Mormon Stories is honored to welcome American historian and author Newell Bringhurt to discuss the life of Fawn Brodie, author of No Man Knows My History: The Life of Joseph Smith. We discuss Newell’s biography of Brodie, her life as the niece of President David O. McKay, her faith, her influences in writing one of the most influential books in Mormon history, and its reception by the Church.
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Show notes:
- Fawn Brodie: A Biographer’s Life by Newell Bringhurst
- No Man Knows My History by Fawn M. Brodie
- “Appraisal of the So-Called Brodie Book,” Anonymous, Deseret News, May 11, 1946
- “A Lesson from Dandy,” by David O. McKay, 1968 General Conference
- No, Ma’am, That’s Not History: A Brief Review of Mrs. Brodie’s Reluctant Vindication of a Prophet She Seeks to Expose by Hugh Nibley
- “Can We Manipulate the Past?” Address by Fawn Brodie at the University of Utah in 1967
- “The Manipulation of History,” by Marvin S. Hill, Dialogue:A Journal of Mormon Thought, Fall 1970
- Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling by Richard Lyman Bushman
- Newell Bringhurst’s review of Rough Stone Rolling
- “My ‘Affair’ with Fawn Brodie: Motives, Pain, and Pleasure,” by Newell G. Bringhurst, Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, Fall 2002
- Other books by Newell Bringhurst
- Thomas Jefferson: An Intimate History by Fawn M. Brodie
- Mormonism Unveiled: The Life and Confession of John D. Lee and Brigham Young by John D. Lee
- The Mountain Meadows Massacre by Juanita Brooks
- David O. McKay and the Rise of Modern Mormonism by Gregory A. Prince
- “The Private vs. The Public David O. McKay: Profile of a Complex Personality,” by Newell G. Bringhurst, Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, Fall 1998
- Thaddeus Stevens: Scourge of the South by Fawn M. Brodie
- The Devil Drives: A Life of Sir Richard Burton by Fawn M. Brodie
- Brigham Young and the Expanding American Frontier by Newell G. Bringhurst
- Joseph Smith: The Making of a Prophet by Dan Vogel
- Brigham Young: American Moses by Leonard J. Arrington
- In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith by Todd M. Compton
- Mormon Enigma: Emma Hale Smith by Linda King Newell and Valeen Tippetts Avery
- Early Mormonism and the Magic Worldview by D. Michael Quinn
- Mormon Stories’ interview with Richard Bushman
- The American Religion by Harold Bloom
- An Insider’s View of Mormon Origins by Grant Palmer
- Saints, Slaves, and Blacks: The Changing Place of Black People within Mormonism by Newell G. Bringhurst
I worked for the British publisher of Fawn´s biography in the early 1970´s. I was also on a bishopric in England, and was threatened with disciplinary action for owning the book and trying to discuss some issues arising from her amazing book? Still have that original copy which I treasure, along with some of her later biographies. A big “worthyness” issue in those days was to be accused of knowing or having sympathies with the RLDS!
When will his book on Fawn be available ?
Thanks
Available Now!
Fawn McKay Brodie: A Biographer’s Life https://www.amazon.com/dp/0806131810/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_0RST7QS4J2HA2XTQ5E68
John, you said: “Listeners, if any of you can help us find that original pamphlet and even preferably a link on the web to the Deseret News article that would have been the first review of No Man Knows My History, I want to see what the church’s substantive, well what Brodie calls propaganda, I want to see what that propaganda was, hear the way they justify what came out in the book, first of all, so I want to do an episode on that.” (1:41:26).
I don’t know about Deseret News, but the March 1946 issue of Improvement Era contains a review of No Man Knows My History. It’s online at https://archive.org/details/improvementera
Find the issues from 1946 (see the sidebar on the left) and then click on the “view as list” icon to show each issue as a row with a date. Click the March 1, 1946 issue. On the page control slider at the bottom, go to page 6 of 68, although this page is printed as page 132 in the original.
I would not categorize this review as friendly to Ms. Brodie, of course, but neither would I categorize it as a predominantly or even partially ad hominem argument. The reviewer never questions her motives for writing the book and never claims that her arguments are worthless because of her character flaws or moral failings. There is a difference between sarcasm and ad hominem attacks.
Also see electronic page 35 and 64 for some more interesting details. The article goes on to explain away one of the problems that Fawn Brody brings up.
I agree it wasn’t an ad hominem but maybe a strawman? They only focused on (I think) 2 main issues that were easily explained away.
The article also uses “anti-mormon” as a thought stopping tool to dismiss any credibility and goes on to say “[the book] will have no interest to Latter-day Saints who have correct knowledge of the history of Joseph Smith, and who are surfeited with shallow treatments of their faith, and who know by heart the untrue charges against Joseph Smith…” So basically implying that a good member would not come to any other conclusion.
Hi all,
I do not recall hearing anyone in the podcast use the term “ad hominem argument”, in fact it wasn’t in the quote referenced from Mr. Dehlin.
However, the term “propaganda” was used and quite correctly. Don’t take my word for it, but do a dive on the “term” use, history, and origin @
Smith, Bruce Lannes. “propaganda”. Encyclopedia Britannica, 24 Jan. 2021, https://www.britannica.com/topic/propaganda. Accessed 5 November 2021.
Thanks, MW
Hi all,
I do not recall hearing anyone in the podcast use the term “ad hominem argument”, in fact it wasn’t in the quote referenced from Mr. Dehlin.
However, the term “propaganda” was used and quite correctly. Don’t take my word for it, but do a dive on the “term” use, history, and origin @
Smith, Bruce Lannes. “propaganda”. Encyclopedia Britannica, 24 Jan. 2021, https://www.britannica.com/topic/propaganda. Accessed 5 November 2021.
Thanks, MW