Friday, January 2, 2009

Joseph Smith - The Man and the Seer - Hyrum Andrus (3.5 of 5 Personal Stories)

This book is a collection of personal accounts about the Prophet Joseph Smith.  The book details portions of Joseph's ife from his childhood up through Carthage Jail.  While I do feel like I've come to know Joseph a little better, I wish the book would have had more depth.  Most of the quotes only reconfirm the common knowledge possessed by most primary graduates.

Does anyone have suggestions for more comprehensive biograhpical accounts of Joseph's life? 

3 comments:

Shannon said...

Have you ever looked at a History of Joseph Smith by his mother: Lucy Mack Smith?

Tara said...

I heard good things about "Rough Stone Rolling" too. But I haven't read it so that's not a very good recommendation I guess.

Dan Munro said...

Truman G Madsen's "Joseph Smith the Prophet" is incredible. It was originally done as a series of lectures for a BYU education week and you can still find the audio of it at any Deseret Book. The lectures were transcribed and turned into a book which has all his sources well documented. In addition to conveying many stories of and about Joseph Smith he also adds his own, very profound insights on the man. It's a personal favorite when it comes to works concerning the prophet.
Hyrum Andrus has another book with a similar setup called "And They Knew the Prophet" if I remember right. It's one I read 3 or 4 years ago so I may be wrong about the authorship but the name is close enough to correct. There was some definite depth involved in that one, although it too is filled with general and well-known info about Joseph Smith. I would go with Truman G. Madsen