Lucinda wrote:and/or Richard Bushman? I listened to his podcast interview today on mormonstories.org and was impressed by him. I have not read his book--if I do will all of my Joseph Smith issues be solved?
I really liked the book. Personally, I was thankful he didn't dwell on polygamy, the Book of Abraham, the Kirtland bank failure, and the treasure hunting, since I've been reading about those issues (and discussing them online) for years. Those topics are mentioned, but the book isn't
about them. There are numerous other books and articles that go into more depth on those subjects.
What I really liked was learning about all the "gaps" in Joseph Smith's history. At Church, we learn about events, so our knowledge of Joseph Smith is usually arranged like dots on a timeline: Book of Mormon translation/priesthood restorations, Church organization, Zion's Camp, Kirtland Temple dedication, Liberty Jail, Nauvoo, Martyrdom.
I thought Bushman did a great job filling in the gaps and telling us what Joseph Smith was doing in his day-to-day life. The book paints a really good picture of what life was like at that time, and what Joseph's life was like.
It was also my impression that while the "negative" stuff seems to fly by pretty fast without any undue focus or attention, the positive stuff does as well. It's not like the First Vision gets 10 pages of adoration. It's merely presented as an event in his life, and then the story moves on.
There are also a
ton of references to early anti-Mormon sources for Joseph's early life, such as "Mormonism Unvailed". That surprised me.
So definitely check it out. It's not going to "solve" any of your issues with Joseph Smith, but you might learn a lot about his life and the culture of the early days of the Church.