The Joseph Smith Papers, Journals, Vol. 1: 1832-1839 by Dean C. JesseeMy review
rating: 5 of 5 stars
This is the first in a series of volumes containing the papers of Joseph Smith, the founding prophet of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. As a Latter-day Saint, I have a keen interest in Joseph Smith, whom I consider the Lord's prophet, on a par with Adam, Abraham, Moses, and the like.
The book is nicely bound, with high quality components. It is obviously meant to be preserved in public and private libraries to provide perpetual access to Joseph Smith's papers.
As a wannabe historian, I enjoyed the original material in this book. The unfiltered journals can be very informative in some instances, such as entries concerning atrocities committed against the members of the church, and downright pedestrian in others, such as times during which the journals simply reflect when Joseph left the house and came home during a given day. Exciting or boring, however, you get a flavor of the man and his times in the journal entries.
I also found the descriptive and explanatory passages added by the editors interesting and well-documented. In the best traditions of historical analysis, these passages rely on original material to give the reader context for the journals.
As I see it, this volume is not an attempt to prove anything in particular about Joseph Smith, whether he was good or bad, honest or deceitful. That is not its purpose and I suspect that anyone who goes looking for such a purpose will be disappointed. Instead, its purpose is to preserve and make a available to the public the papers of a man whose importance both to the LDS church and its adherents and to historians, armchair and serious, grows with the continuing influence of the man and the church he founded.
I look forward to the coming volumes.
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