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Fawn McKay Brodie: A Biographer's Life
A biography of one of the great biographers of the century focuses on the life of Fawn McKay Brodie, author of Thomas An Intimate History and other well-known profiles of famous people.
350 pages, Hardcover
First published October 1, 1999
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
April 22, 2020
I picked up this book because I was curious about the details behind Brodie's excommunication from the Mormon church shortly after her biography of Joseph Smith was published in the mid-40s. The book engaged me from start to finish. And, yes, it answered the questions I had had about her excommunication.
I was impressed with the level of detail Bringhurst brought to every period of Brodie's life in these pages, and I appreciated the differing perspective about life in the McKay clan after having recently read and enjoyed _David O. McKay and the Rise of Modern Mormonism _.
Like any good biography, this book reads like a novel. It's straightforward and easy to follow, yet all the footnotes are there for anyone who wants to delve deeper into the sources and/or background of specific points. I have yet to read a Brodie-penned biography, but I am very curious to do so now if only to compare her style to that of her biographer.
The author clearly admires Brodie, yet I felt that the book was neutral in tone and not overly indulgent of Fawn and Bernard. It included interesting information about their marriage, their family life, their children and also of the interesting time in which they were active and of the many prominent characters they interacted with in the various places they called home over their many decades together. Henry Kissinger was just one of these.
One final thought: The book raised some interesting questions in my mind about the notion of biography in general. For example, would Brodie's life have been any less interesting if she hadn't penned the five biographies she is famous for? Probably not, I think. Which leads me to believe that a great many other less accomplished people would probably be equally interesting subjects for biographies of their own if we only had the same sort of access to their inner lives and thinking that we do to typical subjects of traditional biographies through their letters and other writings and through interviews of those who knew them well.
I was impressed with the level of detail Bringhurst brought to every period of Brodie's life in these pages, and I appreciated the differing perspective about life in the McKay clan after having recently read and enjoyed _David O. McKay and the Rise of Modern Mormonism _.
Like any good biography, this book reads like a novel. It's straightforward and easy to follow, yet all the footnotes are there for anyone who wants to delve deeper into the sources and/or background of specific points. I have yet to read a Brodie-penned biography, but I am very curious to do so now if only to compare her style to that of her biographer.
The author clearly admires Brodie, yet I felt that the book was neutral in tone and not overly indulgent of Fawn and Bernard. It included interesting information about their marriage, their family life, their children and also of the interesting time in which they were active and of the many prominent characters they interacted with in the various places they called home over their many decades together. Henry Kissinger was just one of these.
One final thought: The book raised some interesting questions in my mind about the notion of biography in general. For example, would Brodie's life have been any less interesting if she hadn't penned the five biographies she is famous for? Probably not, I think. Which leads me to believe that a great many other less accomplished people would probably be equally interesting subjects for biographies of their own if we only had the same sort of access to their inner lives and thinking that we do to typical subjects of traditional biographies through their letters and other writings and through interviews of those who knew them well.
September 16, 2008
Learn about the woman who penned Mormonism's most recognized indictment of Joseph Smith.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews