Book Description
Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney gives you the inside story on how he rescued the Salt Lake City Olympics--and how his own brand of leadership makes him one of the Republican Party's most compelling new stars.
Customer Reviews:
Budget Inversion.......2007-09-04
Amazing what Mitt Romney can do with numbers. If in doubt, do without. He pulled the 2002 winter games off on a no frills budget and turned a scandal into a triumph.
It seems he gets so much grief just because he is a Mormon, but I'm amazed at what he can do and mostly impressed by his get up and go, can do attitude. His wife says he loves emergencies and crisis situations of any kind. He turns the financing of the games from a huge millions of dollars deficit into a millions of dollars profit. Throughout the whole crisis leading up to the games, he made it the mission of the whole team to be honest and forthright with each other and the public. It's blatantly apparent that he always makes an honest million and demands integrity of his team whoever they be. This book was truly inspirational in many ways. If you don't want to read the book or even hate Mitt Romney, at least read the "Prologue" and the first chapter. I love the story of the American flag from the World Trade Center bombing being brought into the Olympic stadium during opening ceremonies. It's really awesome!
There have been other budget inversions in our nation's history. The most remarkable one happened on the eve of this country's founding and was repaired by Alexander Hamilton, our nation's first Treasury Secretary. That tale is best told by Forrest McDonald in his biography of Hamilton.
These are great stories and must reads for government financiers!
Mitt Romney.......2007-09-01
I would never vote for Mitt Romney, and I hope he does not win. He is so full of himself and will lie just to get votes.
Pre-nomination Mitt..........2007-06-27
With a title like "turnaround" I was expecting Mitt to explain why he has reversed all of his positions on abortion, sexuality etc just in time for the Republican nomination.
Unfortunately not.
This book is about a simpler time when Mitt did not have to reverse or hide all of his principles in order to seek higher office. It tells the story of his rescue of the Olympic Games. It is actually quite good (although Mitt takes a LOT of the credit for things that others did). Unfortunately, it also reflects on the "old" Mitt rather than the Mitt 2.0 who is running for the nomination today...
Expect: Mitt Romney to win 2008 presidential election.......2006-12-03
Through this book, I belive in Mitt Romney. He could bring this nation together ...he has the heart and wisdom.
Another good read........2006-10-24
The Olymic Games were a mess. A succesful turnaround required, understanding of the crisis and the ability to lead the Olymics through one its toughest challenges of the second half of the 20th Century. Read about how it was done.
Book Description
Master gardeners at Temple Square share in this book their expertise in desigining, planting, fertilizing, and maintaining beautiful lawns and gardens. Full of practical advice to simplify the job, beautiful photographs to provide inspiration, and colorful drawings to help re-create the perfect look, this gorgeous book will guide you to the garden of your dreams.
Included is a special section on bulbs, a primer on gardening basics by Larry Sagers of KSL Greenhouse Show, and lists favorite flowers and shrubs compiled by the Temple Square gardeners.
Simple instructions from the pros teach you all you need to know about caring for a beautiful garden in each season of the year. With a wealth of landscaping ideas, this user-friendly guide contains tips for planning and preparing your garden and suggestions for selecting and growing a variety of plants. Temple Square Gardening is the perfect sourcebook for turning your home garden into a work of art.
Average customer rating:
- The Used Car Saleman Is Your Friend!!!
- the first reviewer...
- Poorly written, no background
- A complicated book for a complicated case
- A Very Solid Treatment of the Case
|
Victims: THE LDS CHURCH AND THE MARK HOFMANN CASE
Richard E. Turley
Manufacturer: University of Illinois Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
 General
| United States
| Americas
| History
| Subjects
| Books
Utah
| State & Local
| United States
| Americas
| History
| Subjects
| Books
Criminology
| Crime & Criminals
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
Sociology
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
| AIDS
| Abuse
| Adults
| Aging
| Children
| Class
| Communities
| Culture
| Death
| General
| History
| Leisure
| Marriage & Family
| Medicine
| Men
| Occupational
| Race Relations
| Religion
| Research & Measurement
| Rural
| Social Groups
| Social Situations
| Social Theory
| Suburban
| Urban
| Women
Murder & Mayhem
| True Accounts
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
True Crime
| True Accounts
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Mormonism
| Christianity
| Religion & Spirituality
| Subjects
| Books
Look Inside Nonfiction Books
| Trip
| Specialty Stores
| Books
Look Inside Religion & Spirituality Books
| Trip
| Specialty Stores
| Books
All Titles
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
Similar Items:
-
The Mormon Murders
-
Salamander: The Story of the Mormon Forgery Murders
-
The Poet and the Murderer
-
Gathering of Saints, A
-
The Mormon Conspiracy
ASIN: 0252018850 |
Customer Reviews:
The Used Car Saleman Is Your Friend!!!.......2005-04-30
Turley's book is the official public Mormon version of the sordid story of Mark Hofmann's brilliant double cross forgeries. To read balanced accounts, check out Salamander and, more recently, The Poet and the Murderer.
