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^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^W<^ > » ^^^^^H^*-«-*-«-«-«- '-^^*^«^«^ ^«^»- ^ BELVEDERETIBURONLIBRARY 3 1111 02572 4921 Joseph iSmtth Rough Stone Rolling /^ \ \ 4 ^ cultural biography of Mormonism founder "^s * Lyman Richard Bushman /r<^^r<^/r<^/ri^/r<^/r<^^r4^^ri^/r<^/r<Fi/rii^/r<^/r<^/r<^^f^ U.S.A. $35.00 Canada $50.00 Joseph Smith, America's preeminent visionary and prophet, rose from a modest background to found the largest indige- nous Christian church in American history. Without the benefit of wealth, education, or social position, he published the 584- page Book ofMormon when he was twenty-three; organized a church when he was twenty-four; and founded cities, built tem- ples, andattracted thousandsoffollowersbeforehisviolentdeath atage thirty-eight. Ratherthan perisliingwith him, Mormonism migrated to the Rocky Mountains, flourished there, and now claims millions offollowers worldwide. In Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling, Richard Bushman, an esteemed American cultural historian and a practicingMormon, tellshowSmithformed anewreligionfromthe groundup.Mov- ing beyond the popular stereotype of Smith as a colorful fraud, — thebookexplorestheinnerworkings ofhispersonality his per- sonal piety, his temper, his affection for family and friends, and hisincredible determination. Itdescribeshowhereceivedrevela- tions and whyhis followers believed them. Smith was a builder ofcities. He sought to form egalitarian, just, and open communities under God and laid out a plan for ideal cities, which he hoped would fill the world. Adopted as the model forhundreds ofMormon settlements in the West, Smith's urban vision may have left a more lasting imprint on the land- scape than that ofany otherAmerican. He was controversial from his earliest years. His followers honored him as a man who spoke for God and restored biblical religion. His enemies maligned him as a dangerous religious fanatic, an AmericanMohammad, and drove the Mormons from every place in which they settled. Smith's ultimate assassination by an armed mob raises the question of whether American democracy can tolerate visionaries. The book gives more attention toJoseph Smith's innovative religious thought than any previous biography. As Bushman writes, "His followers derived their energy and purpose from the religious world he brought into being." Some ofthe teach- ings were controversial, such as propertyredistribution and plu- ral marriage, but Smith's revelations also delved into cosmology and the history ofGod. They spoke ofthe origins ofthe human personality and the purpose of life. While thoroughly Chris- tian, Smith radicallyreconceived th nshipbetween humans and God. The book evaluates rmon prophet's bold (continuedon hackflap) 1 BIO SMITH Bushman, Richard L. Joseph Smi th BEL-TIB 31111025724921 )ATE DUE I Cat.#55 137001 PrintedinUSA Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2011 http://www.archive.org/details/josephsmithroughOObush ALSO BY RICHARD LYMAN BUSHMAN From Puritan to Yankee: Characterand the Social Order in Connecticut, i6^o-i'j6^ Joseph Smith and the BeginningsofMormonism KingandPeople in ProvincialMassachusetts The Refinement ofAmerica: Persons, Houses, and Cities BelievingHistory: Latter-day SaintEssays JOSEPH SMITH ROUGH STONE ROLLING Penandinksketch ofJoseph Smith bySutclijfeMaudsley, 18^4. JOSEPH SMITH ROUGH STONE ROLLING RICHARD LYMAN BUSHMAN with theassistance of WOODWORTH JED ALFRED A. KNOPF y^ NEW YORK 2OO5 THIS IS A BORZOI BOOK PUBLISHED BY ALFRED A. KNOPF Copyright© 2005 byRichard Ljonan Bushman All rightsreserved. Pubhshed in the United StatesbyAlfredA. Knopf, adivision ofRandomHouse, Inc., NewYork, and in Canada byRandom HouseofCanada Limited,Toronto. www.aaknopf.com Knopf, Borzoi Books, and the colophon are registered trademarks ofRandomHouse, Inc. GratefulacknowledgmentismadetotheUniversityofIlhnoisPress for permissiontoreprintmaterial fromJosephSmithandtheBeginningsof Mormonisnt byRichardLyman Bushman. Copyright© 1984bythe Board of Trustees oftheUniversityofIllinois. Reprintedbypermission ofthe UniversityofIllinois Press. LibraryofCongress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Bushman, Richard Lyman. Joseph Smith roughstone rolling/Richard Lyman Bushman,withthe : assistance ofJedWoodworth.—isted. p. cm. Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex. ISBN 1-4000-4270-4 — — I. Smith,Joseph, 1805-1844. 2. Mormons UnitedStates Biography. I. Woodworth,Jed. II. Title. — BX8695.S6B875 2005 289.3092 dc22 [b] 2004061613 Manufactured in theUnited StatesofAmerica FirstEdition