Fawn Brodie, Richard Bushman, and Dan Vogel have the 3 most popular biographies on Joseph Smith prior to John Turner’s latest. Which is best? John will answer that and we’ll discuss the First Vision anachronisms. Check out our conversation…
Don’t miss our other conversations with John: https://gospeltangents.com/people/john-turner/
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Landscape of Joseph Smith Biographies
John Turner is author of “Joseph Smith: The Rise and Fall of an American Prophet. Dr. Turner’s book enters a field rich with extensive scholarship. He notes that the main biographies over the years include Fawn Brodie’s “No Man Knows My History,” Richard Bushman’s “Rough Stone Rolling,” and works by Dan Vogel,[1] Richard Van Wagoner,[2] and Martha Bradley.[3]
- Fawn Brodie’s “No Man Knows My History”: Published in 1945, Brodie’s work is recognized for her “fantastic writing”and remarkable achievement given her limited access to sources available today. While now “out of date,”it was incredibly popular, with Richard Bushman himself acknowledging its enduring “perch” as a favorite among readers, perhaps due to Brodie’s skills as an English major and great writer. She was technically Mormon but very critical of Joseph Smith.
- Richard Bushman’s “Rough Stone Rolling”: Dr. Turner expresses “enormous admiration”for Richard Bushman as a person and scholar. Bushman’s biography “expertly contextualizes Joseph’s life in the culture of the early 19th century United States”and benefits from tremendous access to sources, though notably, it predates the availability of the Joseph Smith Papers. Over the last two decades, “Rough Stone Rolling” has become the “go-to biography for any scholar or seriously interested party in Joseph Smith.” Bushman’s work was seen as a more “faithful perspective” in contrast to Brodie’s critical stance.
- Dan Vogel’s Contributions: Dr. Turner highlights Dan Vogel as a “really diligent researcher”whose “Early Mormon Documents collection”[4] was an “essential resource for historians”before the Joseph Smith Papers. Vogel’s works, including “Joseph Smith, The Making of a Prophet” and “Charisma Under Pressure,” mark him as “one of the more significant historians of Mormonism” in this generation. While his books may not have achieved the wide readership of Brodie’s or Bushman’s, their scholarly value is undeniable.
Dr. Turner clarifies that he didn’t write his biography because existing ones were “inadequate” or “stink.” Instead, he aimed to write a “different one” that might be “better or does justice to different parts of Joseph’s personality.” His approach involved immersing himself in the sources, particularly the Joseph Smith Papers volumes and website, and reading the latest scholarship, rather than directly positioning his work against others. He trusted there would be “room for my perspective from my position.”
Unpacking Joseph Smith’s Early Life
When discussing Joseph Smith’s early life, Dr. Turner notes a significant challenge: “we know very little” about the period before 1829.
- Scarcity of Sources: Most of what is known comes from a small number of sources, or at least only a few that detail events.
- Lucy Mack Smith’s Biography: While a “great source,”Lucy Mack Smith’s dictated biography from 1844 (decades after many events) is often the “only source we have to go on,”which presents a “little troublesome” limitation.
- Joseph Smith’s Own Accounts: Joseph himself did not discuss his childhood in any great depth in his histories, only occasionally alluding to it in sermons.
- Conflicting Recollections: Early accounts of Joseph from Palmyra were often “filed up and divergent,” coming from individuals who “were not too impressed with Joseph Smith and his family.”
- No Prefigured Greatness: Dr. Turner emphasizes that “there was nothing that prefigured this [future greatness or trajectory] in my opinion”in Joseph’s childhood. He wasn’t a “center of attention” in his family, and his mother only wrote about him in detail when she got to the “leg operation.”
- Alvin’s Role: The family’s initial hopes for leadership were “pinned on Alvin”until his death in 1823. It was only after Alvin’s passing that Joseph “begins to occupy center stage in the household”and develops into the leader he became.
Navigating the First Vision Controversy
Dr. Turner finds the detailed debates surrounding the First Vision – such as its precise dating (1820, 1823, 1824) and the presence of revivals in Palmyra in 1820 – “a little bit tiresome.”
- Faith vs. History: He suggests these debates are “more faith questions than historical.” He points out that the Church, particularly President Gordon B. Hinckley, placed immense weight on the First Vision’s historicity, leading to the idea that if one can “poke holes” in the account, the entire “edifice collapse[s].” As an academic historian, Dr. Turner states it’s “really hard to recreate any conversation a week after the fact, let alone 12 or 18 years after the fact.” For him, the precise details of dating or revivals are somewhat a matter of “Who cares?”
- The Core Story: For Dr. Turner, “there’s no reason to doubt the core of the story that a young man troubled about the state of his soul, troubled about the churches that surrounded him, sought, saw, and heard the Lord.”
- Contextual Understanding of Visions: He highlights that Joseph grew up in a “visionary household,”with parents who had dreams and visions and a maternal grandfather who experienced a “powerful visionary conversion.” He explains that “visions tend to follow cultural scripts and patterns.”Given Joseph’s family background and the culture he lived in, Dr. Turner finds it “not surprising that one would have one oneself” and doesn’t find it hard to believe Joseph had a powerful religious experience as a young man.
- Common Themes: While accounts of the First Vision are “different,” they “do share some common themes,”including a concern about the “apostasy of other churches” and “at least a vision of Jesus Christ.” However, “exactly what it contained, I don’t think that’s accessible to us as historians.”
Ultimately, Dr. Turner emphasizes that because of the multifaceted nature of Joseph Smith’s life and the controversies surrounding him, “Americans in general but also historians and biographers will never be finished with Joseph Smith.” His own book and the ongoing scholarship continue to add to our understanding of this complex figure. He also describes the Book of Mormon’s success as “not primarily an act of deception, but as an act of audacity,” a “hairbrained scheme” that Joseph “pulls off.”
[1] Vogel has 2 books: “Making of a Prophet” which can be purchased at https://amzn.to/3wLDFec and “Charisma Under Pressure” at https://amzn.to/4dIcdmP.
[2] Van Wagoner’s book is titled “Natural Born Seer,” and can be purchased at https://amzn.to/4449bWe.
[3] Bradley’s book is called “Glorious in Persecution” and can be purchased at https://amzn.to/43TDIaA
[4] There are 5 volumes. The first is available at https://amzn.to/4lcVyLe
Don’t miss our other conversations with John: https://gospeltangents.com/people/john-turner/
Copyright © 2025
Gospel Tangents
All Rights Reserved
Except for book reviews, no content may be reproduced without written permission
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