Rating: 
Summary: Stellar!
Review: Edited on 3/2/4Yes, a spotlight review. My first. I am honored. I'll admit that when I first wrote this review I had nary a thought of so being rewarded, but rewarded I am! Well, I'm not a scholar on Mormonism, nor a Mormon, so I think my perspective is a little different then the detailed reviews below. I read this book because after I read "Under the Banner of Heaven" by Krakauer, I was like, yeah, Mormonism is interesting. This book is THE book to read if you want a clear picture of Joseph Smith. Of course, people nit-pick, but I know an engaging, well-written book when I read one, and this is an engaging, well-written book. Some of the chapters I like best included her documentation of the "Great Revival" and how that influenced Smith as a child; her portrait of the young Joseph Smith is amazingly interesting; and her documentation between the establishment of the temple ritual and Smith's fascination and free masonry. I think the less interesting (and likely less historically accurate) information comes during her coverage of the Nauvoo fights over polygamy and exocommunication. That doesn't detract from the excellence of the book. Writing history is a subjective experience, anybody looking for objective truth from historical biography might as well stick to reading his or her bible. If you're interested in the life of Smith in a non-relgious sense, you might also enjoy the Cremaster cycle by Matthew Barney. Or that might totally freak you out. The story of the life of Joseph Smith is as interesting as that of any early American one would think to name. I really would recommend this book to anybody looking to gain a better grasp of Mormonism. You might also want to check out Mormon Country by Wallace Stegner. That book was commissioned by the WPA and is a fairly folksy and well written account of Mormon life in the early twentieth century. It is also readily and available and cheap. Also, there's a whole sub-genre of Mormon true crime. Check out "Salamander", "The Prophet of Death" or "THe Poet and the Murderer". Not to mention the classic Norman Mailer book about Gary Gilmore "The Executioner's Song". This is a problem I've noticed with trying to pick up books on Mormonism: they're pretty scarce and expensive. I guess that's a testament to the faith of the flock.
Rating:
Summary: More than just about Mormonism
Review: I am only 70% through reading this book and I would like to say that I already learned a lot of details about the background in which the Mormon religion was invented and modified over the years by Joseph Smith. In addition I am learning something about life in the 1800's and the issues that also affected non-Mormons.
I would recommend to read this book, even if you are not a Mormon.
Rating: 
Summary: Good but not the best
Review: Fawn Brodie's book was a landmark book in Mormon studies that forced Mormon historians to write their history a little different than how it was traditionally written. Brodie is a very gifted writer. The book is well written and is very readable. No one interested in the life of Joseph Smith can help but read this book. However the book does have many problems and limitations. Brodie depends on books like E.D. Howe's book "Mormonism Unveiled" and John C. Bennett's book "History of the Saints." These are two primary historical documents but Brodie does not use them with caution as other biographers of Smith. Howe's book was suppose to be statements by the Smith's neighbors and others who knew Smith and his family written in the 1830s, but many historians believe that a lot of Howe's book are forgeries written by the same person. Bennett's book was written to expose Joseph Smith's evil doings in Illinois. The document is clearly written by a very angry fanatic anxious to destroy Joseph Smith. Most every historian knows this type of document needs to be used with caution, something Brodie does not do. Bennett was also a very shady character (see Bennett's biography "The Saintly Scoundrel" by Andrew Smith). Brodie sometimes does not give good documentation. On page 32 she says Emma probably noticed as Smith's other followers that when Smith spoke with intense feeling the "blood drained from his face, leaving a frightening, almost luminous pallor." There is not document or any evidence that Emma ever noticed such a trait. Brodie also goes too far with the amount of wives Joseph had. She should be commended for being the first person to attempt such a thing, but recent scholarship has shown her numbers to be erroneous. She says 48, but it was likely much less, anywhere from 29 to 33 (see "In Sacred Loneliness" by Todd Compton and "Farms[Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies] Review of Books" Volume 10, Number 2, 1998). When dealing with the witnesses that claimed to have seen the plates the Book of Mormon came from Brodie gets a little stupid. 3 witnesses claimed to have seen both the angel that gave Smith the plates along with the plates. 8 others claimed to have seen the plates. Over half of these 11 witnesses later became angry at Joseph Smith and left his church. But none of them during this time tried to expose Joseph as a fraud (see "Investigating the Book of Mormon Witnesses" by Richard L. Anderson). With this fact Brodie does reject the idea of the witnesses being co-conspirators, but the men became victims of "Joseph's unconscious but positive talent at hypnosis" (page 77). That has got to be the most ludicrous idea I have ever heard! I challenge anyone in the world to unconsciously or consciously to make me see a vision. She has got to do better then that. I understand that when doing secular history (the history I personally prefer) that it is difficult to deal with the witnesses. But the idea that Smith could have put 11 people, many at the same time, under hypnosis sounds stupid to anyone with a brain. A long with reading Brodie's book I would suggest also reading "Reconsidering No Man Knows My History" edited by Newell G. Bringhurst. The essays in this book both praise the book and deal with the books problems. I would also suggest reading "Joseph Smith: the First Mormon" by Donna Hill which is much more well balanced biography than Brodie's. Brodie tries to get inside the mind of Joseph Smith too much, something Donna Hill does not do. I would also suggest reading "Joseph Smith and the Beginnings of Mormonism" by Richard Bushman. This book is only about Joseph's early life but is very scholarly written. Bushman is currently writing a full biography about Joseph which will likely be better than any others written before. Bushman is a historian on a much higher level than Fawn Brodie or Donna Hill. I would also suggest reading a more recent biography of Joseph Smith by Robert V. Remini
Rating: 
Summary: True But Yet False
Review: This book clearly shows who Mr. Smith was. Mr. Smith was merely a con artist and like a good con artist he was able to convince others to follow him. Unlike, as other have point out in the reviews; he is nothing close to a profit or a preacher. Yes, he was human, but he chose to manipulate others in his "quest" to be perfect. The fact that he was human clearly says that he was never perfect and now that he has died shows that he will never be perfect in any stretch of the imagination. I have read book upon books about the Mormon cult (both for and against) and this is not a book that I would recommend to someone. I would especially not recommend this book to someone who would like to be apart of the cult as it is more one sided. A great book to read would be The Kingdom of the Cults By Walter Martin. Not only does this book tell the complete store of Smith but it also tells the changing history of the Mormons.
