Review
Title: Martin Harris: Uncompromising Witness to the Book of Mormon
Authors: Susan Easton Black and Larry C. Porter
Publisher: BYU Studies, Provo, Utah
Genre: Non-fiction
Year published: 2018
Number of pages: 590
Binding: Hardback
ISBN: 9781942161554
Price: $24.95
Reviewed by Dale E. Luffman for the Association of Mormon Letters
In many ways, a text like this has been long overdue. Martin Harris has been the topic of essays and presentations at various venues but has not been the subject of serious historically researched biography until now. As few other persons have contributed as significantly to the emergence of the Restoration tradition as Martin Harris, consideration of his life, witness, and contribution cannot be easily overlooked. This biography is especially important inasmuch as it carefully reveals a compelling story of an individual who struggled with the inconsistencies, foibles, and unethical behaviors of church leaders of his generation while tenaciously holding fast to his testimony of the Book of Mormon.
The authors of this splendid volume are Susan Easton Black, Professor Emerita of Church History and Doctrine at Brigham Young University, and Larry C. Porter, Professor Emeritus of Church History and Doctrine at Brigham Young University. Both are highly respected and able scholars in their respective fields in the LDS tradition.
The authors have presented the biography of Martin Harris, for the most part, in a balanced and respectable manner. As one of the earliest inquirers and believers in Joseph Smith, Jr. and his exceptional claims, Martin Harris not only figured prominently in the earliest events of the Restoration movement, he was also an expression of that movement, with all the achievements and inconsistencies that reflect the church’s earliest days. The early episodes relating to the dictation of the Book of Mormon, of the church’s initial beginnings, of the selection of the initial members of the Quorum of Twelve, all feature the influence and presence of this unique and quirky individual. Martin Harris was a man who in many ways was a man of his times who possessed both substance and judgment. He is portrayed in this biography as the man that he came to be – – a fitting, faithful witness to the Book of Mormon.
The scope of the biography is quite thorough, commencing with an account of the Harris family forbearers in Colonial Massachusetts and Rhode Island, and continuing with a rendering of the events bringing Martin Harris to what would come to be known as the “Burned-over-district.” Actually the chapter titles in the biography provide a rather helpful roadmap to the reader of the text. This is particularly important to the reader who may not have a great deal of familiarity with the early nineteenth century or the beginnings of Mormonism. The chapters include consideration of Harris’ character, his troubled marriage, the “Lost Manuscript,” his calling as one of the three primary witnesses to the Book of Mormon, an account of the “translation” of the plates, the printing of the dictated manuscript, and Harris’ financial support of the venture. In addition, the authors a host of detail regarding the life and times of this “witness” to the Book of Mormon.
The volume is well researched. The authors have combed through libraries from coast to coast investigating archives and repositories for primary source documents and other related information that would contribute to the representation of the life of Martin Harris and his unique relationship and testimony to the Book of Mormon. One of the strengths of the volume is its reporting of the time of Martin Harris’ struggle with the leadership of the church, and his sojourn among various factions of the church, his devotion to the House of the Lord in Kirtland, Ohio, and sundry other issues, before his trek to Utah in his last years. No published work comes close to the contribution of this volume in its documented historical narrative of this incredible, unique man.
Content-wise, the biography is informative and accessible. One rarely gets lost in the narrative, informing, and at times, even delighting the reader. Some will find that this is a volume that is hard to put down: one of the strengths of this well-written volume. Because it is well-written, readers, both LDS and non-LDS will find the authors to be delightful guides into the life and times of Martin Harris. Many will find the appendices to be informative and helpful in their quest to know this man. The “Chronology of Martin Harris” is a helpful guide, and can be an aid in navigating the narrative of this text.
For all the attributes that can be extended to this volume, and there are many, there are several aspects that, if more thoroughly addressed, would have strengthened the biography. The authors appear to have assumed a rather apologetic stance regarding some of the personalities within the treatment of the volume. While criticism of Martin Harris is registered for his inconsistencies and foibles, the same brush is not generally applied to the characterizations of Joseph Smith, Jr., Brigham Young, or any of the other revered leaders of the time in this text. This apologetic tendency of the volume is indeed unfortunate as it tends to diminish the veracity of the volume to some degree. In addition, no discussion of the multiple and substantially different accounts of Smith’s Sacred Grove experience are apparent. And discussion of the “dictation of the Book of Mormon manuscript” is given over to the reductionist language of “the Urim and Thummim” as an explanation of the origin of the Book of Mormon as a text. There is no mention that this is a later conceptualization of Joseph Smith, Jr. and Sidney Rigdon, produced during their work on the Biblical Revision project and projected back on the event. Our writers have accommodated to the mythology of the tradition.
With all the respectful criticism offered above, “Martin Harris: Uncompromising Witness of the Book of Mormon” remains a very fine text, contributing significantly to a more informed tradition. It is a text that deserves a place on the library shelf of everyone interested in the foundational personalities, events, and early histories of Latter-day Saints. The volume will confirm already existing perspectives currently held by the faithful with regard to their leaders and their teachings, and therefore will confirm assumed perspectives. It will be received in a manner intended by its authors, confirming and verifying faithful witness in LDS life and experience.