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Summary: Brodie or Nibley
Review: It's telling that Brodie's book is still in print while Nibley's is not. While you can find excerpts of Nibley on line, you certainly won't find it on Amazon.
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Summary: Still the Best Biography of the Mormon Founder
Review: If there had been no Fawn Brodie, Mormon historians would have had to invent her. Ever since she published "No Man Knows My History: The Life of Joseph Smith, the Mormon Prophet" in 1945, calling into serious question most of the faith claims based on Mormonism's early history, an enormous amount of energy has been expended by Mormon historians, apologists, and critics of all backgrounds and persuasions either to defend or to deny her conclusions. The themes explored by Mormon historians since that time have often responded to Brodie's analysis.When Brodie published "No Man Knows My History" in 1945, she analyzed Mormonism's founder using the standards of secular scholarship. She interpreted him as a charlatan at first motivated by self-serving desires but gradually coming to believe in his own prophetic mission. She also acknowledged his very real accomplishments in forming an important religious movement in the United States. In many ways it was a seminal study that served as a transition point between what has been inaccurately called the old and the new Mormon history, the "old" generally viewed as polemical while the "new" was considered less concerned with questions of religious truth and more interested in understanding why events unfolded as they did. It is a measure of the success of her biography of Smith that it is still considered more than fifty years later the standard work on the subject and the starting point for all analyses of Mormonism. A second edition of this book, published in 1971, revised some of her earlier conclusions, especially her contention that Smith had been a charlatan, and incorporated recent trends from psychohistory to explain him more as a self-deluded imposter. Brodie, perhaps intentionally, dealt a damaging blow to many of the Mormon foundational beliefs when she questioned most of the basic assumptions about Mormon origins in her biography of Joseph Smith. In "No Man Knows My History" she systematically dealt with five basic issues that have challenged Mormon historians ever since. One of the most important was Joseph Smith's "First Vision," for which she emphatically denied that there was any valid evidence until Smith fabricated it in 1838 when he began dictating his history to provide a starting point for his prophetic career that would counter charges that he was involved in treasure seeking. A second was the whole issue of treasure seeking itself and its relationship both to Smith and Mormon origins. Third, Brodie questioned the origins and content of the Book of Mormon, asserting that it was a product of Joseph Smith's vivid imagination and not an actual history of any group of people who came to America. Fourth, she explored in depth the origins of plural marriage and the duplicity Smith registered in originating it to justify what she thought was his licentious nature. Finally, Brodie interpreted Smith as a would-be tyrant seeking to take over some or all of the territory of the United States to create his own theocratic state with himself in charge. She provides an in depth analysis of each of these themes in her biography of Smith, and those perspectives still hold a powerful sway over Mormon historiography. One cannot begin to understand the development of the Mormon religion without grappling with the issues raised by Fawn Brodie.
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Summary: A great book for students!
Review: When it comes to the life of Joseph Smith no one does it better then Frawn Brodie. This is the perfect book for students researching Joseph Smith and the Mormon Church. It is well documented with footnotes and such. It makes me laugh when I read the reviews of people who didn't like the book because Ms. Brodie was anti-Mormon. She was far from it. I couldn't put "No Man Knows My History" down, to read how Joseph Smith turn a small little religious cult into the powerful LDS Church is amazing. Buy this book!
Rating: 
Summary: No Ma'am, That's Not History
Review: My only comment is to read Hugh Nibley's "No Ma'am, That's Not History." This will answer any questions about the remarks in Brodie's book
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Summary: A great book - A MUST READ!
Review: Wow! Great book that has stood the test of time. I can understand why Mormons don't really care for Ms. Brodie. Ouch! She exposes Joseph Smith for what he was....a delusional con artist. Mr. Smith had quite an imagination and was an exceptionaly creative man. Unfortunately, he got a little carried away and started thinking he was a prophet, king and general.
I know, I know..... Brigham Young had nothing to do with the massacre at Mountain Meadows, there IS such a language as 'reformed Egyptian', and there REALLY were golden tablets buried in some hill. If you believe in Santa Claus you probably won't like this book.
