What do you think?
Rate this book
Like a Fiery Meteor: The Life of Joseph F. Smith
Joseph F. Smith was born in 1838 to Hyrum Smith and Mary Fielding Smith. Six years later both his father and his uncle, Joseph Smith Jr., the founding prophet of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, were murdered in Carthage, Illinois. The trauma of that event remained with Joseph F. for the rest of his life, affecting his personal behavior and public tenure in the highest tiers of the LDS Church, including the post of president from 1901 until his death in 1918. Joseph F. Smith laid the theological groundwork for modern Mormonism, especially the emphasis on temple work. This contribution was capped off by his “revelation on the redemption of the dead,” a prophetic glimpse into the afterlife. Taysom’s book traces the roots of this vision, which reach far more deeply into Joseph F. Smith’s life than other scholars have previously identified.
In this first cradle-to-grave biography of Joseph F. Smith, Stephen C. Taysom uses previously unavailable primary source materials to craft a deeply detailed, insightful story of a prominent member of a governing and influential Mormon family. Importantly, Taysom situates Smith within the historical currents of American westward expansion, rapid industrialization, settler colonialism, regional and national politics, changing ideas about family and masculinity, and more. Though some writers tend to view the LDS Church and its leaders through a lens of political and religious separatism, Taysom does the opposite, pushing Joseph F. Smith and the LDS Church closer to the centers of power in Washington, DC, and elsewhere.
In this first cradle-to-grave biography of Joseph F. Smith, Stephen C. Taysom uses previously unavailable primary source materials to craft a deeply detailed, insightful story of a prominent member of a governing and influential Mormon family. Importantly, Taysom situates Smith within the historical currents of American westward expansion, rapid industrialization, settler colonialism, regional and national politics, changing ideas about family and masculinity, and more. Though some writers tend to view the LDS Church and its leaders through a lens of political and religious separatism, Taysom does the opposite, pushing Joseph F. Smith and the LDS Church closer to the centers of power in Washington, DC, and elsewhere.
528 pages, Paperback
Published June 1, 2023
5 people are currently reading
72 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
July 26, 2023
There has long been a need for a more comprehensive and accurate biography of Joseph F. Smith (JFS), son of the murdered Hyrum Smith, nephew of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints founder Joseph Smith, and sixth president of the church. Previous biographies of JFS have been devotional efforts, one by his son Joseph Fielding Smith (JFS Jr.), another by former First Presidency secretary and General Authority Francis Gibbons. These biographies focused on the faith promoting episodes in the life of JFS, touching only briefly if at all on some of his more complicated characteristics.
Stephen C. Taysom, professor of philosophy and comparative religion at Cleveland State University, spent more than a decade researching and writing Like a Fiery Meteor: The Life of Joseph F. Smith, resulting in a more complex and nuanced treatment of JFS. Deprived of a normal family life growing up after the murder of his father and his mother’s early death from illness, JFS struggled with issues of violence, anger, poverty, and a political, cultural, and religious landscape that was constantly changing around him, causing him to never be fully sure of his footing in the world. Taysom’s approach is to avoid trying to analyze JFS, preferring instead to show how JFS reacted to events around him, some of which shook him to the core of his being.
Taysom tracks how the loss of family affected his relationship with his wives and children, especially his fear of illness or injury, and the deep grief that he felt over the untimely deaths of family members. His own status as an orphan led him to adopt five children, sympathizing with their loss of parents. With his father a martyr for the LDS church, JFS viewed critics of the church as both enemies of God and personal enemies as well.
Taysom also brings his academic knowledge of other faith traditions and practices to play in subtle ways. He places JFS first in the turbulent era of the 19th century, where technology, culture, economics, and society were in a state of constant change. JFS lived through to the beginning of the 20th century, where the rate of change only accelerated. Religion was also in flux. Taysom quotes religion scholar Thomas Tweed who said “whatever else religions do, they move across time and space. They are not static. And they have effects. They leave traces.” [p 19] Traveling widely on missions and church business JFS certainly dealt with great changes in the LDS church during his decades in leadership.
