Joseph Smith

出版者:Knopf

作者:Richard Lyman Bushman

页数:768

出版时间:2005-9-27

价格:USD 35.00

装帧:Hardcover

isbn号码:9781400042708

具体描述

Joseph Smith, America’s preeminent visionary and prophet, rose from a modest background to found the largest indigenous Christian church in American history. Without the benefit of wealth, education, or social position, he published the 584-page Book of Mormon when he was twenty-three; organized a church when he was twenty-four; and founded cities, built temples, and attracted thousands of followers before his violent death at age thirty-eight. Rather than perishing with him, Mormonism migrated to the Rocky Mountains, flourished there, and now claims millions of followers worldwide.

In Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling , Richard Bushman, an esteemed American cultural historian and a practicing Mormon, tells how Smith formed a new religion from the ground up. Moving beyond the popular stereotype of Smith as a colorful fraud, the book explores the inner workings of his personality–his personal piety, his temper, his affection for family and friends, and his incredible determination. It describes how he received revelations and why his followers believed them.

Smith was a builder of cities. He sought to form egalitarian, just, and open communities under God and laid out a plan for ideal cities, which he hoped would fill the world. Adopted as the model for hundreds of Mormon settlements in the West, Smith’s urban vision may have left a more lasting imprint on the landscape than that of any other American.

He was controversial from his earliest years. His followers honored him as a man who spoke for God and restored biblical religion. His enemies maligned him as a dangerous religious fanatic, an American Mohammad, and drove the Mormons from every place in which they settled. Smith’s ultimate assassination by an armed mob raises the question of whether American democracy can tolerate visionaries.

The book gives more attention to Joseph Smith’s innovative religious thought than any previous biography. As Bushman writes, “His followers derived their energy and purpose from the religious world he brought into being.” Some of the teachings were controversial, such as property redistribution and plural marriage, but Smith’s revelations also delved into cosmology and the history of God. They spoke of the origins of the human personality and the purpose of life. While thoroughly Christian, Smith radically reconceived the relationship between humans and God. The book evaluates the Mormon prophet’s bold contributions to Christian theology and situates him culturally in the modern world.

Published on the two hundredth anniversary of Smith’s birth, Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling is an in-depth portrayal of the mysterious figure behind one of the world’s fastest growing faiths.

用户评价

这部作品读起来像是一部史诗般的编年史，以一种近乎虔诚的笔触，描绘了一个时代的风云变幻。作者似乎对历史的细节有着近乎痴迷的关注，每一个事件的发生、每一个关键人物的登场，都被赋予了足够的篇幅去铺陈和渲染。我尤其欣赏作者在处理那些宏大叙事时所展现出的沉稳和克制，没有陷入廉价的煽情，而是让历史的重量自然地压在读者的心头。书中对社会结构和当时人们精神面貌的刻画，细致入微，仿佛能让人闻到那个时代特有的尘土和香料味。叙事节奏张弛有度，高潮迭起之处，笔力遒劲，读来令人心潮澎湃；而那些过渡性的章节，则像潺潺流水，润物无声地推进着故事的脉络。它不是一本快餐式的读物，需要投入时间和心力去品味，但回报是丰厚的，它提供了一个了解那个特定历史阶段的独特视角，充满了对人类境遇的深刻反思，即便是对历史不甚热衷的读者，也会被其中复杂的人物关系和命运的无常所吸引。整本书的阅读体验是庄严而深刻的，每次合上书页，脑海中都会留下久久不能散去的历史回响。

这本书的结构设计非常巧妙，它并非完全线性叙事，而是穿插了大量引人深思的“侧记”和“旁白”。这些穿插的内容像是从不同的时间维度切割下来的碎片，时而跳跃到事件发生很久之后的观察者视角，时而又深入到某些次要人物的内心独白，这种多层次的叙事结构极大地丰富了作品的立体感和深度。我发现自己常常会因为一个突如其来的、看似无关的细节，而对之前发生的主线事件产生全新的理解。作者似乎不满足于讲述“发生了什么”，更着迷于探讨“为什么会发生”以及“它对后世产生了何种微妙的影响”。这种处理方式让阅读过程充满了探索的乐趣，仿佛在解读一份多年前的复杂手稿。唯一的遗憾是，某些关键转折点的心理描写略显单薄，更多依赖于外部事件的推动，如果能再深入挖掘一下人物内心的挣扎，整体的感染力会更上一层楼。但瑕不掩瑜，这种宏观与微观交织的手法，确实是本书的一大亮点。

我得说，这本书的文风相当古朴典雅，带着一种老派学者的严谨与一丝不苟。它不像市面上那些流行的传记那样追求耸人听闻的八卦或戏剧化的冲突，而是更倾向于一种近乎学术论文的论证方式，每一段论述背后似乎都有详实的佐证作为支撑。作者在遣词造句上颇费匠心，大量使用了一些我不太熟悉的、带有古典韵味的词汇和句式，这无疑增加了阅读的门槛，但一旦适应了这种节奏，便会发现其语言的张力所在——它赋予了整个叙事一种历经时间淘洗的厚重感。我尤其欣赏作者对于环境和背景描写的笔力，那些关于地理、气候乃至早期定居点日常生活的白描，细致到令人咋舌，仿佛置身现场。不过，正是这种近乎百科全书式的详尽，使得部分章节的阅读体验略显拖沓，对于追求情节紧凑的读者来说，可能会感到有些耐心考验。总的来说，这是一部值得慢慢咀嚼的作品，它不是让你“读完”，而是让你“沉浸其中”，去感受历史风烟的层层叠叠。

坦白地说，这本书的文学性在于它的“重量感”，而不是流畅性。它更像是一部以文字为媒介的雕塑，每一页都堆砌着沉甸甸的历史材料。作者对权力的运作逻辑有着近乎病态的敏感，书中关于决策过程、派系斗争和资源分配的描写，细致到令人咋舌，读来仿佛置身于一场高风险的棋局之中。我特别欣赏作者对细节的把握，比如不同社会阶层对待同一事件的不同反应，通过不同的口吻和视角被捕捉下来，形成了强烈的对比和讽刺效果。整部作品的基调是严肃且略带悲剧色彩的，即便是那些看似胜利的时刻，也总是能嗅到未来冲突的伏笔。这种预设的宿命感贯穿始终，使得阅读过程充满了紧张的期待。这本书无疑是为那些对宏大历史叙事和复杂社会动力学抱有浓厚兴趣的读者量身定制的，它提供的洞察力是深刻且持久的，绝非昙花一现的消遣之作。

初读此书时，我差点被其开篇的晦涩感劝退。作者似乎采取了一种极为疏离的、旁观者的姿态来记录一切，缺乏传统传记中常见的那种强烈的情感代入和共鸣。然而，坚持读下去后，我才领悟到这种“冷峻”实则是作者高明的策略。它迫使读者放下既有的预设和评判，以一种近乎人类学田野调查的眼光去审视书中所描述的一切。大量的地名、人名、组织结构被如同清单般精确地罗列出来，这种信息的密度要求读者必须保持高度的专注力。我感觉自己像是一个刚刚抵达某个陌生国度的旅行者，正在努力拼凑这个世界运转的基本法则。这本书的魅力在于其未经雕琢的真实感，它没有试图去美化历史的残酷，也没有回避那些充满争议和矛盾的领域，而是将一切摆在桌面上，让历史的重量自行说话。它成功地营造了一种历史的“现场感”，读完后，会有一种完成了某种艰巨智力挑战的满足感。