports, football, basketball forum and message board

MikeWaters · 05-15-2017, 12:13 AM

just finished it. I had read 2/3rds of it back in the days of this thread. I recently started from the beginning.

I bogged down in the middle (again). On all the doctrinal exposition.

I come out of this book feeling like I don't have a super great handle on what Joseph Smith the man was like. I feel like I know the rough outlines. But I don't know him intimately or well.

And I'm okay with that. I don't know most people well. Especially people whom I've never met from a different age.

Perhaps the great story hidden in all of this is the story between Joseph and Emma. But we'll never know that story. It's hidden and personal.

I think it's definitely a book worth reading. Like it says on the cover, it's a cultural biography. It's placing the life of Joseph Smith in a time and a place.

05-15-2017, 12:13 AM	#1
MikeWaters Demiurge Join Date: Aug 2005 Posts: 36,365	just finished it. I had read 2/3rds of it back in the days of this thread. I recently started from the beginning. I bogged down in the middle (again). On all the doctrinal exposition. I come out of this book feeling like I don't have a super great handle on what Joseph Smith the man was like. I feel like I know the rough outlines. But I don't know him intimately or well. And I'm okay with that. I don't know most people well. Especially people whom I've never met from a different age. Perhaps the great story hidden in all of this is the story between Joseph and Emma. But we'll never know that story. It's hidden and personal. I think it's definitely a book worth reading. Like it says on the cover, it's a cultural biography. It's placing the life of Joseph Smith in a time and a place.