Perhaps the most challenging change faced by JFS came while he was a senior apostle, and later as President of the Church. JFS married six times, with his first marriage ending in divorce, and continued to support and live with multiple wives after the Manifesto that curtailed and eventually ended plural marriages. In discussing polygamy, Taysom describes the difference between popular and symbolic culture, and states that religions “that claim exclusive access to ultimate truth coupled with a belief in an unchanging God must come up with creative ways to disguise, defend, minimize, or explain major changes.” To JFS, the practical reality was that his children would not be able to practice polygamy, “but the suspension of the practice did not invalidate the principle.” [p 265] To JFS, the scriptural evidence had not changed, but the practice had to end to preserve the church and its claim to legitimacy as the “only true church.”
Despite a lack of much formal education, JFS became the church’s foremost scriptural authority during his lifetime. He believed that all church doctrine should be based on scriptural foundations, a view that he passed on to his son Joseph Fielding Smith, ninth president of the church, who then passed it on to his son-in-law Bruce R. McConkie. He frequently included scriptural references in his letters to friends and family members, along with comments in his journals. As the church grew, and JFS became more involved in leadership, he worked to impose hierarchical control and a written order in doctrine and policy over the oral traditions that had guided the church since its inception. Foremost on his mind, Taysom writes, were questions that he had over the status of those who had preceded him in death. This resulted in the only officially recognized revelation attributed to JFS, the Vision of the Redemption of the Dead, now canonized as Doctrine and Covenants section 138. In many ways, this revelation closed the circle on his questions about family and eternal life.
Taysom also writes about some of the more difficult aspects of the life of JFS that are not well known. JFS grew up with a strict view of what a man should be, equating masculinity with religiosity. In a letter to first wife Levira while on his first mission in England, he bemoans spiritual weakness as degrading a man, and describes his yearning to be better, more like his mentor and cousin, Apostle George Q. Cannon. This strong sense of masculinity frequently expressed itself in anger, and occasionally in physical violence. Levira wrote a letter to Brigham Young accusing JFS of doubling up a rope several times and striking her across the back. JFS also beat a neighbor severely with a walking stick over a dispute about cattle grazing on Smith family farmland.
Much has been written about the tender feelings JFS expressed for his family, especially the children. His journal entries and letters following the untimely deaths of children are well known. He also worried constantly about injuries and illness. Despite these feelings, JFS could also be less than kind towards those closest to him. A letter to one of his sons spends several pages chastising the son in the harshest of terms before revealing the offense. His son had been missing priesthood quorum meetings. Such rebukes were frequent. Corresponding with his plural wife Sarah over a trivial complaint, JFS replied with “furious sarcasm’’ about “my efforts to please and gratify you.” .
As Taysom writes in his preface for “Like a Fiery Meteor” (a phrase coined by JFS himself), “JFS, like all human beings, defies easy description and simply refuses facile categorization.” [p xii] Taysom surmounts the easy and facile in this long-awaited and important biography. Some may react negatively to the less savory descriptions Taysom gives of JFS, but for others, recognizing that a president of the church struggled with some of the same weaknesses as the rest of us may find great hope and affirmation in this fully realized portrait of a complex and altogether human being who ascended to the Church’s highest office.
Stephen C. Taysom, professor of philosophy and comparative religion at Cleveland State University, spent more than a decade researching and writing Like a Fiery Meteor: The Life of Joseph F. Smith, resulting in a more complex and nuanced treatment of JFS. Deprived of a normal family life growing up after the murder of his father and his mother’s early death from illness, JFS struggled with issues of violence, anger, poverty, and a political, cultural, and religious landscape that was constantly changing around him, causing him to never be fully sure of his footing in the world. Taysom’s approach is to avoid trying to analyze JFS, preferring instead to show how JFS reacted to events around him, some of which shook him to the core of his being.
Taysom tracks how the loss of family affected his relationship with his wives and children, especially his fear of illness or injury, and the deep grief that he felt over the untimely deaths of family members. His own status as an orphan led him to adopt five children, sympathizing with their loss of parents. With his father a martyr for the LDS church, JFS viewed critics of the church as both enemies of God and personal enemies as well.
