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Show The Salt Lake Tribune ——————_—— BEST SELLERS THE WEST UNDER COVER American Prophet: The Story of Joseph Smith Hardcover Fiction z eeaeDave Bal: dacel, Warner, easel. James Patterson. Little, Brown, $26.95 3. A Walk to Remember. Niches aS Warner, $19.95 itible Forces, Danielest Steel Delacorte, "Is for Outlaw. Grafton, Henry Holt, $28 6. Hunting Badger. Tony Hillerman. HarperCollins,$28 7. PersonalInjuries. Scott a Farrar, Straus & Giroux, Reviews of books ofregional interest ByHeidi S. Swinton; Shadow Mountain/Deseret Book Co.; $39.95 soe BYMARTIN NAPARSTECK RIGAN PRO, BOivneimn- ae&y SPECIAL TOTHE TRIBUNE __ DS has no match for Joseph Smith in an endnotein the backof the book, the dramaofforming a newreli- to The History of the Church; some readers may knowthat book was gious community, a newreligious the LDS Church. There's a refer: enceto “even someofthe faithful” written by Smith, but those who tradition.” At least some readers will recognize Martin Marty as don't wiil have to search through three pagesoftiny print of other oneofthe nation’s most respected historians of American religion. being displeased with Smith’s polygamy; there's no mentionof his wife Emma’s displeasure. There’s the familiar story of the Book of Mormon being “translated” from goldenplates; there’s no mention endnotesto find that out(there's could not hold the priesthood in 13. The Looking Giass. Richard PaulEvans, Simon & Schuster, $17.95 that the first edition of the book Hardcover Nonfiction 1. Tis. prank McCourt. ‘Scribner,$2 said it was written by Smith. There’s nothing in American Prophet to displease any devout memberof the church or any high-ranking churchofficial. The book is published by Shadow Mountain, an imprint of the Deseret Book Company, which is r Ouaoiee Word Records 2009: Milienniara Editi Guinness Publis! 3. Tuesdays with Morrie. zie Albom. Doubleday, $19.95 4. Sugar Busters! ightor ». Bet , Sam S. irews Luis A. Balart. Ballantine, $22 5. Have A Nice Day!Mick Foley. ReganBooks,$25 ‘The New New Thing. MichaelLew Lewis.Norton, $25.85 7.7! GeaaratienTore Ecokaw Fak ont House, $24.95 e Educated Child. Wiltian, Bennett, Chester E. Finn Join T.E. Cribb Jr. The Free Press, 9. When Pride Stiil Mattered. David Maraniss. Si ton de Schuste 0. A Man Named Dave. pavePelzer. Dutton, $19.95 . Body for Life, Bili Phil: lipsand Michael D'Oro. Harp erCollins, $25 12. River Horse. William Least Heat-Moon. Houghton Mifin, 18. Don’t Sweatthe Small Stuff in Love. Richard Carlson, Ph.D. and Kristine Carlson. Hy. scured under layers of endnotes. She quotes Martin Mart: r 1492 or 1607 until now, America vert of African descent”; there is no mention of Smith saying blacks $27.50 positive to be said about Smith, the source is in the text, not ob- cured everyoneis attributed, by tion of “Jane James, a young con- shamibhala,JSaamerRedileld Warner, $23.95 12, Dune: House Atreides, Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson. BantamSpectra, @ Onthe Tube, Too “American Prophet:TheStoryof Joseph Smith,” the two-hour documentary presented by Vermont Public Televisi will air Nov. 26 on KUED (Ch, 7), The program, narrated by actor GregoryPeck,also will be shown on KBYU (Ch.11) on Dec. 4 at 8:30 p.m. healed.” The statement that he contrast between whatis in it and whatis not. Thereis a brief men- 9, Blue at the Mizzen. Swinton has an annoyinghabit of saying contradictorythings and covering up the contradictions. sephhealingall the sick that Jay in his path,” but two paragraphs later writes “not everyone was et, The StoryofJoseph Smith is the rare oFBrian. Norton,$24 -a Road. Maeve sincDDelacorte, fkto acknowledges hecontinuouslygot lot of people madat him. Shewritesof “the accounts of Jo- What is most notable about Heidi Swinton's American Proph- learts in Atiantis, StephenKing. Scribner, $28 ' ‘| ‘Sunday, November21, 1999 Joseph Smith Can Do No Wrongin ‘American Prophet’ Here are the week’s best sellers, reprinted from Publishers Weekly. | |} ' BOOKS owned by the church. . nobibliography). Anyone whowantstofind outif Smith himself said he healed “all for PBS shows, and often they are written by someone who worked on the program. Swinton wrote the script for the show. The Joseph Smith in Swinton’s bookis so heavily sugar-coated he will seem to any sophisticated readerto be morea piece of candy than a human being. Swinton’s Smith wins every wrestling match he’s in, speaks in poetry- The book is a “companion volume” to the public-television documentary of the same name. embellished phrases, heals the sick, inspires the faint of heart, Companion volumes are common Swinton over and over and does no wrong, although the sickthatlay