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Thanks for the benefit of the doubt, Ray… I meant it tongue and cheek and when I reread it, not sure I delivered it right. Anyway, thanks for your response swimordie. Be assured, I was not mocking.
I read this book and found the Lafferty brother’s metamorphasis very interesting. This was also my first glimpse of the FLDS community and it was not favorable.
I was troubled by the lack of more notes, several times I went looking for the source only to find there was none or that it was ambigious. The one I remember most was about Joseph’s trip to retrieve the plates. The passage said something like, “following the age old traditions of necromancy, Joseph went to retrieve the plates in a black carriage being pulled by a black horse.” No Reference!
I had put this one up on my mental shelf as it didn’t fit with anything else I had heard. But the more I have read the more I question this. It would appear that Joseph took Emma with him and borrowed a horse and wagon from a farmer/guy he was staying with or was visiting. But the point is this- Where did Krakauer get the black carraige, black horse, necromancy thing
:So this makes me wonder if my unfavorable view of the FLDS has been similarly distorted.
To be fair to the FLDS (and other fundamentalist Mormon groups), I don’t think Krakauer’s book is good resource to use in understanding them. It’s a sensationalist story about some very sick individuals who happened to be Mormon at one point in their life. You have to keep in mind what the book is written for — to tell a story. It isn’t academic. The author takes a lot of liberty in crafting the historical aspects of the book. Hawkgrrl said it best when she compared it to Dan Brown’s “DiVinci Code” as an explanation of Catholicism. Quote:Where did Krakauer get the black carraige, black horse, necromancy thing?
The simple answer is that nobody knows, since he didn’t document any source. It might have been sloppy journalism, but it might have been totally made up. There is no way to know.
I think he read of it somewhere else and pulled it out of his butt in his book – but that’s also total speculation.
Old-Timer wrote:It might have been sloppy journalism, but it might have been totally made up. There is no way to know.
Unfortunately for some people who don’t spend much time on this subject, it can be influential on opinions of Mormonism, sloppy journalism or not. I guess that happens in life.
I seem to recall hearing that story before, but not really remembering it being something of historical substance. I don’t remember Michael Quinn spending any time on it in “Early Mormonism and the Magic World View” which is probably the most comprehensive and scholarly work on Joseph Smith’s interest in folk magic. Krakauer did not do any original research for his book whatsoever. So he must have picked that up from somewhere. He was pretty free with his sources, looking for more tidbits that helped him build his story. He was aiming to tell a particular story, not recreate accurate history (as his primary motive).
To further derail I can’t resist commenting that both Lucy and Joseph Knight Sr clearly documented Joseph’s borrowing of Knight’s horse and wagon that night. No mention of the color of either item in either account though. I would imagine black could have been a common color for a wagon, anybody’s guess about the horse. The fact that people “bend” the facts to tell stories according to their liking should be understood I guess. And the omission of documentation is rightly a big red flag. I read the book as well, I thought Krakauer distinguished between modern LDS and FLDS. I felt Krakauer’s focus was on fundlementalism and extremism. I laughed when Krakauer made the comparision between a “Crazy Uncle” at a family reunion that you dont want to admit you are related to …. this how the LDS feel about FLDS and those who practice of plural marraige. The Laftety murders happened because mainstream LDS people wont practice plural marriage. I think that this is book that many outsiders have read and this book has lead to a lot of good dialogue for me.
Unfortunately in our media, both LDS and FLDS are referred to as “Mormon”. Which makes explanation a bit difficult. As far as dubious history goes, the Catholic church has it in spades, as do many Protestant and Orthodox churches.
Roy wrote:I was troubled by the lack of more notes, several times I went looking for the source only to find there was none or that it was ambigious. The one I remember most was about Joseph’s trip to retrieve the plates. The passage said something like, “following the age old traditions of necromancy, Joseph went to retrieve the plates in a black carriage being pulled by a black horse.” No Reference!
Brian Johnston wrote:I seem to recall hearing that story before, but not really remembering it being something of historical substance. I don’t remember Michael Quinn spending any time on it in “Early Mormonism and the Magic World View” which is probably the most comprehensive and scholarly work on Joseph Smith’s interest in folk magic.
I ran across this reference again to Joseph needing to bring a black horse and dress in black to retrieve the plates. It was included in 3 of the 13 Reminiscences of Joseph’s Account. I’m still not happy that Krakauer didn’t provide the reference, but at least he didn’t make it up.
http://maxwellinstitute.byu.edu/publications/review/?vol=17&num=1&id=567 Actually… all things considered… black clothing was NOT uncommon in those days when colors were dull. And I find it more plausible he moved the things with a horse. Gold weighs the same as lead.
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