Joseph Smith: The Rise and Fall of an American Prophet

Joseph Smith Jr. became one of 19th-century America’s most influential and controversial religious leaders, publishing The Book of Mormon and founding the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He built temples, created a city-state, ran for president, and practiced plural marriage. Historian John G. Turner traces Smith’s rise from impoverished farmhand to his mob-killing, showing how he forged a religious tradition that continues to resonate widely.