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Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling Kindle Edition

by Richard Lyman Bushman (Author)

293 customer reviews

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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.

From the Trade Paperback edition.

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Product Details

File Size: 7425 KB
Print Length: 768 pages
Publisher: Vintage (December 18, 2007)
Publication Date: December 18, 2007
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
Language: English
ASIN: B000XUBEZM
Text-to-Speech: Enabled

X-Ray:

Enabled

Word Wise: Enabled
Lending: Not Enabled
Enhanced Typesetting: Enabled

Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #37,978 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
- #12 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Religion & Spirituality > Christian Books & Bibles > Christian Denominations & Sects > Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints
- #28 in Books > Christian Books & Bibles > Christian Denominations & Sects > Mormonism
- #34 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Biographies & Memoirs > Leaders & Notable People > Religious > Christianity

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Customer Reviews

293

4.5 out of 5 stars

5 star		70%
4 star		19%
3 star		5%
2 star		3%
1 star		3%

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

667 of 740 people found the following review helpful

Truth sometimes really is stranger than fiction.

By J. Swift on July 26, 2006

Format: Hardcover

I would like to start the review admitting I am not a Mormon. I love biographies of great people in history. I read "No man knows my History" by Fawn Brodie. I came on that book by accident. And I realize from some of the reviews on Amazon that Mormons dont like that book much. I thought it was great, but admit that she paints Joseph Smith in a negative light sometimes. But I could still see through enough to see a great man behind her attacks on his character.

"Rough Stone Rolling" is the exact opposite of that book. Richard Bushman uses a lot of the same stories but doesnt have the same negative slant. But he still shows that Joseph Smith was not perfect, which I admire. This is the best biography I have ever read.

This book takes you all through Joseph Smith's life. From a farmboy in New York who got on his knees and asked God to show him the way, to the man who was gunned down in Carthage a martyr for his calling.

If he was a Prophet or not is up for debate. As a Christian I believe that God is real and God can still speak today. Before I read the history of Joseph Smith if someone asked me if he was a prophet, I would have said no. After reading up on the man I would answer that it is not out of the realm of possibility. I believe he believed he was a prophet. I believe that some unexplainable things happened around him and the early Church.

The question was he a great man or not has been settled in my mind at least. I think he was a great man. To be tared and feathered and beaten, and still preach that next morning. To take persecutions and imprisionment in stride, to never compromise what you believe even in the face of death. These things are the very definition of a great man.Read more ›

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269 of 298 people found the following review helpful

Joseph Smith - Quintessential American

By Fr Phillip Bloom on August 29, 2007

Format: Hardcover

Desiring some basic understanding of Mormonism, I asked a priest friend from Utah to recommend a book. He said that it is hard to find a good book because writings on Mormonism tend to be either Mormon propaganda or anti-Mormon attacks. He did mention that a lot of people were reading *Under the Banner of Heaven* by Jon Krakauer. It turned out be a slash-and-burn attack not only on Mormonism, but religion in general. Shortly after reading Krakauer's book, I discovered *Rough Stone Rolling.* What a contrast! And what an amazing accomplishment! As both a practicing Mormon and a Columbia University professor, Dr. Bushman enables an outsider (like myself) to appreciate the life and times of Joseph Smith.

Before commenting on *Rough Stone Rolling,* I want to make an obvious (but necessary) disclaimer: As a Catholic I do not accept the basic thesis of Mormonism - namely, that Jesus founded a Church and then allowed it to fall into apostasy until a nineteenth century American named Joseph Smith restored it. Mormons believe that, with the death of the last apostle, the Church also died. Catholics, by contrast, believe that the pope and bishops are successors of the apostles.

With that disclaimer in mind, I must say that Dr. Bushman helped me appreciate the great genius of Joseph Smith. At a time when rationalism was robbing people of a direct experience of God, Smith convincingly presented himself as a prophet and wanted others to have similar revelations from God. But he also recognized the need for authority to prevent individual revelations from fracturing the community. In the process he set up structures very familiar to Catholics: a priesthood, a hierarchy with one final authority and rituals which connect believers to divine mysteries.Read more ›

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376 of 419 people found the following review helpful

Warts and All

By R. W. Rasband VINE VOICE on November 12, 2005

Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase

It's hard to overestimate just how much Richard Bushman's long-awaited biography of Joseph Smith has been eagerly anticipated by Mormon readers. Now that it's finally here it would be only natural if it didn't live up to expectations. The thing is--it's just as good as we all hoped it would be. "Rough Stone Rolling" is the culmination of almost forty years of what has been called "the new Mormon history." It's impossible for LDS writers to be objective about Joseph given his place in LDS history, so Bushman aims for balance and candor and succeeds brilliantly.

When I was growing up as a Mormon I have to admit that much of the LDS writing about Joseph was an obstacle to my faith. According to many he was a ideal man without flaw, a sort of 19th-century superhero. This made him a papier-mache saint that was impossible to relate to on a human level. Bushman describes a man who trusted the wrong people at times; was hotheaded, impulsive, and contentious; couldn't abide personal criticism; was a lousy businessman--in short, a man with familiar human foibles. On the other hand he had a large, open heart, an expansive view of human possibilities, and an almost scary insight into the religious quandries of our lives. He was able to convince many, many others that the heavens had been opened. Much of 19th century Protestantism seemed spiritually dead as a stone; Joseph and his followers believed he had restored the flow of revelation that had existed in Biblical times. He became a prophet in a distinctly American vein.

Perhaps his most famous line for non-Mormons was "no man knows my history; if I hadn't lived it I wouldn't have believed it myself." Bushman captures the sheer mystical mystery of Joseph's life.Read more ›

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

Five Stars

Very detailed and through history of the man and the times he lives in.

Published 7 days ago by J. Stier

Enjoyed the more thorough background to Joseph Smith

Interesting information. Enjoyed the more thorough background to Joseph Smith, stuff that doesn't really get mentioned in church lessons.

Published 9 days ago by Ashley Garrett

Truth you won't hear at Church and you darn not ask

Thank you Richard Bushman for taking such time, study, and truthfulness in writing this Biography about JS. Read more

Published 13 days ago by Marilyn Clawson

The definitive biography on Joseph Smith

I'd heard this book referenced many times and was curious to read for myself the most well researched account of Joseph Smith's life. Read more

Published 19 days ago by Guyzen

A good book for the faithful

Faith promoting, but overall a reasonably accurate picture of the founder of Mormonism. Author places the man in his historical setting and justifies the mystic qualities of the... Read more

Published 21 days ago by jim84103

Five Stars

VERY DETAILED

Published 21 days ago by rogerwash

I enjoyed it, immensely

This book presents documents and a thorough history based on an abundance of research. I enjoyed it, immensely.

Published 1 month ago by rhampton

Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rollng

Excellent book! Well researched and doesn't pull any punches. Definitely shows the absolute dedication that Joseph Smith had to his mission, despite the many problems it caused... Read more

Published 1 month ago by Record Spinner

A Great Book

This book was written by a respected scholar. It was not written just for entertainment, but for those who want accurate historical information. Read more

Published 1 month ago by J D

Joseph the Prophet

My testimony of Joseph Smith as a prophet has always been strong, and reading this thoroughly researched book just confirms what I have always known, Joseph Smith was a true... Read more

Published 1 month ago by Darin Bell

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