JOSEPH SMITH: The First Mormon/The Definitive Story of a Complex and Charismatic Man and the People Who Knew Him

Hill, Donna

ISBN 10: 038500804X / ISBN 13: 9780385008044

Published by Doubleday & Company, Inc., Garden City, NY, 1977

About this Item

528 pp. Original brown paper covered boards w/ gilt title on black cloth spine. Binding very bright and clean. Light foxing to top edge of text block. Spine ends a bit bumped. DJ lightly soiled w/ light edge wear; approx. 1/2" closed tear at top edge of rear panel. Illust. w/ b/w plates. Contents very nice. Bookseller Inventory # 10080RG

Bibliographic Details

Title: JOSEPH SMITH: The First Mormon/The ...

Publisher: Doubleday & Company, Inc., Garden City, NY

Publication Date: 1977

Binding: Hard Cover

Book Condition:Very Good+

Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good+

Edition: First Edition

About this title

Synopsis:

One of four major biographies of Joseph Smith, Donna Hill’s award-winning book is the most comprehensive. Hill cautiously rejects the simplistic reductionism of either/or characterizations in favor of a broader, more humanistic view that takes Smith on his own terms as both prophet and as man.

Foremost among Hill’s concerns is the spiritual drama that defined Smith’s controversial life, as well as his theologically motivated sexuality and the apocalyptic assumptions that fueled his political and military activism. Her intent is not to validate Smith’s actions, only to understand them. Equal attention is given to the environmental influences that shaped Smith’s 1830's New York upbringing. Add th these Hill’s impeccable scholarship, the result of nine years of research, and her talents as a novelist, and the significance of her achievement is apparent. Her quest for authenticity provides a vivid portrait of an extraordinary life.

About the Author:

Donna Hill, author of Joseph Smith: The First Mormon, was born in Salt Lake City, earned a master's degree in Library Science at Columbia University, worked at the New York Public Library, and became an assistant professor and head of the Teachers' Central Laboratory at Hunter College Library, New York. She died in 2007.