Rating:
Summary: What an eye opener
Review: All my life, I have know quite a bit about the Mormons and their ways BUT I never really knew much about Joseph Smith. This is a problem when a person is trying to understand a cult since a cult is defined by it's leader as well as it's followers. This book really shines the light on who this man was, looking at him from many diffrent angles, from his Con artist days convincing people to give him money in exchange for helping the land owner find gold all the way to the last days of his life where he had angered almost everyone in the state. This is really a book everyone should read, as it really looks at what some people call a prophet. (My feeling, I know some don't aggre with my view)
It is a real look at Joseph Smith.
Rating:
Summary: No Man Knows My History-A Jewish Perspective
Review: I thought that Mz. Brodie did her research. She is an accomplished historian. However, I do not think she shows Smith as more of a fraud than Jimmy Swaggart or Billy Sunday. She points out that Smith was only human with human failings. I find that knowing the TRUTH about a personage frees me from seeing that person as a god-man as Christians have done to the poor Rabbi from Nazereth. Smith is considered by me, a Jewish Rabbi, as a Prophet of the same caliber as the Prophet Mohammed or the Apostle Paul.
Rating:
Summary: Buy and Read This Book!!!
Review: Yes, buy and read this book. You can see from the reviews that it is controversial. Reading controversial literature generally makes people more well rounded. The controversy doesn't revolve around the merits of the book. Any book that touches a religious theme has the same source of antagonism. A large number of people reading the history of Joseph Smith are doing so to ask the question: Was Smith truly the divine relevator of God or was he a charlatan? Such controversies are always mysteries. Accurate historical and scientific research has a wreckless history of messing with beliefs based on revelation. Look at the job that Copernicus did on the Catholic Church with his little diagrams suggesting the earth was round. Ms. Brodie was a faithful member of the LDS Church who changed her mind on this issue while doing her historical research. Yes, she is an apostate. She brings to the surface many of the facts that led to her conclusions. Of course, it should be noted that she is researching in a field where others have done twisting of facts to cast Smith as a living saint. Over all, it appears to be an extremely well researched work in a field where all of the research is questionable in nature. If you are interested in LDS or Utah history, I would strongly recommend the book. If your are wanting to read the accepted version of Joseph Smith's life, I would recommend reading The Work and The Glory by Gerald Lund. If you enjoy learning, I would pick up Brodie's book, it is far more interesting.
Rating:
Summary: Totally biased and false
Review: This book was written, using anti-Mormon documents as sources for the propoganda. Ms. Brodie was not writing this book as a true informative study of the LDS church. She was writing this as a way to spread intolerance. This book may be a convenient way for people to disprove Joseph Smith and the LDS church, but it is completely ignorant of the facts. Honestly, would you want to trust someone who started writing a book convinced that she was going to find out that the church isn't true and that Joseph Smith was a liar? Why would she even want to "research"? She already knew what she wanted to find, so she was basically wasting her time. This book is definitely one to AVOID!
Rating: 
Summary: Joseph Smith "The Imposter"
Review: I read this book while living in Idaho in the 60s. Returning to Idaho in 1999 and being confronted more then ever with Mormon society I felt it necessary to start reading the controversial history of the Mormon movement. I find Joseph Smith to be an imposter, a man hungry for recognition and a man willing to cheat his way to wealth and power. This book and the research Brodie did to write it is an eye opener. A prophet for profit.
Rating:
Summary: No women knew his history either...
Review: Many other independent and non lds sources have dispupted and disproven much of this book. This book makes me question the authors history and life more than that of the mormon prohpet.
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