Taysom also brings his academic knowledge of other faith traditions and practices to play in subtle ways. He places JFS first in the turbulent era of the 19th century, where technology, culture, economics, and society were in a state of constant change. JFS lived through to the beginning of the 20th century, where the rate of change only accelerated. Religion was also in flux. Taysom quotes religion scholar Thomas Tweed who said “whatever else religions do, they move across time and space. They are not static. And they have effects. They leave traces.” [p 19] Traveling widely on missions and church business JFS certainly dealt with great changes in the LDS church during his decades in leadership.
Perhaps the most challenging change faced by JFS came while he was a senior apostle, and later as President of the Church. JFS married six times, with his first marriage ending in divorce, and continued to support and live with multiple wives after the Manifesto that curtailed and eventually ended plural marriages. In discussing polygamy, Taysom describes the difference between popular and symbolic culture, and states that religions “that claim exclusive access to ultimate truth coupled with a belief in an unchanging God must come up with creative ways to disguise, defend, minimize, or explain major changes.” To JFS, the practical reality was that his children would not be able to practice polygamy, “but the suspension of the practice did not invalidate the principle.” [p 265] To JFS, the scriptural evidence had not changed, but the practice had to end to preserve the church and its claim to legitimacy as the “only true church.”
Despite a lack of much formal education, JFS became the church’s foremost scriptural authority during his lifetime. He believed that all church doctrine should be based on scriptural foundations, a view that he passed on to his son Joseph Fielding Smith, ninth president of the church, who then passed it on to his son-in-law Bruce R. McConkie. He frequently included scriptural references in his letters to friends and family members, along with comments in his journals. As the church grew, and JFS became more involved in leadership, he worked to impose hierarchical control and a written order in doctrine and policy over the oral traditions that had guided the church since its inception. Foremost on his mind, Taysom writes, were questions that he had over the status of those who had preceded him in death. This resulted in the only officially recognized revelation attributed to JFS, the Vision of the Redemption of the Dead, now canonized as Doctrine and Covenants section 138. In many ways, this revelation closed the circle on his questions about family and eternal life.
Taysom also writes about some of the more difficult aspects of the life of JFS that are not well known. JFS grew up with a strict view of what a man should be, equating masculinity with religiosity. In a letter to first wife Levira while on his first mission in England, he bemoans spiritual weakness as degrading a man, and describes his yearning to be better, more like his mentor and cousin, Apostle George Q. Cannon. This strong sense of masculinity frequently expressed itself in anger, and occasionally in physical violence. Levira wrote a letter to Brigham Young accusing JFS of doubling up a rope several times and striking her across the back. JFS also beat a neighbor severely with a walking stick over a dispute about cattle grazing on Smith family farmland.
Much has been written about the tender feelings JFS expressed for his family, especially the children. His journal entries and letters following the untimely deaths of children are well known. He also worried constantly about injuries and illness. Despite these feelings, JFS could also be less than kind towards those closest to him. A letter to one of his sons spends several pages chastising the son in the harshest of terms before revealing the offense. His son had been missing priesthood quorum meetings. Such rebukes were frequent. Corresponding with his plural wife Sarah over a trivial complaint, JFS replied with “furious sarcasm’’ about “my efforts to please and gratify you.” .
As Taysom writes in his preface for “Like a Fiery Meteor” (a phrase coined by JFS himself), “JFS, like all human beings, defies easy description and simply refuses facile categorization.” [p xii] Taysom surmounts the easy and facile in this long-awaited and important biography. Some may react negatively to the less savory descriptions Taysom gives of JFS, but for others, recognizing that a president of the church struggled with some of the same weaknesses as the rest of us may find great hope and affirmation in this fully realized portrait of a complex and altogether human being who ascended to the Church’s highest office.
Read
August 22, 2024Review forthcoming in the Utah Monthly
November 15, 2023
Joseph F. Smith (1838–1917) is a towering figure in Latter-day Saint history, so I have waited and hoped for an academically rigorous biography about him for years. Stephen C Taysom delivered on that hope this year in Like a Fiery Meteor: The Life of Joseph F. Smith.
The flavor of Taysom’s work reminded me of John G. Turner’s Brigham Young: Pioneer Prophet—a thoroughly researched biographical work that places a prophet-president in his context. Like Turner, Taysom’s work reveals the complexities of Joseph F. Smith as a person, allowing readers to get to know Joseph F. Smith more intimately. At times, the story takes a shocking turn, such as discussion of Joseph F. Smith’s violent tendencies or his lying about the performances of post-manifesto plural marriages. Even while showing Joseph F. at his worst, however, Taysom does contextualize Smith’s actions in a way that makes sense of them.
