Description
Book SynopsisRenowned historian Richard Lyman Bushman presents a vibrant history of the objects that gave birth to a new religion.According to Joseph Smith, in September of 1823 an angel appeared to him and directed him to a hill near his home. Buried there Smith found a box containing a stack of thin metal sheets, gold in color, about six inches wide, eight inches long, piled six or so inches high, bound together by large rings, and covered with what appeared to be ancient engravings. Exactly four years later, the angel allowed Smith to take the plates and instructed him to translate them into English. When the text was published, a new religion was born. The plates have had a long and active life, and the question of their reality has hovered over them from the beginning. Months before the Book of Mormon was published, newspapers began reporting on the discovery of a Golden Bible. Within a few years over a hundred articles had appeared. Critics denounced Smith as a charlatan for claiming to have
Trade ReviewIn the tradition of his magisterial biography of Mormonism's founder, Richard Bushman's history of Joseph Smith's Gold Plates begins with two earnest questions: how do we make sense of our subject in the context of its time and place in history? And how does that nineteenth-century culture so marvelously elucidated ultimately fail to fully explain the enigma-in this case those baffling gold plates? We see here a virtuoso historian at work who is not afraid to share his wonder as much as his learning. That combination of historical command and intellectual humility makes Bushman a joy to read. * Terryl Givens, Professor of Religion and Literature Emeritus, University of Richmond *
Joseph Smith's Gold Plates is a riveting cultural history of American religion's most enigmatic objects. Richard Bushman has long been known as the leading voice in Mormon studies for his skillful research, incisive analysis, and stylish prose. This book is true to form. For anyone seeking a deeper understanding of the history of Mormonism and American culture, it is indispensable. * Sonia Hazard, Assistant Professor of Religion, Florida State University *
This engaging and sometimes playful book explores an almost two-century-long obsession with proving or disproving the reality of a mysterious set of metallic plates that Joseph Smith claimed to have found in glacial hill in upstate New York. Bushman excels in capturing the inner compulsions and assumptions of the witnesses, writers, artists, and historians who have responded to the plates, showing that over time 'the golden plates' have indeed become enchanted. * Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, Author of A House Full of Females: Plural Marriage and Women's Rights in Early Mormonism, 1830-1870 *
No other writer has so clearly and concisely gathered together the many treatments of Smith's gold plates, and Bushman's work is an important contribution in this sense, among others. * Nicholas S. Literski, JD, PhD, for the Association for Mormon Letters, Twenty-First Century Mormon Literature *
Table of ContentsPreface Acknowledgments 1. The Gold Plates Imaginary 2. Translator: Joseph Smith, 1823- 1829 3. Making Scripture: The Book of Mormon, 1830 4. Presence: Family and Friends, 1827- 1830 5. Rationalism: Apologists, Critics, and Imitators, 1832- 1860 6. Fascination: Fiction, Lore, and Psychology, 1860- 1910 7. Art: 1833- 2023 8. Instruction: 1893- 2023 119 9. Scientific Approaches: 1900- 2023 10. Global Perspectives Appendix A. The Composition of the Plates Appendix B. The Translation Debates Source Abbreviations Notes Index
