Criticism of Mormonism/Books/Nauvoo Polygamy/Preface

A FAIR Analysis of: Criticism of Mormonism/Books A work by author: George D. Smith

Chapter 1

Claims made in Preface

Page	Claim	Response	Author's sources
ix	Joseph was inspired by Napoleon's Egyptian discoveries	Criticism of Mormonism/Books/Napoleon's Egyptian discoveries|| No source provided.
ix	Joseph proposed a tryst with Sarah Ann Whitney	Joseph Smith and polygamy/"Love letters" Gregory L. Smith, A review of Nauvoo Polygamy:...but we called it celestial marriage by George D. Smith. FARMS Review, Vol. 20, Issue 2. (Detailed book review)	Joseph Smith to "Brother and Sister, [Newel K.] Whitney, and &c. [Sarah Ann,] Nauvoo, Illinois, August 18, 1842, Joseph Smith Collections, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS), Salt Lake City, Utah Full text of the letter may be viewed at Letter from Joseph Smith to the Whitneys (18 August 1842) (Wikisource)
ix	Joseph 36 versus Sarah 17	Age of wives|| No source provided
ix	Joseph's letter to Sarah Whitney was analogous to Napoleon's passionate love letter to Josephine.	Joseph Smith and polygamy/"Love letters" Gregory L. Smith, A review of Nauvoo Polygamy:...but we called it celestial marriage by George D. Smith. FARMS Review, Vol. 20, Issue 2. (Detailed book review)	Author's opinion.
x	Joseph had a "predilection" to "take an interest in more than one woman."	Joseph Smith and polygamy Criticism of Mormonism/Books/Loaded and prejudicial language Criticism of Mormonism/Books/Assumptions and presumptions Criticism of Mormonism/Books/Romance Criticism of Mormonism/Books/Mind reading	Author's opinion.
x	Napoleon's Egyptian findings "lit a fire in Smith that inspired even the language of his religious prose."	G.D. Smith provides no evidence for this claim, aside from the Book of Mormon's use of the term "Reformed Egyptian." Criticism of Mormonism/Books/Napoleon's Egyptian discoveries Criticism of Mormonism/Books/Mind reading Criticism of Mormonism/Books/Assumptions and presumptions	No source provided.
xi	"Little did Napoleon dream that by unearthing the Egyptian past, he would provide the mystery language of a new religion."	Criticism of Mormonism/Books/Napoleon's Egyptian discoveries	Author's opinion.
xi	"Using Old Testament polygamy as a model"	NOTE	No source provided.
xii	"Beyond his quest for female companionship...."	Criticism of Mormonism/Books/Mind reading Criticism of Mormonism/Books/Loaded and prejudicial language	Author's opinion.
xii	"...Smith utilized plural marriage to create a byzantine structure of relationships intended for successive worlds."	* There is no evidence that Joseph intended the relationship structure to be "byzantine." He did however, want all believers connected into one family. Criticism of Mormonism/Books/Loaded and prejudicial language	No source provided.
xii	Joseph "was arrested for destroying a local press"	* The destruction of the press was a decision ordered by Joseph as mayor with the approval of the Nauvoo city council. Joseph was charged with riot because of the press' destruction, released on bail, and offered to pay a fine if necessary. He was rearrested on a capital charge of treason. Nauvoo Expositor	No source provided.  History unclear or in error
xii	"Whether Joseph's wife Emma, consented to any of these marriages remains a mystery. She was aware of at least five of her husbands wives whom she sent away..."	Joseph_Smith_and_polygamy/Emma_Smith	No source provided.  History unclear or in error
xiii	"Smith's wives remain unacknowledged in the official History of the Church..."	Censorship and revision of LDS history Criticism of Mormonism/Books/Censorship	No source provided.
xiii	"...today, in official Mormon circles, Smith's granting of favors to chosen followers, allowing them to take extra women into the home, is rarely mentioned."	Censorship and revision of LDS history Criticism of Mormonism/Books/Censorship	No source provided.
xiii-xiv	"extant records constitute a secret chronicle, an addendum...to the carefully edited official history from which any mention of the topic has been expurgated for the early period."	Censorship and revision of LDS history Criticism of Mormonism/Books/Censorship	No source provided.
xiv	"After 1890, when polygamy went underground again, it became difficult to access records."	Censorship and revision of LDS history Criticism of Mormonism/Books/Censorship	No source provided.
xiv	"The cyclical nature of this suppression of information, first in Illinois and later in Utah, left a brief window in Mormon history from which most of the documentation has been recovered."	Censorship and revision of LDS history Criticism of Mormonism/Books/Censorship	No source provided.
xiv	"because the history of polygamy in Nauvoo was never officially rewritten, even during the period of openness, Joseph Smith's initiation of the practice has remained in an historical penumbra to this day."	Censorship and revision of LDS history Criticism of Mormonism/Books/Censorship	No source provided.
xiv	Joseph "courted and eloped with his first wife."	Criticism of Mormonism/Books/Loaded and prejudicial language	No source provided.
xiv	"The topic [of polygamy] was already on Joseph's mind, even in the 1820s."	Psychobiographical analysis of Joseph Smith Criticism of Mormonism/Books/Mind reading	No source provided.
xv	"...these same polygamists continued marrying to the point that they had acquired an average of nearly six wives per family. This model became the blueprint for forty years of Utah polygamy."	* Internal contradiction: p. 289: "the typical Utah polygamist whose roots in the principle extended back to Nauvoo, had between three and four wives." Prevalence of polygamy	No source provided.  History unclear or in error
xv	"suppressed history"	Censorship and revision of LDS history Criticism of Mormonism/Books/Censorship	No source provided.
xv	Nauvoo "a more or less insignificant river town"	* Internal contradiction: p. 2: Nauvoo was "a bustling Mississippi River town with several thousand inhabitants." Yet, Nauvoo was ultimately largest city in the entire state except for Chicago.[1]	No source provided.  History unclear or in error
xv	"sources which somehow survived both neglect and contempt so that we are able to know both the facts of the matter and the behind-the-scenes human emotions"	Censorship and revision of LDS history Criticism of Mormonism/Books/Censorship	No source provided.
xvi	Mormon "grandparents considered [polygamy] requisite for heaven."	The only men who become gods are those that practice polygamy?	No source provided.

Endnotes

1. [note]  Leonard J. Arrington and Davis Bitton, The Mormon Experience: A History of the Latter-Day Saints, 2nd ed. (New York: Knopf : distributed by Random House/University of Illinois Press, [1979] 1992), 69. ISBN 0252062361. off-site
2. [note]  Leonard J. Arrington and Davis Bitton, The Mormon Experience: A History of the Latter-Day Saints, 2nd ed. (New York: Knopf : distributed by Random House/University of Illinois Press, [1979] 1992), 69. ISBN 0252062361. off-site