Taysom’s biography of Joseph F. Smith is very different from previous biographies about Smith. Francis M. Gibbons’ Joseph F. Smith: Patriarch and Preacher, Prophet of God is hagiographic to the point that a bullet list of life events and accomplishments would be about as useful for getting to know Joseph F. Smith. (To be honest, I struggled to get through Gibbons’ work because of how overly hagiographic it was, even though it’s relatively short.) The Life of Joseph F. Smith by Joseph Fielding Smith is valuable for the access it had to both primary sources and memories of the subject, but it is also the effort of a son and church leader to put his father and ecclesiastical predecessor in the best light possible. Teachings of the Presidents of the Church: Joseph F. Smith—the official church manual from around 2000—is a great collection of his teachings, but the history sections provide an inaccurate view of Joseph F. Smith, especially when it comes to his temper. Like a Fiery Meteor is of a different mold altogether and shows a different person because of its relatively objective approach.
Something that could have strengthened Like a Fiery Meteor was to not overstate the importance of Joseph F. Smith. President Smith is extremely important, but occasionally statements were made that shortsold the contributions of other, earlier Church leaders in an effort to hype up Joseph F. Smith. For example, Taysom states that: “Since Joseph Smith had introduced the concept [of proxy temple work] in the 1840s, it had struggled to find a champion, someone who possessed a passion for the work of the temple as well as a capacity for doctrinal thinking that could place proxy temple work within the larger whole of Mormon belief and practice” (357). This completely overlooks the role of Orson Pratt and Wilford Woodruff doing those exact things. Orson Pratt was one of the earliest individuals in the Church to systematically trace out his ancestors and to make sure that proxy baptisms were performed for them. He also oversaw the addition of many of the most important temple-related texts from Joseph Smith to the Doctrine and Covenants. Wilford Woodruff played a huge role in codifying temple rites and administration and for shifting the Latter-day Saint views towards performing proxy work to create a family-centric (rather than Church-centric) afterlife with his 1894 revelation. Many of the ideas that Joseph F. Smith articulated in his vision that is now D&C 138 had previously been expressed by Wilford Woodruff. Thus, on a couple of occasions Taysom was prone to overstate the contributions of Joseph F. Smith.
That concern aside, the book offers a lot of interesting and insightful discussion about Joseph F. Smith’s life and contributions to the faith. One area of discussion that I found particularly interesting was Joseph F. Smith’s role in establishing doctrine and interpretation of scriptures in the Church. In a lot of discussions outside of Taysom’s work, Joseph F. has tended to be overshadowed by James E. Talmage and B. H. Roberts as a notable Latter-day Saint theologian during his time and by his son, Joseph Fielding Smith, after his time. What Tayson points out is that Joseph Fielding Smith was largely trained by his father in how he interpreted scripture and doctrine. Before either Talmage or Roberts published notable works, Joseph F. was to go-to church leader to settle doctrinal debates, and his time as president of the Church allowed him to normalize his views and approaches. Joseph Fielding Smith’s efforts to answer letters in print seems to have been modeled on his father’s work. Taysom does a great job of highlighting how deeply our belief system was impacted by Joseph F. Smith.
As the first academic biography of Joseph F. Smith, Stephen C Taysom’s Like a Fiery Meteor: The Life of Joseph F. Smith is an important and long-overdue contribution to Latter-day Saint history.
The flavor of Taysom’s work reminded me of John G. Turner’s Brigham Young: Pioneer Prophet—a thoroughly researched biographical work that places a prophet-president in his context. Like Turner, Taysom’s work reveals the complexities of Joseph F. Smith as a person, allowing readers to get to know Joseph F. Smith more intimately. At times, the story takes a shocking turn, such as discussion of Joseph F. Smith’s violent tendencies or his lying about the performances of post-manifesto plural marriages. Even while showing Joseph F. at his worst, however, Taysom does contextualize Smith’s actions in a way that makes sense of them.
