Alex Beam

discusses

American Crucifixion:
The Murder of Joseph Smith and the Fate of the Mormon Church

This event includes a book signing

Date

May
20
Tuesday
May 20, 2014
7:00 PM ET

Location

Harvard Book Store
1256 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA 02138

Tickets

This event is free; no tickets are required.

Harvard Book Store welcomes Boston Globe columnist ALEX BEAM for a discussion of his latest book, American Crucifixion: The Murder of Joseph Smith and the Fate of the Mormon Church.

On June 27, 1844, a mob stormed the jail in the dusty frontier town of Carthage, Illinois. Clamorous and angry, they were hunting down a man they saw as a grave threat to their otherwise quiet lives: the founding prophet of Mormonism, Joseph Smith. They wanted blood.

At thirty-nine years old, Smith had already lived an outsized life. In addition to starting his own religion and creating his own “Golden Bible”—the Book of Mormon—he had worked as a water-dowser and treasure hunter. He’d led his people to Ohio, then Missouri, then Illinois, where he founded a city larger than fledgling Chicago. He was running for president. And, secretly, he had married more than thirty women.

In American Crucifixion, Alex Beam tells how Smith went from charismatic leader to public enemy: How his most seismic revelation—the doctrine of polygamy—created a rift among his people; how that schism turned to violence; and how, ultimately, Smith could not escape the consequences of his ambition and pride.

Mormonism is America’s largest and most enduring native religion, and the “martyrdom” of Joseph Smith is one of its transformational events. Smith’s brutal assassination propelled the Mormons to colonize the American West and claim their place in the mainstream of American history. American Crucifixion is a story of scandal and violence, with deep roots in our national identity.

Alex Beam
Alex Beam

Alex Beam

Alex Beam is a journalist and author, whose columns were featured in the Boston Globe for 25 years. A John Knight Journalism Fellow at Stanford University from 1996–1997, Beam also worked for Newsweek and BusinessWeek, served as the Moscow and Boston bureau chief, and has written for the International Herald Tribune, Atlantic Monthly, Slate, and Forbes/FYI. Beam is the author of seven books, including The Americans Are Coming!A Great Idea at the Time: The Rise, Fall and Curious Afterlife of the Great Books, and The Feud; Vladimir Nabokov, Edmund Wilson and the End of a Beautiful Friendship.

Harvard Book Store
1256 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA 02138

Walking from the Harvard Square T station: 2 minutes

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