Lucy's Book: Critical Edition of Lucy Mack Smith's Family Memoir

by Lucy Smith, Lavina Fielding Anderson, Irene M. Bates

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Genres: Religion, Mormonism

946 pages, Hardcover

First published May 1, 2001

Reviews

[Rae · Rating 4 out of 5]

The best thing about "Lucy's Book" is the lengthy introductory material which explains how Lucy Mack Smith's memoir came to be, how it evolved, and what its status is today -- the provenance, so to speak.

It was also interesting to compare the different versions and to see how Lucy's original intent (of simply writing a family memoir) was changed into being more of a witness of her son as a prophet of God. Her voice as a woman and mother was silenced in many ways.

A worthwhile read.

[Ann Woodbury Moore · Rating 4 out of 5]

A plus about COVID-19: having the time to read through this nearly 1,000-page history. Although published in 2001, my sister just gave me this copy for Christmas. My parents had a previous edition in their extensive church library and I read it growing up; I remember being most fascinated not by Lucy's famous son Joseph, the founder of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but by the short lives and deaths of Lucy's sisters--they reminded me of some of Louisa May Alcott's short-story characters, angelic creatures who suffer nobly and well. The text of this version is similar, but editor Anderson has added an extensive introduction, textual history, and notes. While occasionally wordy and repetitious, these provide a wealth of knowledge about Lucy herself (a bright, intensely religious, strong and courageous woman) and a context regarding the Church succession crisis after Joseph's murder in 1844 that I had never appreciated (basically, how important were the Smiths to the Church?). I couldn't help wondering what might have happened if Joseph's only surviving brother William had been more reliable, insightful, humble, and worthy. Or if his older brothers Alvin and Hyrum, who by all accounts were totally ideal, had lived. Brigham Young, who despised Lucy's memoir to the point of having all copies recalled, comes off very poorly.

[Joe · Rating 4 out of 5]

A first-rate critical edition of Lucy Mack Smith's family history, by Lavina Fielding Anderson. This edition restores important passages heretofore edited out of Lucy Mack Smith's record, and includes a fine critical apparatus. This is an edition of a seminal work that every researcher should own.