Taysom’s biography of Joseph F. Smith is very different from previous biographies about Smith. Francis M. Gibbons’ Joseph F. Smith: Patriarch and Preacher, Prophet of God is hagiographic to the point that a bullet list of life events and accomplishments would be about as useful for getting to know Joseph F. Smith. (To be honest, I struggled to get through Gibbons’ work because of how overly hagiographic it was, even though it’s relatively short.) The Life of Joseph F. Smith by Joseph Fielding Smith is valuable for the access it had to both primary sources and memories of the subject, but it is also the effort of a son and church leader to put his father and ecclesiastical predecessor in the best light possible. Teachings of the Presidents of the Church: Joseph F. Smith—the official church manual from around 2000—is a great collection of his teachings, but the history sections provide an inaccurate view of Joseph F. Smith, especially when it comes to his temper. Like a Fiery Meteor is of a different mold altogether and shows a different person because of its relatively objective approach.
Something that could have strengthened Like a Fiery Meteor was to not overstate the importance of Joseph F. Smith. President Smith is extremely important, but occasionally statements were made that shortsold the contributions of other, earlier Church leaders in an effort to hype up Joseph F. Smith. For example, Taysom states that: “Since Joseph Smith had introduced the concept [of proxy temple work] in the 1840s, it had struggled to find a champion, someone who possessed a passion for the work of the temple as well as a capacity for doctrinal thinking that could place proxy temple work within the larger whole of Mormon belief and practice” (357). This completely overlooks the role of Orson Pratt and Wilford Woodruff doing those exact things. Orson Pratt was one of the earliest individuals in the Church to systematically trace out his ancestors and to make sure that proxy baptisms were performed for them. He also oversaw the addition of many of the most important temple-related texts from Joseph Smith to the Doctrine and Covenants. Wilford Woodruff played a huge role in codifying temple rites and administration and for shifting the Latter-day Saint views towards performing proxy work to create a family-centric (rather than Church-centric) afterlife with his 1894 revelation. Many of the ideas that Joseph F. Smith articulated in his vision that is now D&C 138 had previously been expressed by Wilford Woodruff. Thus, on a couple of occasions Taysom was prone to overstate the contributions of Joseph F. Smith.
That concern aside, the book offers a lot of interesting and insightful discussion about Joseph F. Smith’s life and contributions to the faith. One area of discussion that I found particularly interesting was Joseph F. Smith’s role in establishing doctrine and interpretation of scriptures in the Church. In a lot of discussions outside of Taysom’s work, Joseph F. has tended to be overshadowed by James E. Talmage and B. H. Roberts as a notable Latter-day Saint theologian during his time and by his son, Joseph Fielding Smith, after his time. What Tayson points out is that Joseph Fielding Smith was largely trained by his father in how he interpreted scripture and doctrine. Before either Talmage or Roberts published notable works, Joseph F. was to go-to church leader to settle doctrinal debates, and his time as president of the Church allowed him to normalize his views and approaches. Joseph Fielding Smith’s efforts to answer letters in print seems to have been modeled on his father’s work. Taysom does a great job of highlighting how deeply our belief system was impacted by Joseph F. Smith.
As the first academic biography of Joseph F. Smith, Stephen C Taysom’s Like a Fiery Meteor: The Life of Joseph F. Smith is an important and long-overdue contribution to Latter-day Saint history.
December 7, 2024
A really interesting and well written biography. It was well researched. I learned a lot. This is one of the better biographies I've read of leaders of the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that was written by someone who is not a member of the church. I appreciated how accurate the author was in describing church doctrine and practices. A lot of nonmember authors get stuff wrong when they write about that, so I appreciated that this author had done his homework and gotten things quite accurate.
