Too nice

The author bends over backwards to be nice to his subject. Most good biographies are more balanced than this one so we can learn more about the man.

Eminently readable and well researched.

Truly, I sometimes wonder what book my colleague reviewers here read. This is one of those cases. This is a wonderfully concise biography of a vital personage in American religion. Author Remini, a distinguished historian, especially regarding Jacksonian era America, very even handedly presents succinctly the life of a brilliant, if flawed (perhaps brilliantly flawed) human being. Most fascinatingly, the connections he makes between the rise of Mormonism and the socio-religio-political climate of the day are vibrantly fresh and compelling. The LDS folks have lots of lengthy and wildly variant documents of their early history; this brief biography tidily abridges, without fatally degrading.

Surprisingly fascinating and enlightening.

I bought this book several months ago and grudgingly decided to read it when I wanted a short book in between projects. I quickly found myself immersed in this very lively story. All I knew about Smith was that he claimed to have found some golden tablets and then conveniently lost them (obviously a story often told by non-Mormons). I've known Mormon families and once attended a Mormon baptism (hint: don't eat the cake if you are prefer having sugar as an ingredient).

I thought that the true Mormon history was more with Brigham Young. Remini shows that Smith was not just some wilderness prophet, but an engaging and creative (perhaps too creative?) individual with faults and brilliance. His story is certainly an American tale.

I also learned about other aspects of Mormonism that surprised me such as Smith teaching of polytheism. The Amazon editors note a couple of errors by the author such as the number of B. Young's wives, but frankly after a more than a few wives, I too would lose count (and my mind). All told, there were many more stories of interest than what I expected and essentially a well balanced and sympathetic portrait.

Somewhat superficial and cursory

Why was this book written? Did Mr. Remini uncover some startling new documents by or about Joseph Smith? Did he come up with a radical new interpretation of the life and continuing influence of Joseph Smith? Did he have anything to tell us that hasn't been said before? Or was this just a venture to make some pocket money from the well-known name of Robert Remini? I vote for the latter explanation.

If one really wanted to read an in-depth, perceptive biography of Joseph Smith, they should read Fawn Brodie's "No Man Knows My History." If they didn't have the time to devote to a full-length bio, they would even benefit from reading the wikipedia entry on Smith, which is both shorter than Remini's book and yet more informative, as it contains most of the pertinent facts, alongside stark criticism and links to more detailed studies of the individual controversies. While Remini's study is indeed serviceable, it doesn't even contain an index, is necessarily superficial because of its length and seems padded with attempts to shoehorn the author's hobbyhorses- Jacksonian politics and the Second Great Awakening- into a life of Joseph Smith. My advice is not to waste your time. Read Fawn Brodie's book, or go on the internet.

You can't win if you write a biography of Joseph Smith.

No matter what you say about Joseph Smith, you can't win. Mormons will crucify you if you're not entirely on board with the whole Prophet thing, and non-Mormons will hang you out to dry you if you're even the least bit sypathetic ... so I won't even go there. I just loved this book's narrative voice. Mr. Remini could teach quite few historians a thing or two about economy and style.

I dig the whole series. Way to go, Penguin.