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Summary: Unsubstantiated drivel
Review: This no biography, although Brodie would like you to think it is. She's simply a disgruntled ex-mormon who has an axe to grind. Many scholars have discredited her work. Read "No Ma'am, That's Not History" - ISBN 6097301243 (author Hugh Nibley) for example.
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Summary: Can one give less than one star?
Review: How tiresome. If I were looking into Xerox, I wouldn't read reports on Xerox written by Ricoh, or even worse, a "former" Xerox employee. This book truly is a waste of time for anoyone looking into Mormonism or the life of Joseph Smith with an objective perspective. If you are an anti-Mormon, then have at it, but remember that none of the references withstand empirical investigation. They are all based on hearsay and fabricated documents that reference themselves. If you want to be objective, then be honest in your research and study the subject itself or the actual writings, not those of a biased source. Don't waste your time with this tripe.
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Summary: Not quite the "brilliant" work some may suppose
Review: Seeking to be primarily an exposition on Mormonism's founder, Joseph Smith, and his life, this biased and typically unscholarly work depicts the life of Joseph Smith as anything but prophet-like. Her twisted and oft times distorted view makes this book completely unreliable and, therefore, not quite the "brilliant" work some may suppose. At the time of its original publishing, "No Man Knows My History" was considered the best anti-Mormon literature around. Ms. Brodie attempted to disclose supposed "secrets" about Joseph Smith's life and whisked away any notion of a his prophetic calling. With deceit in her heart, she believed it was necessary to perhaps logically explaining every condition, circumstance and story with more believable worldly circumstances. She even used psychoanalysis as a justification of her distorted views. Just as science sometimes attempts to explain there is no God, Ms. Brodie wants to show there is no such thing as a modern-day prophet! I was significantly disheartened to hear from some that this book of blatant untruths is probably the best reading material on Joseph Smith around. Obviously, not too inept to study, ponder and pray, these multitudes of ignoramuses are too quick to judge and probably not willing to seriously study in-depth (and from different perspectives) the life of a man too great in personal stature and unique spirituality to be told all in one book. No one book completely encases nor sufficiently explains the sheer virtuosity and dynamic life of Joseph Smith. I hope that others may know Ms. Brodie's book is not the end-all-discussion authority on Joseph Smith, nor will it ever be. I would recommend other reading material, but this book by no means gives a proper perspective!
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Summary: self-contradictory fiction
Review: Brodie and her "psychological" fiction masquerading as biography in subjects from Thomas Jefferson to Joseph Smith have been slammed by more and better reviewers than me so I'll just recommend that you read "No Ma'am, That's Not History" - ISBN 6097301243 (author Hugh Nibley) for an entertaining expose of Brodie's discredited flights of fancy. I could take more time explaining but I've got lots better things to do than waste time on this collection of fictional tidbits. I think the words "trashy" and "amateurish" would best describe this book that includes long lists of footnotes that are in some cases outright fabrications and in other instances refer to fabrications printed by some other author who also fabricated information regarding Joseph Smith when they couldn't find anything bad. If you are truly interested in Joseph Smith or the origins of The Church of Jesus Christ (Mormon) I suggest Donna Hill's (author is not a Mormon but an Historian) "Joseph Smith:The First Mormon". Even better would be to read Joseph Smith himself in "The Book of Mormon" or "Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith". The Library of America, in a volume entitled "American Sermons", has included a complete funeral sermon given by Joseph Smith just prior to his murder called "The King Follett Sermon". (King Follett was a friend of Joseph Smith's and Smith gives an overview of theology that is nothing short of astounding.) Ms. Brodie's book is really only a collection of discredited psychobabble and distortion that is quite disorganized and boring.
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Summary: Discredited and disreputable
Review: When reviewing a critical biography, it helps to know who the author is. Ms. Brodie is a disgruntled niece of former Mormon Church president David O. McKay. What better way to attempt to tarnish the family name than to smear the name of the prophet that founded the Church your uncle led? Well, Ms. Brodie's book has been discredited by far more knowledgable scholars like Hugh Nibley, among others. If you like Mormon fiction, this is your book. If you want facts, look elswehere.
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