Critiquing the Critics of Joseph Smith by Hartt Wixom

· Rating:

· The Bottom Line: A book that looks at what the critics have said about Joseph Smith and refutes them. The author, Hartt Wixom uses many sources to support his side of the issues. Although he critiques different critics mainly he uses Fawn Brodie as the representative of anti-Mormon writers.

· URL: http://www.cedarfort.com/catalog/1555178340.html

· Pros:  o Very informative to what the critics have to say
            o Based on historical facts
            o Many references to support the authors critiquing.

· Cons: o The book jumped around from subject to subject with lots of overlapping
o Was too critical of one particular critic, Fawn Brodie, rather than looking at the critics in general as the title implies.

· Description: o Written by Hartt Wixom author of 14 books with a background in journalism.
                      o Book contains 11 chapters with 184 pages.
                      o Has extensive endnotes and sources. It also contains an index for easy research.
                      o Has an introduction on why it is important to understand what the critics have to say and how to answer them.
                      o Chapters such as “Joseph Smith, the “Imposter”, “Polygamy and Promiscuity” and “First Vision Under Attack”

· Review: This is a very interesting book. As one who stays away from what the critics I admit I was hesitant to read this book. I did learn a lot from it. I admit I fell under the category the author talks about in his first chapter: “Some members may comfortably…feel they can skip all anti-Mormon rhetoric.” He goes on to state: “…Latter-day Saints must embrace a sobering thought…Many sincere non-Mormons…believe that Fawn Brodie did it…she explained…how Joseph Smith could fool so many…for so long.” After reading this and the introduction I realized it is important to know how to answer the critics but I still fell it is important that we study and learn from the word of God instead of the words of men. I only gave the book 2 stars because the author seem to have a hard time focusing on one subject at a time and he singled out one particular critic which I felt was being critical of a particular person instead of a group of people.