This biography is neither a hagiography of Joseph F. Smith nor an anti-Mormon polemic. There are some things about Joseph F. Smith's character and actions that the author seems to respect and admire, and other things that clearly seem to trouble him. For example, he delves a fair amount into Joseph F. Smith's anger issues, his troubled first marriage that ended in divorce, etc. I also learned a lot about Joseph F. Smith's role in helping the church become more orderly and systematic in the way that it establishes/defines doctrine, the increased emphasis he placed on the standard works, his incredible work ethic, etc. The author also talked quite a bit about the messy, troubled transitional period in church history revolving around the end of polygamy. No doubt that was a difficult time to be a member and/or leader of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
I feel like I came away from this book with both a respect and appreciation for Joseph F. Smith, but also enough understanding of his humanity that he didn't feel set up on a pedestal as a nearly-as-good-as-Jesus person whose good accomplishments are far out of reach for a normal person like me. I felt more like, "Oh, Joseph F. Smith was human being who was very much a product of the
circumstances of his time, place, birth, family, etc as well as of his own choices. In his childhood and youth he faced a lot of trauma and hardship that in many ways scarred him for life. He struggled to cope with that. He struggled with his sins and weaknesses just like I do while nevertheless striving to be a faithful Latter-day Saint and contribute the best he could to the Lord's work throughout his life. Despite his mistakes and flaws, he did a lot of good. If he could do a lot of good despite all that, maybe I can do some good too." I felt like I could relate more to the Joseph F. Smith portrayed in this biography than I could a hagiographical treatment of him, so I really appreciated that. Some church members seem to prefer to have the prophets depicted in a near-perfect way or they worry that it will undermine people's faith in the reality of living prophets, seers, and revelators, but I actually prefer learning about them and their lives "warts and all." That is actually more faith-affirming for me than a hagiography.
This biography is neither a hagiography of Joseph F. Smith nor an anti-Mormon polemic. There are some things about Joseph F. Smith's character and actions that the author seems to respect and admire, and other things that clearly seem to trouble him. For example, he delves a fair amount into Joseph F. Smith's anger issues, his troubled first marriage that ended in divorce, etc. I also learned a lot about Joseph F. Smith's role in helping the church become more orderly and systematic in the way that it establishes/defines doctrine, the increased emphasis he placed on the standard works, his incredible work ethic, etc. The author also talked quite a bit about the messy, troubled transitional period in church history revolving around the end of polygamy. No doubt that was a difficult time to be a member and/or leader of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
I feel like I came away from this book with both a respect and appreciation for Joseph F. Smith, but also enough understanding of his humanity that he didn't feel set up on a pedestal as a nearly-as-good-as-Jesus person whose good accomplishments are far out of reach for a normal person like me. I felt more like, "Oh, Joseph F. Smith was human being who was very much a product of the
circumstances of his time, place, birth, family, etc as well as of his own choices. In his childhood and youth he faced a lot of trauma and hardship that in many ways scarred him for life. He struggled to cope with that. He struggled with his sins and weaknesses just like I do while nevertheless striving to be a faithful Latter-day Saint and contribute the best he could to the Lord's work throughout his life. Despite his mistakes and flaws, he did a lot of good. If he could do a lot of good despite all that, maybe I can do some good too." I felt like I could relate more to the Joseph F. Smith portrayed in this biography than I could a hagiographical treatment of him, so I really appreciated that. Some church members seem to prefer to have the prophets depicted in a near-perfect way or they worry that it will undermine people's faith in the reality of living prophets, seers, and revelators, but I actually prefer learning about them and their lives "warts and all." That is actually more faith-affirming for me than a hagiography.
October 1, 2023
"Like a Fiery Meteor" is a biography of Joseph F. Smith that zeroes in on Joseph F. Smith the person over and above the events of his times. Helps you get a better perspective of a complex person, warts and all (including his judgmentalism and anger issues). While the book starts slow - at first focusing on his father and uncle (Hyrum and Joseph) and the early history of the LDS Church, that introductory treatment is a must for understanding Joseph F. Smith as a person. Running through treatments of personal and public affairs, including a divorce, children passing, missions, polygamy, the Smoot hearings, and more, Taysom helps you better understand the twists and turns of turn-of-the-century LDS history, and in the end helps you better understand the context and impact of Joseph F. Smith's one canonized revelation (D&C 138) as well. A must read for anyone interested in LDS church history.
January 10, 2024
Excellent biography of JFS
Not hagiographic but sympathetic and respectful of JFS and his religious beliefs. Very insightful about his psychology without being excessively speculative. Footnotes are not properly linked in the kindle edition and needs correction. Very annoying to be unable to conveniently check footnotes while reading the text. Analysis of JFS religious views and impact on his religion are spot on and very insightful. Assumes reader is already well read on past literature relative to JFS and Mormon history generally. Does not waste a lot of time repeating basic information and instead provides more advanced treatment of the most important issues and themes.
