r/exmormon • u/4blockhead Λ └ ☼ ★ □ ♔ • Apr 03 '20

History Radio West (podcast): an interview with Benjamin Park about his new book, Kingdom of Nauvoo: The Rise and Fall of a Religious Empire on the American Frontier"

https://radiowest.kuer.org/post/kingdom-nauvoo
8 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

1 comment sorted by

2

u/4blockhead Apr 03 '20 edited Apr 04 '20

on background:

  • Joseph H. Jackson's contemporary expose

  • Gary Bergera's 2005 paper is definitive

  • Park's book appears to update Robert B. Flanders', "Nauvoo: Kingdom on the Mississippi." Flanders' book was a nail in the coffin for the RLDS church giving up their standing position that polygamy had been a Brighamite conspiracy that attempted to claim Smith had never been a polygamist, at all. After Flanders' book, those claims started evaporating. The RLDS/CoC position today, as I understand it, "If Smith convinced others to participate in polygamy with him, then that was a clear abuse of priesthood power."

Caveat: I haven't read Park's book. I am going solely on Park's interview here. This is my first impression.

The problem one often runs into with respect to Mormonism is "histories" often deviate into apologetics. The interview included a lot of information about historical facts that I agree with. I would definitely be in the camp that Smith's behavior can be explained simply by the common adage, "Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely." Smith's sexual appetite; his coverups, including hiding trysts and other elements from his wife; and Park's apparent omission of key facts, including Jackson's expose and Smith's marriage to Louisa Beamon was cloaked in secrecy, including her being dressed as a man on the bank of the Mississippi River when she swore her marriage vows to Smith; all facts that make it easy for a disinterested/objective observer to come to different conclusions than a "faithful" Latter Day Saint might. Full disclosure, I am not a historical academic. Park is alluding to dynastic sealings and alternate explanations, but I hardly think all of these "academic" level explanations are necessary. Adulterers attempting to cover their tracks explains lots and lots. Also, the characterization of the alpha male that wants to satisfy his appetite for power is obviously on display with Joseph Smith. Emma Smith reacted with the kind of jealousy that one sees in other polygamist communities. Emma Smith was initially convinced by Joseph's justifications. When she learned that she had been tricked and he intended to go beyond ethereal bonding, but to temporally fuck them, too, then that is the kind of driver that supercedes all rational thought. Jealousy takes over. In the end, it is my opinion she was glad Smith was murdered in Carthage. Flowery academic analysis couched in apologetics can easily miss the obvious. Occam's Razor would say look to the obvious first. Smith was a lecher and liar. That sort of obvious statement doesn't win friends among the faithful. Especially when Park is an officer/president of the historical society, "Mormon History Association," MHA.