What kind of person was the Prophet Joseph Smith? From the day he first related the story of his vision of the Father and the Son until his martyrdom some twenty years later at Carthage, Illinois, his life was one of paradoxes. Few people who knew him could maintain an attitude of neutrality toward him. He was capable of inspiring the greatest loyalty in some, while arousing the most bitter enmity in others.

In this inspirational biography of the Prophet, author Francis M. Gibbons declares that “while there is room for debate about the character of Joseph Smith, depending upon whose testimony one is willing to accept, there can be no dispute about the character and accomplishments of the religious organization he brought into being, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.”

Joseph Smith, Martyr, Prophet of God tells of the ancestry and boyhood of Joseph, the events leading up to the restoration of the Church the trials and tribulations of the Saints as their numbers increased and they were driven from New York to Missouri, Ohio, and Illinois.

The author, a stake president and secretary to the First Presidency of the Church, explains his purpose in writing this biography: “It has been said that any organization is but the lengthened shadow of one man. To the extent that this maxim has any validity, one must search for an explanation of the phenomenal growth and vitality of the Mormon Church in the life of its founder, Joseph Smith.”