in his path,” orif he was quoting someoneelse, orif those are the words of B.H. Roberts, the editor of the edition Swintonquotes, will haveto go to the history itself. When Swinton says not everyone was cured,is Evenif they don't, the fact he is cited in text makesit easier for a curious reader to search out his writings and examine his credibi ty. At somepoints Swinton should be embarrassed by what she writes. Consider this one: “Joseph’s revelations often included prophecies. On Christmas Day, 1832, in the midst of a growing rift she contradicting Smith, contradicting someone Smith quotes, or contradicting Roberts? Dozens of between President Andrew Jackson and South Carolina, Joseph predicted that the nation would times in the book Swintonattributes statements that might make Smith look bad to a source eventually splinter in a bloody conflict. Thirty years later, the Civil War tore the country in not adequately madeavailable to half.” No mention of the thousands of Americans whopredicted tens of thousandsof times the readerof her book. When there is something the United States would fight a civil war because of slavery. Predict that somedayit will rain and someday it does rain, and maybe Swintonwill cite that as proof you can predict the future. She usually attributes unpleas: ant facts about Smith to other sources rather than acknowledg:ing directly their historical validity. “Critics claimed that Joseph controlled the Mormon voting,” she writes of Nauvoo.Thehistorical record is overwhelming. Why not simply say Smith did control the votesin the cityhe createdin Illinois? The deflective wayof reporting unpleasant truths seems designedtolessen their impact, to make it easy for at least some readers to doubttheir validity. Joseph Smith wasa great man; hestarted a large religion, helped shape America, andleft a legacy that still shapes the hearts and mindsandlivesof millions. Yet he was a real man, with strengths and weaknesses, hopes and desires, successes and failings. He is not the man we find in American Prophet; Swinton’s Smithis a cartoon. Smith deservesbetter. Martin Naparsteckis a novelist. Bad to the Bone: ‘Revenge’ Digs Into Paleontologists Bitter Feud BY JOAN O'BRIEN ‘THESALT LAKETRIBUNE BOOK BRIEFS From an evolutionary standpoint, competition is a big part of life, says David Rains Wallace, author of The Bonehunters Revenge. Competition for re- sources drives natural selection. But what about competition in science? Wheredoesthat lead? In perion, $15.35 The Bonehunters'’ Revenge, Wallace examinesthe famously bitter feud between two paleontologists scouring the Westforfossils in the beeMarket Paperbacks Atkins’ New Diet Revolution. Robert Atkins, M.D. Avon, $6.50 2, The Carbohydrate Addict’s Diet. Dr. Richard Heller and Dr. Rachael Heller. Signet, $6.99 3, The Simple Truth, David Baldacel. Warner, $7.80 ‘The Hammerof Eden. KenFollett Faweett $1.9 5. Mirror Image. Danielle Stee). Dell, $7.99 6. Ransom. Julie Garwood Pocket. $7.59 7. The Green Mile. Stephen King Pocket, $7.99 Tom Clancy’s Power Plays: Shadow Watch, Tom Clancy and Martin Greenberg. Berkley, $7.99 9. Tor: Clancy's Net Force: Hidden Agendas. ‘Tom Clancy andSteve Pieczenik. Berkley, late 1800s. Known as the Bone War and the Fossi] Feud among other names, the dispute between Edward DrinkerCope and Othniel Charles Marsh has ongoing repercussions today as Westerners struggle with the federal govern- ment over controlof the land and the old bonesit holds, according to the book. Considered one of the greatest scientific battles in U.S. history, the competition between Cope and Marsh was stoked and perpetuated by New York Herald publisher James Gordon Bennett Jr. In the Herald's pages Cope called Marsh a tyrannical plagiarist, and Marsh countered by caliing Cope a deranged fossil thief. Both men contributed greatly to science by discovering hundreds 10. The BoneCollector. Jef: fersDeaver, Sianet ind Man’s Bluff. Shetty Sontag andChristopher wwith Annette Lawrence Drew. HarperPaperbacks, $7.99 12, When the Wind Blows. James Patterson. Warner, $7.99 of dinosaur and early mammal species, but their reputations wereforever scarred by their feud and the scandal presented in the Herald. Andthey weren't the only ones: The reputation of John Wesley Powell,directorof the U.S. Geological Survey, was tarnished and his environmentally progres: even though hesawevidenceofit with his own eyes; Elisha Kent Kane, 1820-1857, was an adven- turer trapped for two winters at the top of Greenland and wrote poetically of the icy wilderness, inadvertently describing the Ice Age. In TheIce Finders, Bolles de- sive ideas about settlementof the scribes how these mens’ ignorance and clash of egosledto dis- West