A gripping account of the mob killing of Joseph Smith, founder of Mormonism “American Crucifixion paints a brilliant picture of religious experimentation, public intolerance, and the making of a martyr.”— Chicago Tribune On June 27, 1844, in the dusty frontier town of Carthage, Illinois, Joseph Smith and three of his associates waited anxiously in a jail cell. The dynamic founding prophet of Mormonism no longer had a congregation to preach to: Now the mob outside his window carried muskets and cartridge belts. All that stood between Smith and this murderous crowd was a thin wooden door. 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 gripping story of scandal and violence, with deep roots in our national identity. “A remarkably fair account of the origins and trajectory of Mormonism itself...Mr. Beam displays a fine sense of narrative pacing... American Crucifixion is an excellent book about the life and death of this utterly uncategorizable man.”― Wall Street Journal “The story Beam tells is full of dramatic detail: the precautions the Mormons took to prevent the Smiths’ bodies from being snatched; Emma Smith’s dogged, pathetic delusion that she was Joseph’s only wife; the capers of the kangaroo court that acquitted the murderers; the Mormon fantasies about divine punishments meted out.”― New York Times Book Review “It’s a brutal yet absorbing slice of history that Alex Beam captures well in his new book, American Crucifixion: The Murder of Joseph Smith and the Fate of the Mormon Church . While Beam wraps in some essential early church history, this is at heart a journalistic account of a murder that tells us as much about religious intolerance and the low flash point of mob violence as it does about Mormonism.”― Los Angeles Times “Fascinating….While American Crucifixion masters its setting and era, the book’s greatest contribution is its dramatic account of the events, as acted out by many memorable characters…. American Crucifixion paints a brilliant picture of religious experimentation, public intolerance and the making of a martyr.”― Chicago Tribune “An evenhanded and fast‑paced history…. Focusing on the days surrounding the perversion of justice that took place in Carthage, Beam makes every effort to contextualize Joseph Smith in American history.”― Daily Beast “An engrossing read that makes the final months of Joseph Smith’s life a relevant story for American history and for a general audience. Beam reminds us that religious intolerance is neither a new problem in the United States nor an easy one to solve.”― Christian Century “A colorful account of the amazing rise and untimely demise of this fascinating figure…. [Smith] was one‑of‑a‑kind, to be sure, but Beam insightfully analyzes him in the broader context of Jacksonian America’s raucously democratic and frequently violent frontier…. A compulsively readable tale of Smith’s life and times, American Crucifixion also serves as an intriguing study of why people are moved to abandon themselves, both to devout religious belief and unreasoning fear and hatred of ‘the other.’”― Cleveland Plain Dealer “Beam gives the reader a full and unbiased account of Smith’s strengths and limitations, including, if it can be called a limitation, a rather severe case of megalomania…. It would be easy to ridicule Joseph Smith, but Beam neither praises nor condemns him. Instead he wants the reader to understand what the church’s beginnings were like. He succeeds in this endeavor and has written a fine book.”― Lincoln Journal Star “In his nuanced and engrossing tale of the first Mormons’ alternating periods of triumph and despair along the original American frontier—on both sides of Huck Finn’s antebellum Mississippi River—Beam illuminates not just their history but their nation’s.”― Maclean’s (Canada) “The murder of Mormon religious leader Joseph Smith is compelling on its own terms and is made all the more so here by Beam’s thorough research and riveting storytelling…. Beam’s page‑turner will appeal to history (not just religious history) buffs, as well as find a place on specialists’ shelves owing to its examination of primary sources.”― Library Journal (starred) “Beam offers a captivating saga of Smith’s rise and fall and of a colorful cast of characters who contributed to the internal politics and rivalries that led to Smith’s death and drove the Mormons forward to