Not hagiographic but sympathetic and respectful of JFS and his religious beliefs. Very insightful about his psychology without being excessively speculative. Footnotes are not properly linked in the kindle edition and needs correction. Very annoying to be unable to conveniently check footnotes while reading the text. Analysis of JFS religious views and impact on his religion are spot on and very insightful. Assumes reader is already well read on past literature relative to JFS and Mormon history generally. Does not waste a lot of time repeating basic information and instead provides more advanced treatment of the most important issues and themes.
November 9, 2024
This was an excellent book. I agree with the author, that it is important to view church history with the whole picture. His treatment of JFS is not always flattering, but having the truth about JFS makes it that much easier to examine the context relating to decisions he made. It also makes it easier to relate to JFS, and to learn from his successes and mistakes.
September 11, 2025
This is hands down the best book I have read in the last decade. I couldn't put it down. I don't know that I've ever read a book so well researched and packed with information. You can tell that the author has an affinity for JFS, but he doesn't hold anything back either. He does a great job of presenting the man, warts and all.
January 8, 2025
JFS is the prophetic linchpin connecting over a century of Mormon thought (doctrine) and culture. From Carthage (mob murder of his father and uncle in 1844) to full eradication of "the principle" (2nd manifesto on polygamy in 1904, etc.), to grooming his son to continue to curate church (largely Smith family) history well into the 1970s - his influence still looms large in terms of what represents orthodox LDS teachings and practices today (including the use of middle initials for all prophets/apostles since . . . ). As such, the body of biographical work done thus far on his life is woefully thin. Taysom's work (along with recent work by Kathleen Flake) represents a much-needed emphasis on a figure that desperately needs it.
March 27, 2024
What a fantastic, humanizing work. Immeasurably satisfied with Taysom's approach to this life story.
Seeing what Joseph F. Smith became as his disruptive youth, rough frontier environment, red-hot temper, individual weaknesses, developing self-awareness, and maturing self-management all merge and synthesize provides me the personal inspiration I need and develops my spiritual faith more than a simple clean-cut biography can ever hope to accomplish.
Unfortunately, the more time passes, the more I realize I'm in the minority due to my preferring this approach. Worth it.
Seeing what Joseph F. Smith became as his disruptive youth, rough frontier environment, red-hot temper, individual weaknesses, developing self-awareness, and maturing self-management all merge and synthesize provides me the personal inspiration I need and develops my spiritual faith more than a simple clean-cut biography can ever hope to accomplish.
Unfortunately, the more time passes, the more I realize I'm in the minority due to my preferring this approach. Worth it.
August 19, 2025
BOOK REVIEW - Like a Fiery Meteor: The Life of Joseph F. Smith, by Stephen C. Taysom (11.01.23)
Stephen C. Taysom’s biography of Joseph F. Smith is both unsparing and humane. He presents Smith as a man who began life combustible—angry, bereaved, and prone to defiance—yet ended as a doctrinally clarifying, administratively steady leader whose public gentleness belied a lifetime of inner wrestling.
Smith’s hot temperament was well known as a boy. Fatherless at five, motherless at thirteen, he grew up quick to fight and slow to yield. After striking a schoolteacher, his family and church leaders sent him on a mission to Hawaii in 1854 at just fifteen years old. The journey was meant to discipline him—and, in part, to remove him from trouble at home.
Yet his mission did not tame him. He resisted the authority of senior missionaries, bristling when told what to do, and often struck out on his own. Letters and recollections note his refusal to accept rebukes quietly. His resistance to orders sometimes left him isolated and hungry, but it also forced him to develop independence and resilience. That youthful opposition to direction foreshadowed the same streak that would later shape his career as a church leader and defender in the political arena.
One of Taysom’s most compelling themes is Smith’s lifelong friction with authority—even as he rose within it. As a young man and later as an apostle, he could be blunt and oppositional; as church president, he sparred with the U.S. Senate during the Reed Smoot hearings. He was a man who did not default to deference; he negotiated power. Taysom also traces Smith’s ultimate softening. By the 1900s, intimates remembered a man of sympathy and pastoral warmth, a leader whose teaching and personal ministry style emphasized consolation as much as correction. Smith is responsible for ending secretive plural marriages post manifesto and ushering in modernity. He also led the beginning of a return to the Church’s eastern roots with the purchase of the Hill Cumorah and the Smith Farm in Palmyra, NY.
