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List Price: $18.95 | | Publisher: Vintage
Salesrank: 29176
Released: March 13, 2007 |
| Our Price: $12.25 |
| Used Price: $14.99 |
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| Media: Paperback |
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Editorial Review:
Founder of the largest indigenous Christian church in American history, Joseph Smith published the 584-page Book of Mormon when he was twenty-three and went on to organize a church, found cities, and attract thousands of followers before his violent death at age thirty-eight. Richard Bushman, an esteemed cultural historian and a practicing Mormon, moves beyond the popular stereotype of Smith as a colorful fraud to explore his personality, his relationships with others, and how he received revelations.
An arresting narrative of the birth of the Mormon Church, Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling also brilliantly evaluates the prophet’s bold contributions to Christian theology and his cultural place in the modern world.
Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling Reviews:
Poor research 
2009-12-28 - The book states: "For instance, contrary to the 'First Vision' account, there were no religious revivals in Palmyra, NY in 1820 "
I am not surprised. Joseph Smith lived in Manchester, New York at the time of the revivals. If this is any indication of their research, the book must be seriously flawed.
An excellent resource 
2009-11-17 - Occasionally members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints come across information about their church they did not know about. Many members dismiss it as false information, baseless criticism, or just irrelevant history. But for many others including myself, these facts are troubling and faith shaking.
One of the most difficult things for a believing member in this situation is the process of sorting out the facts around Mormon history. For those of us in this predicament Bushman's work is a tremendous help. The amount of research and effort that went into this book would have taken the average person decades if not an entire lifetime to accomplish.
There are a several things I like about this book and just one suggestion I feel would have improved it. First, I like that Bushman is not an apologist in this work. True to his humble nature he gently introduces his own thoughts or interpretations, often with the word "perhaps". His suggestions are minimal and compliment rather than detract from the narrative. This is a welcome contrast to books like Fawn Brodie's "No Man Knows My History" where the author's interpretation overshadows the narrative.
Second, I like that Bushman "leaves no rough stone un-turned". Some of the topics are just plain ugly, and the fact that he did not avoid them adds to his credibility.
One small suggestion. Quotations in the book were often interwoven in such a way that in the same paragraph you are jumping between Bushman's writing and the text of a source document. I like to be able to separate the two and include more of the source quote because I find it easier to understand the context.
Finally, I appreciate how well Bushman understands the need for his book. I found the following quotes on a blog that had recorded Bushman's speech at a seminar. According to the blog author these are Bushman's words:
"Increasingly teachers and church leaders at all levels are approached by Latter-day Saints who have lost confidence in Joseph Smith and the basic miraculous events of church history. They doubt the First Vision, the Book of Mormon, many of Joseph's revelations, and much besides. They fall into doubt after going on the Internet and finding shocking information about Joseph Smith based on documents and facts they had never heard before.
Disillusioned Latter-day Saints feel their trust has been betrayed. They don't know whom to trust. They don't dare trust the old feelings that once were so powerful, nor do they trust church leaders. They can only trust the new knowledge they have acquired.
At this point, these questioners go off in various directions. Some give up on the Church entirely. They find another religion or, more likely these days, abandon religion altogether.
Others piece together a morality and a spiritual attitude that stops them from declining morally, but they are not in an easy place. When they go to church, they are not comfortable. Sunday school classes and Sacrament meeting talks about Joseph Smith and the early church no longer ring true."
That is a very good summary of what many Mormons are experiencing right now. It is very helpful to have a credible and trustworthy source of information as we sort out those difficult feelings and find a way forward.
Thank you Mr. Bushman for writing this book.
Fantastic, Informative, Unbiased
2009-10-07 - I follow eclectic paganism, but I have had a huge curiosity in Mormonism for a few years now. A friend of mine, a member of the LDS Church for all of his life, recommended this book to me and I am so incredibly glad he did. I have had some preconceived ideas about the faith, but I wanted to start from the foundation, because I think a person should give every topic a fair chance before making judgments. This book was wonderful, very readable (although it took a long time to read), and UNBIASED. Written by a devout LDS member, the book presents the facts, not in a dry manner, but not in a biased one either. The writing was great! There are some topics I wish had been given a little more attention, but other than that, I am very impressed. I am also a stickler for sources and this book was very well research.
Kindle edition has no direct links to footnotes 
2009-10-06 - The footnotes comprise about 20% of the content of this book - all in a section at the end. In the Kindle edition there are no direct links to the footnotes from the text, making them nearly impossible to find as you read, unless you track the location numbers as you go along (very tedious). If you are interested in reading the footnotes (and in a book like this, why wouldn't you be?) buy the hard copy.
Perfect Purchase
2009-09-17 - I am LDS (Mormon), but that doesn't mean I like spending $40 on a book at some overpriced Utah-culture bookstore--I love Amazon for books! I bought it for my husband as an anniversary gift, since he loves the culture and history surrounding the upheaval of Smith's life and his church that he established. It's fascinating. If you want a historically accurate, mostly objective book on Joseph Smith, this is your book. Most books written about Smith are from rose-colored eyes of devout LDS writers, who tend to paint him as a perfect saint, or from rabid anti-mormon writers, who tend to potray him as a devil. He was neither; he was a just a man, a good man.
As always with Amazon, my purchase was received on time, even early, and in perfectly new condition, still wrapped, as promised.
