Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling | 
| Author: Richard Lyman Bushman
Publisher: Vintage
Category: Book
List Price: $18.95
Buy New: $11.30
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Rating:  99 reviews
Sales Rank: 92639
Media: Paperback
Pages: 784
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2.2
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 6.2 x 1.5
ISBN: 1400077532
Dewey Decimal Number: 200
EAN: 9781400077533
ASIN: 1400077532
Publication Date: March 13, 2007
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Product Description
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.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 94 more reviews...
 Never a Mormon but interested in Joseph Smith June 25, 2009
William Taylor (Moscow, ID USA)
I have read biographies, journals, letters, and diaries which give an insight into one of the most interesting men in American history. There are a finite number of facts about the Mormon prophet, and what fascinates me is what becomes of those facts. No author includes them all. No author gives them all the same importance. So, it is interesting to see what facts disappear, what facts receive positive emphasis, and what facts spin away until they morph into something else.
Our author does all of these things. He is writing from an LDS perspective, and so he gives the reader an LDS result. Here is an example of what he lelaves out. He does not talk about the weight of the golden plates, which Smith supposedly retrieved from what was then Robinson Hill but is now Hill Cumorah. Martin Harris, the rich farmer who served for a while as Smith's scribe and who paid for the publishing of the book, lifted the plates, guessed that they weighed from forty to fifty pounds, and pronounced them gold or lead. Other people also lifted the plates, among them at least three women, including Smith's wife Emma, when she was dusting the table. Unfortunately, a stack full of gold plates of the dimension described by Smith would have weighed 140 pounds! This is not a small detail, and Bushman ignores it completely.
He does give the best details I have ever seen about the organization of the church. That might be his key contribution.
Bill Taylor
 we see what we want to. May 7, 2009
truthseeker (wyoming)
4 out of 14 found this review helpful
This book is really well written and I would give it more stars were it not for the fact that the writer definitely white-washed much of the story probably due to the fact that he is a believer. The Joseph Smith story aside--what about the Book of Mormon?: If the Book of Mormon were true, there would be an overwhelming amount of archaeological, linguistic and genetic data to prove it and there is, in fact, a lack of any of them. There is plenty of the above mentioned things to prove historical information in the Bible. That doesn't prove there is a God or that the Bible is his word, but at least places, events, plants, and animals mentioned were recorded accurately. There have been plenty of LDS archaeologists, linquists, and others, who tried to prove the Book of Mormon is true. Many of them are now Ex Mormons, or have been excommunicated, or are Mormon Apologists. The Reorganized LDS church has admitted that the book is meant to be read metaphorically and some of them are descendants of Joseph Smith and have historical documents that the main LDS church does not have. So, my point is this: The story may be beautiful and inspiring, especially a white-washed version, but that does not make it true or real. Most people believe their religion is the true one but that doesn't make it so. Millions of LDS people believe Joseph Smith was a prophet. Hundreds of thousands of brave Ex-Mormons don't believe he was a prophet, even many of his own descendants don't believe it. We see what we want to see. The author of this book did just that.
 Spectacular Biography March 8, 2009
Lark Escobar (San Antonio, Texas)
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
Believers and Non Believers alike can gain a comprehensive historical and personal perspective on the life, behavior, and general intentions of the controversial Joseph Smith.
You will learn something new in reading this book- about the US, about the man, about people, or perhaps even about yourself.
This book details the family background contributing to the rise of Joseph and the political climate sustaining his decline- and everything occurring in between.
The first NUETRAL book on Mormonism. February 18, 2009
Aaron P. Hart (Atlanta, GA USA)
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
This was a very long book to read. Richard Bushman was thorough in his biography on Mormonism's founder and prophet, Joseph Smith. Most books I find on Mormonism are very pro-Mormon with a whitewashed Joseph who was randomly ridiculed for being who he was and several more books that are very anti-Mormon that display a charlatan who was out to impress in order to gain power, money, and women. So, it is hard to make a well informed conclusion on the man with such polar views of him.
I saw this book and checked a few of the chapters. I was impressed to see a book on Joseph Smith that talked openly about his treasure seeking and plural wives that was actual written by a Mormon believer. I bought the book and have been engrossed in it ever since. It was surprising to see how open minded Joseph Smith was discussed and the immense history that would lead to the beginnings of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Also, I felt that a lot of my own opinions were changed on Joseph Smith.
First, I would say that anyone curious about Joseph Smith's own history should read this book. Secondly, I feel that this book leaves the reader with one of two conclusions they can derive. One conclusion is that Joseph Smith made it all up with the intent of bringing back the magic (miracles) that shaped the lives of Biblical characters into a truly American religious frontier along with doctrine as he understood it from the Bible. Another conclusion is that Joseph Smith was truly called of God to restore the Church of Christ to the Earth. Either way you choose to go, Richard Bushman leaves both doors wide open for the reader.
 An extremely scholarly 500+ pg book on the 19th century's most contreversial religious figure February 11, 2009
Vice Leon
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
If you expect to read this book in less than two weeks, you're dreaming. This book is so-information filled that it will have you rereading paragraphs left and right. I usually read 100 pages of a book every day, but when I first got this whopper, and read 100 pages, I literally spent 3 or 4 hours. I've gotten 300 pages in, and I finally decided that I will use this book for reference only, because it is so overloaded with information, that it is almost not enjoyable for pleasurable reading; this book should mostly be used for reports, essays, or for hardcore history buffs.
Overall, it is not Mr. Bushman's fault that the slow, factual pace is too overwhelming for me. I highly recommend this book if you need to know A LOT about Joseph Smith (this is probably the most in-depth biography I've ever read), but if you only need to know an overall history, just read shorter biographies or Wikipedia.
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