Smith’s presidency looks decidedly modern in Taysom’s accounting: authoritative doctrinal statements (e.g., 1909 “The Origin of Man”; 1916 “The Father and the Son”), robust public engagement, and a strong center of administrative gravity. His final year brought the 1918 “Vision of the Redemption of the Dead,” later canonized as Doctrine & Covenants 138—a sweeping, consoling theology of the afterlife that still shapes Latter-day Saint thought.
Like a Fiery Meteor shines because Taysom resists idealizing Joseph while respecting the toll of the challenges he faced in life. He shows how a “hot” temperament, directed and refined, produced a leader capable of hard institutional choices and tender pastoral gestures. How many young men who acted out like Joseph have been written off by leaders. (I certainly was when a seminary teacher told me in 7th grade when I refused to participate in an assigned “bearing of testimonies”, and got in regular fights, that I would likely not amount to much in life.” But I digress.) Ironically, I served as mission president in the mission where he served years earlier. The book’s argument—that Smith both enforced the end of new plural marriages and helped carry the church into an administratively and doctrinally modern era—is convincingly supported by the record. If you want a biography that handles both the fight and the faith, this is it. All biographers of historical and public figures would do well to read Taysom’s work.
Stephen C. Taysom’s biography of Joseph F. Smith is both unsparing and humane. He presents Smith as a man who began life combustible—angry, bereaved, and prone to defiance—yet ended as a doctrinally clarifying, administratively steady leader whose public gentleness belied a lifetime of inner wrestling.
Smith’s hot temperament was well known as a boy. Fatherless at five, motherless at thirteen, he grew up quick to fight and slow to yield. After striking a schoolteacher, his family and church leaders sent him on a mission to Hawaii in 1854 at just fifteen years old. The journey was meant to discipline him—and, in part, to remove him from trouble at home.
Yet his mission did not tame him. He resisted the authority of senior missionaries, bristling when told what to do, and often struck out on his own. Letters and recollections note his refusal to accept rebukes quietly. His resistance to orders sometimes left him isolated and hungry, but it also forced him to develop independence and resilience. That youthful opposition to direction foreshadowed the same streak that would later shape his career as a church leader and defender in the political arena.
One of Taysom’s most compelling themes is Smith’s lifelong friction with authority—even as he rose within it. As a young man and later as an apostle, he could be blunt and oppositional; as church president, he sparred with the U.S. Senate during the Reed Smoot hearings. He was a man who did not default to deference; he negotiated power. Taysom also traces Smith’s ultimate softening. By the 1900s, intimates remembered a man of sympathy and pastoral warmth, a leader whose teaching and personal ministry style emphasized consolation as much as correction. Smith is responsible for ending secretive plural marriages post manifesto and ushering in modernity. He also led the beginning of a return to the Church’s eastern roots with the purchase of the Hill Cumorah and the Smith Farm in Palmyra, NY.
Smith’s presidency looks decidedly modern in Taysom’s accounting: authoritative doctrinal statements (e.g., 1909 “The Origin of Man”; 1916 “The Father and the Son”), robust public engagement, and a strong center of administrative gravity. His final year brought the 1918 “Vision of the Redemption of the Dead,” later canonized as Doctrine & Covenants 138—a sweeping, consoling theology of the afterlife that still shapes Latter-day Saint thought.
Like a Fiery Meteor shines because Taysom resists idealizing Joseph while respecting the toll of the challenges he faced in life. He shows how a “hot” temperament, directed and refined, produced a leader capable of hard institutional choices and tender pastoral gestures. How many young men who acted out like Joseph have been written off by leaders. (I certainly was when a seminary teacher told me in 7th grade when I refused to participate in an assigned “bearing of testimonies”, and got in regular fights, that I would likely not amount to much in life.” But I digress.) Ironically, I served as mission president in the mission where he served years earlier. The book’s argument—that Smith both enforced the end of new plural marriages and helped carry the church into an administratively and doctrinally modern era—is convincingly supported by the record. If you want a biography that handles both the fight and the faith, this is it. All biographers of historical and public figures would do well to read Taysom’s work.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews