Review
——–
Title: Like A Fiery Meteor: The Life of Joseph F. Smith.
Author: Stephen C. Taysom
Publisher: The University of Utah Press
Genre: Biography
Year Published: 2023
Number of Pages: xvi + 445 (end material included)
Binding: Softcover, Hardcover
ISBN: (softcover): 9781647691288
Price: (softcover): US $34.95.
Reviewed by Samuel Mitchell for the Association of Mormon Letters
I recently spoke with a friend who remarked how difficult (and even scary) it must be to attempt to write a biography. My friend pointed out that one must understand—really understand—the nuances and complexities of a person’s life and thought. We discussed all of this in the context of Like A Fiery Meteor: The Life of Joseph F. Smith, Stephen C. Taysom’s recent (and excellent) biography. It explores the life and times of one of Mormonism’s most influential figures and does so without shying away from both inspiring and uncomfortable moments.
Fiery Meteor follows a roughly chronological trajectory, tracing Joseph F. Smith’s (hereafter JFS’s) life from its opening to its close, with occasional digressions to offer readers pertinent information. Fiery Meteor takes its first three chapters to explore JFS’s early life and his “prehistory”—an examination of his Smith and Fielding ancestry and the early Latter-day Saint movement. Significantly, a keynote figure in this “prehistory” is JFS’s mother, Mary Fielding Smith. Compared to the stories of her husband and brother-in-law, it could be easy for Mary to be muted or forgotten. Taysom, however, does a remarkable job highlighting Mary’s perpetual influence on JFS’s personality and theology. For instance, he notes that “many of [JFS’s] most basic assumptions about the world had their grounding in his maternal inheritance. Mary Fielding’s [writings] … display certain habits of mind that would later find full expression in the life of her only son. JFS clearly inherited Mary’s embattled posture and her way of viewing the world as the site of cosmic combat, both physical and spiritual, between the forces of evil and the forces of good in which she and her family were major combatants” (p. 9).
Not only does Mary Fielding Smith loom large throughout JFS’s life, but so too does the specter of death. Of the many deaths that impacted JFS, Taysom poetically notes two of the most important—the deaths of his father and son, both named Hyrum: “This [in 1918] was the thirteenth and final child JFS would bury. At times, there is a dark, poetic symmetry in history: two dead Hyrum Smiths; two traumas too deep to heal. The death of his father and son, both taken before their time, framed JFS’s life. The death of his father signaled the dawn of his life in much the same way that the death of his son signaled its dusk” (p. 353).
Taysom deftly weaves together major life events, theology, and JFS’s surrounding context(s), while at the same time summarizing what must be voluminous records, as he presents the complex character of JFS. More than once, Taysom notes that JFS—like most human beings, really—is a conglomeration of opposites. According to Taysom: “JFS was a living coincidence of opposites. He was caring and cruel, abusive and adoring, sentimental and scathing, intelligent and ignorant, deeply spiritual and terrifyingly violent” (p. 360).
My own personal forays into Latter-day Saint biography (and, as is often the case, hagiography) have been admittedly limited, which makes my encounter with Fiery Meteor even more meaningful and powerful. The book has its flaws, no doubt, but it willingly wrestles with JFS, warts and all, and does so with equal parts admiration and critique. By no means is JFS presented as a perfect person, and at times some of his choices are painful for readers to experience. Such episodes include JFS’s beating of James McKnight and his violent misconduct towards his first wife.
Despite these challenging aspects of JFS’s life, however, Taysom also notes the prophet’s tenacity, his work ethic, his love of and loyalty toward family, and his deep passion for the teachings of the Restoration. “JFS invested himself almost totally in the creation and maintenance of a family because … his ‘interests, hopes, and heart all center on my family'” (p. 172). His determination to mold an ideal family is mirrored in his desire to help codify Mormonism’s doctrine, using canonized scriptures as the backbone of true theology. “The genius of JFS’s doctrinal system is that it provides not only coherence but also a veneer of stability that masks its flexibility—something that is essential for the successful adaptation and growth of any religious system. Although the consensus among Mormons is that this type of doctrine codification came to full flower under the direction of JFS Jr. and his son-in-law Bruce R. McConkie, it is perfectly plain that they modeled their approach on the one developed by JFS” (p. 299).
It has only been in recent years that I have come to appreciate the significant impacts that certain characters, like B. H. Roberts or Joseph Fielding Smith, have had on modern Latter-day Saint thought and theology. Fiery Meteor makes a compelling case for JFS as a singular force for doctrinal correlation, codification, and canonization. Indeed, while Roberts and JFS’s son are rightly credited for their influence, I believe that Fiery Meteor helps to show that JFS is just as worthy—if not more so—of such credit.
In short, Fiery Meteor is an important contribution to the modern field of Latter-day Saint biography. It does not shy away from controversy, nor does it overshadow the protagonist with critique and subjectivity. Indeed, while Taysom will often make quite clear his own personal stance on stories or actions of JFS, he wisely presents multiple perspectives and alternatives when possible—thus allowing the reader to engage more fully with the text. Well-written and thoroughly researched, Fiery Meteor is a vital read for anyone interested in Utah Mormonism’s transition into American society and/or in the codification of previously fluid theological tenets. It is gripping, it is challenging, and I heartily endorse it as one of the great biographies of a Latter-day Saint figure.