I'd already read a book on Joan in preparation for a trip to France, but a friend happened to mention this literally in the eleventh hour, so I took it with me. I wasn't disappointed. I always hated Twain's Finn and Sawyer, but curiously seemed to enjoy his Connecticut Yankee much more. Perhaps he should have stuck with historical fiction. This, his labor of love, stands out in more ways than one.

Having actually looked long and hard into the obscure trial proceedings, Twain brought them to life with a respect and angle others haven't approached. One sample (243): "The Bishop plagued her straight along, till at last she said, in a weary tone--'I came from God; I have nothing more to do here. Return me to God, from whom I came.' It was piteous to hear; it was the same as saying, 'You only want my life; take it and let me be at peace.'" But that's jumping in at practically the end of the story. It's a remarkable one, worthy of investigation.

This remarkable woman, rather after my own heart (and in the remainder of this sentence, I'm not saying her near perfection of certain of my ideals is in any way suggestive that I approach her level), had never sworn (261); extended mercies like Captain Moroni (such as on 161), and didn't like to shed blood; defied her age in offering that to which Mormon is an exception (preface page quotation from Louis Kossuth: "Since the writing of human history began, Joan of Arc is the only person, of either sex, who has ever held supreme command of the military forces of a nation at the age of seventeen."); and, like Joseph Smith, only learned long after the onset of her visions (40) how and by whom deliverance would come...herself. Yet she herself would, following a year of harsh captivity and interrogation, betrayed by those who owed her the most, only find deliverance in the fire of martyrdom.

What Twain offers is a lively pretended first person eyewitness account to Joan's life. Its sympathies are not undue, nor is its praise exaggerated. Read it, and be moved. Historical research, conducted by some so impartially or skeptically as to practically be hostile, confirms that aspect which also holds true of Joseph Smith's life: even her enemies were astounded by her accomplishments wholly beyond her every opportunity and the time period itself. Her character could "be measured by the standards of all times without misgiving or apprehension as to the result. Judged by any of them, it is still flawless" (xi).

Those who have questioned the rightness of military action in any time or capacity often judge it by the unfortunate character of certain actors therein, or whatever color or interpretation can be given as to causes for entry. Just as Twain could comment on Joan's unselfishness (xii), exemplified in her merely seeking tax exemption for her hometown when offered a request by the king, Elder Maxwell has spoken of genuine leadership in times of crisis: "Of unselfish George Washington it has been written: 'In all history few men who possessed unassailable power have used that power so gently and self-effacingly for what their best instincts told them was the welfare of their neighbors and all mankind' (James Thomas Flexner, Washington: The Indispensable Man [1984], xvi). Power is most safe with those, like Washington, who are not in love with it!" The correct analysis of history is not that strong measures are never required, but that they are best directed by spiritually sensitive individuals, such as those who can retain their humanity even amid the carnage imposed by the decisions of others. (Joan often expressed that she'd rather be at home weaving or keeping sheep but, with Joseph Smith-like alacrity, she knew whatever God commanded was right; also similar to Captain Moroni's day, she begged the English to simply go home and remove the necessity for conflict--but she was perfectly willing to bring it to them rather than leave her people in the dust.)