wereignored. In researching covery of the Ice Age. In telling The Bonehunters’ Revenge, Wal- lace dug through hundredsof old newspaperarticles and traveled thousands of miles in Western fossil fields, including those in Utah, Wyoming, Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, New Mexico, Nebraska and South Dakota. The Bonehunt- ers’ Revenge is published by Houghton Mifflin andavailablein hardcoverfor $25. Q Egos Thaw Ice Age EdmundBlair Bolles examines anotherclashofscientific egos in his book The Ice Finders: Howa Poet, a Professor and a Politician Discovered the Ice Age. Louis Agassiz, 1807-1873, was a Swiss professor who first theorized about the Ice Age and then spent decadesfighting to maintain his credibility among his scientific colleagues; Charles Lyell, 17971875, was an influential geologist and masterpolitician who argued that an Ice Age was impossible according to scientific principles, one of sciences least-knownstories, Bolles showsthatforall their talk of reason, scientists are driven by passion and obsession. But those humantraits advance the evolution ofscientific discov- ery. The Ice Finders will be published in December by Counter. point and available in hardcover for $24. Qa Art, Science Apart Lisa Jardine’s Ingenious Pur- suits: Building the Scientific Revolution documents how the remarkable intellectual advancesof the 16th and 17 centuries sprang not from tedious systematic investigations but from creativity and leaps of imagination. Sadly, she argues, the overlap of art and sciencethat characterizedthe Re. naissance’s intellectual revolution nolongerexists. Nowscience and art are regarded as diametrically opposed, a state that Jardine argues inhibits true innovation and generates suspicion toward scientific innovations. Using letters, diaries and other writings of the great thinker of the age, Jardine describes how they opened their minds to the widest possible influences, fusing the humanities and natural sciences in one creative process. Christopher Wren designed great buildings and pur- sued anatomical dissections and blood transfusions. Robert Hooke invented telescopes, microscopes and watches and published Mi- crographia, the first book to iden tify the cellular structureof plant life — while also collaborating with Wren on a buildingproject. John Locke was as passionate about medicine and botany as he was about philosophy. And Leonardo da Vinci applied his study of ballistics to improve the dimensionsin his art. Focusing on such innovators, Jardine shows how “great ideas are the product ofcollisions of minds and broken boundaries.” Ingenious Pursuits, published by Doubleday, is avail- able in hardcoverfor $29.95. Q Truth Is Out There For Joel Achenbach, authorof Captured byAliens, the big ques: tionis not doesintelligent life ex ist beyond Earth? The real mys: tery is why, with solittle known about how intelligent life arose on Earth, people are obsessed with finding extraterrestrial life. Achenbach, science writer for The Washington Post and author of Why Things Are among other books, concludes that despite intriguing discoveries there is no evidence of life beyond this pre- cious wetplanet. Yet millions of people, from serious scientists to cultfollowers,fervently believe in, the opposite. Achenbach begins, and ends his book with Carl Sa? gan, the celebrity astronomer who desperatelysought for signs of ex- traterrestrial life before he died. Others whopopulate the book in clude Dan Goldin, the head of NASA whopromised to make the search for extraterrestrial life a priority, Henry Harris, a NASA scientist dreaming up an interstellar mission to Alpha Centauri, and Jan Bingham, a New Agé channeler whobelieves she is art alien from the constellation Pleia’ des, and the legionsof people in the UFO movement. A fruitless search for extraterrestrial life may seem harmless enough, but Achenbachargues it has a down- side: it diverts people away from more promising lines of inquiry — one of which whatis life on Earth and whyis it here? Captured by Aliens is published by Simon & Schusterand available in hardcoverfor$25. DON'T MISS THE U.S. PREMIERE OF LI The Life of Christ . Aemo The World’s Most Famous Nutcrackers - Hiandsigned By the Master Crafters! HUNDREDS OF SIGNED PIECES UTAH’S LOWEST PRICES Pech:rat 10) ANTEeee AN ha wine STB sir ata eS CELITO NY Ballet tor Chitdren Rhy The Snow Maiden Di xe a Tae 3C PINT 1VENTINGE wR dba December 6,1999 7:30 Abravanel Hall p.m. JOLIN AWARD-WINNING COMPOSER LEX DE AZEVEDO, MILLENNIUM CHOIR AND THE ORIGINAL RECORDING CAST WITH FULL ORCHESTRA FOR AN UNFORGETTABLE EVENING. Sv Tickets available at the Abravanel Hall Ticket office andail Art Tix outlets, Call 801-355-ARTS SELLING |