The city of the Mormons; or, Three days at Nauvoo, in 1842 Rating :
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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful.
Interesting but not credible
By Daddy-o
This is definitely an interesting piece of writing. It was written by a clergyman of the Church of England named Henry Caswall who visited the Mormon city of Nauvoo in April of 1842. His agenda is made clear from the beginning of this short piece: to uncover to the world a new religion so vile as to be a "punishment for the sins of Christendom," and that "a new religion must, of necessity, be regarded by Christians as a mere imposture."
I am Mormon myself, so it may be difficult to give an objective review. Nonetheless, I wish to shortly present one brief but solid piece of evidence that Caswall's book cannot be taken seriously. Prior to this, however, I wish it to be made known that I enjoyed reading this piece, despite not believing that it had any credibility. It was fascinating to get an outsider's perspective on the early church, since most accounts I have read or imagined are deeply romanticized.
On almost every page of the book, Caswall presents the Mormons, and Joseph Smith in particular, in an extremely negative light. Not only does he frequently despise the doctrine of the church, but he frequently attacks the character of the Mormons he encountered. This does make good fodder for anti-Mormons (and many scholars say that this piece was instrumental in catalyzing the anti-Mormon movement), but in my opinion it cannot be taken seriously.
Quite simply, the conversation that Caswall portrays with Joseph Smith is extremely unlikely to have happened as recorded. During the conversation, he consistently records Joseph using atrocious grammar. It is well documented that Joseph did not speak like a hill-billy but rather spoke eloquent prose. All other accounts aside, it only makes sense that the translator (or author, fabricator, or whatever verb you wish to use) of The Book of Mormon probably wouldn't say things like "them characters is like...". Curiously, Caswall included segments of Joseph Smith's writings in the appendix of this book, and they are all written in beautiful prose.
There are many other reasons why I don't believe this work should be taken seriously as a true account, but I believe the above evidence is the simplest to grasp and very powerful. It would seem that there is an extremely high chance Caswall's desire to sequester the growth and influence of Joseph Smith ended up compromising his integrity in recording what really happened during his visit to Nauvoo.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful.
very closeminded
By sewsarah
I found this book's author to be very pompous and hypocritical not only to the "mormon's" but to pretty much anyone else who did not think/believe as he did. This is exactly why people all over the world have a negative view of christianity. Not impresed
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful.
Clear a biased story
By Grandpa Rick
Clear a biased story by a minister set to discredit the leaders of the church and leaders that live in Nauvoo, you get what you pay for; this was free. The author make no effort to hide his intent to discredit Joseph Smith and his followers.
Product Description
This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book.
Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #6003182 in Books
- Published on: 2011-08-16
- Original language:English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 9.54" h x7.32" w x.20" l,.41 pounds
- Binding: Paperback
- 96 pages
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