No Man Knows My History: The Life of Joseph Smith

Uncharacteristic intuition (and even sympathy!) regarding religious experience from an academic and encyclopedic knowledge of primary sources combine perfectly to reconstruct the unbridled, fanatic ecstasy in which Joseph Smith spent his entire life. And not just Smith, but of frontier life of the second great awakening - when America was a land of men digging for cursed treasures, who saw angels around every corner, who felt so close to unraveling all the mysteries of existence through divine artifacts and prayer.

The 18th-century prophetic wave which began with Swedenborg and crested with Blake saw in Smith its culmination, for he was the last prophet to proclaim a love for the American project not just by words or divine decrees but show more in his very theology. At the same time William Miller eschewed the experiential in his sterile eschatological exegesis and Emerson shed all concept of received knowledge as insufficient, only Smith among the intellectual innovators of his day could perceive the promises of scripture realized in the world around him.

Brodie was the first to apply critical scrutiny not just to Mormon apologia, but also to a tradition nearly as old: anti-Mormon polemic (for Mormonism Unvailed was published only 1 year after Joseph Smith's first crude attempt at church history in the Book of Commandments). She finds that the traditional image among historians (when they think of him at all) of Joe Smith the simple huckster is as untenable as the guileless, pious teenager promulgated by Salt Lake City.

She shows him at his worst: a dilettante who rushes headfirst into matters far beyond his comprehension, occasionally destroying his followers' welfare (when he tried his hand at banking), their marriages, or even their lives (when he fancied himself a general). She shows an intemperate man who was unable or unwilling to distinguish between his appetites and the will of God, to the degree that he ensconced "a burning in your bosom" as the final test of divine authority in scripture. But she shows him at his most heroic, too: an unschooled youth who needed a miracle to reconcile his unchurched father and his relapsed Presbyterian mother after his brother Alvin's death. show less

A capital biography and, still, after about three-quarters of a century, the best biography of Joseph Smith and Brodie's magnum opus. Any unbiased look at Joseph Smith reveals that he was a charlatan of the highest rank, and that humankind was and always will be credulous. Brodie mined sources often ignored, especially by Mormon hagiographers, and her anti-Mormonism (she was a "lapsed Mormon," as it were) does not seep through (as it later would when it came to her acerbic Nixon bio). In all, she is fair. But, as I said, any unbiased look...

She locates Smith in his time, and offers educated guesses as to how and why he goes from scryer to book writer to prophet to church leader. As I have said elsewhere, his "revelations" are all show more self-serving. Sell land to the prophet, give land to the church, we should move to Missouri, I should get all your wives (and my real wife should be happy about it). I don't recall prophets in the Bible getting nice, cushy revelations such as this. (Jonah, Nineveh is too hard to convert. Go to Jerusalem.)

Still, Smith did create a religion, and his story is important to understand the Jacksonian era, the Second Great Awakening, and even the Civil War. Thus, I suggest this book be read first. Then turn to the other biographies of Smith, like Bushman's and Remini's. show less

No Man Knows My History is well written and well documented. It is a scholarly work but readable by the average educated adult. Fawn M. Brodie was raised in an LDS family, but the work is not a hagiography. It is honest and realistic about the truth behind Joseph Smith. She does not believe that he had the visions or any golden plates, and she says as much. She gives rational explanations behind the devotion of his followers. For example, regarding the testimony of the three witnesses she says, "According to the local press of the time, the three witnesses all told different versions of their experience, a fact that makes it all the more likely that the men were not conspirators but victims of Joseph's unconscious but positive talent at show more hypnosis."

At times her own personal crises of faith show through. I believe this is what keeps her honest. On the one hand, she has an attitude of respect towards Joseph Smith and treats him as a victim of his own celebrity, whereas on the other hand she does not treat him as a prophet but a man embroiled in lies and scandal throughout his whole life. Truly, lies and deceit seem to follow Smith, what he does, and what others do to him. Testimonies and affidavits constantly contradict one another, and Smith and his supporters would lie to protect themselves when necessary. For example, when the issue of spiritual and plural wives became a problem with the non-Mormon community, she writes, "this and other public denials of spiritual wifism put a peculiar burden on his own wives and also on the leading Mormon men who were beginning to practice polygamy."

This book has caused controversy in the LDS church, and will continue to do so. Non-Mormons will come away believing that the early followers of Smith were both victims of outside oppression and their own foolishness, whereas Mormons today will not like it and many will reject it. It is definitely a book that needs to be addressed by believers. show less

An exhaustive look at the life of the founder of the LDS church by a former Mormon. Ms. Brodie was excommunicated for her efforts, but all in all, the book wasn't a hatchet job. She shows a certain affection for her subject, and isn't willing to assume that all the wild stories about him were automatically correct, but as a professional historian, she wasn't afraid to go where the evidence led. All in all, a balanced, well written book, neither hagiography nor hatchet job.

In this well written biography, Smith comes across as a kook and a fraud. He begins his "career" as a seer who claims to possess a seer stone that will permit him to discover buried treasure on farms. He later claims to discover the gold tablets that will become the Book of Mormon and reinvents himself as an evangelist. His charisma soon attracts a following, including young women who throw themselves at him, leading to the not surprising revelation from God that it is ok for him to have more than one wife. This is an unflatterring and unflinching look at the origins of Mormonism. Although not Mormon myself, the faith has qualities that I admire. Unfortunately, Mormonism is at a comparative disadvantage with Christianity in that it is a show more relatively new faith which beginnings can be subjected to rigorous historical examination. The events in the Bible that are absolutely unbelievable (except of course to some) are so lost in time as to be explained away as allegory and myths. If I were a Mormon, this book would be troublesome, except I expect for the faithful it may be regarded as a pack of lies. Yet as an objective outsider the book has the ring of truth to me. Of course it might be that as flawed a man as Smith was, his faith was the one true thing about him. I also enjoyed Brodie's biography of Jefferson. As an interesting historical and cultural aside, the dustcover of my edition describes Brodie as being the "wife" of the famous ------- writer. The unsexist truth, of course is that her husband is relatively unknown as a writer, and might be better described himself as " husband" of the famous writer------. show less

Still the classic life of Smith from a point of view which does not venerate him (though Brodie was still nominally a member of the LDS when she wrote it. Though LDS critics of course do not accept it (and may be correct on some points of detail), I personally find her version more believable than the orthodox LDS version. I recommend reading Reconsidering No Man Knows etc. with this, to be aware of recent scholarship on the topic.

A fairly biased view of the founder of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Although Ms. Brodie does a good job researching basic facts, she has obvious opinions in opposition to the Church doctrine.

I enjoyed reading the book, however inflammatory it is. I would not recommend it to someone seeking honest information about Joseph Smith.