No LDS version of this story, in which the current Prophet earns his chops as Hofmann's bag man, is going to account for the implications of a church buying documents that discredit the church, because they think the documents are authentic.
What Hofmann did was horrible, characteristic, and even predictable. He chose his target brilliantly. And Turley's other moment of fame is his denunciation of Jon Kracauer's "anti-Mormon" Under the Banner of Heaven, the "anti-Mormonism" of which consists in telling "faith-damaging truths."
the first reviewer..........2003-05-26
The first reviewer to this book is probably robert lindsey himself, or at least some one who's trying to slyly sway the opinion of some unsuspecting shopper toward the 'anti' end of the spectrum.
Poorly written, no background.......2002-05-14
Unless you know a lot about Mormon history, and about the Hoffman bombings, this book can only confuse. It's poorly written, a long recitation of facts and supposed facts. It reads like an attempt to defend the Mormon church, rather than provide any history or narrative. It's unfortunate, because it's certainly a fascinating subject.
After reading this, the only thing I wanted to do was re-read A Gathering of Saints, Robert Lindsey's book about the same period.
A complicated book for a complicated case.......2001-07-18
This is one of several books written in the wake of the murders and forgeries committed by Mark Hofmann in the early 1980s. Hofmann forged hundreds of documents, but it his forgeries affecting Mormon history is the focus of this work. Several of these forgeries went to the heart of Mormon origins, and were done in an apparent effort to embarrass The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In financial trouble, Hofmann murdered Steven Christensen and Kathleen Sheets to delay discovery of his duplicity.
Turley begins his account by reviewing the canonical account of the Church's origins and a history of other prominent forgeries intended to discredit the Church. Turley then goes over the history of the Hofmann case. An appendix lists all known documents acquired by the Church from Hofmann. Unlike other writers, he had access to a wealth of Church documents. The result is a well-documented account presenting the Church's side of the story. Though he is hardly objective in his account, he avoids the sensationalism characteristic of the so-called true crime novel. His tone is mainly that of a scholarly historian.
The Hofmann case is extremely complicated, involving Church officials, Mormon historians, document dealers, journalists, law enforcement officers, attorneys, and others. Turley attempted to keep the major characters in focus, but the reader is still liable to get lost. I found myself going back over previous material several times to keep everything straight. Fortunately, this book contains an index.
Complicating things further, Turley often digresses from the narrative. Sometimes, the digressions are faith-promoting stories more suited to Church magazines. In others, they seem like personal attacks against real or perceived enemies of the Church. Turley also occasionally pauses to score an apologetic point. Turley should have omitted these things entirely or relegated all of this to the notes. This material is not very appropriate to what is supposed to be a scholarly history.
Hofmann said he was not afraid of being caught by divine inspiration (316). Some people have raised the question of why the Church's "prophets, seers, and revelators" did not detect Hofmann's forgeries. To his credit, Turley does not attempt to answer this question. While this is perhaps an interesting theological question, it would be out of place to try to answer it in a historical work.
This book exists in relationship to other books on the Hofmann case. Turley has relegated most of the direct interaction to the notes. Discerning Turley's intent concerning these books is not easy without reading them. It seems clear he wants to refute the work of Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith (The Mormon Murders [New York: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1988]). Other sources tell me this work is most distorted account of the Hofmann case. Richard Lindsey's A Gathering of Saints (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1988) is not mentioned as often. Turley may be correcting misconceptions, but does not accuse Lindsey of willful distortion.
Though Turley perhaps comments on Linda Sillitoe and Allen D. Roberts' Salamander (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1988) the most, the relationship is harder to discern. Some Latter- day Saints portray Signature Books as an anti-Mormon press, but Turley is rarely dismissive of the book. At times, he may be trying to refute it. Sometimes he treats it as though its perceived misconceptions were due to lack of information available to him. At other times, he accepts its information at face value. It will be interesting to see if and how the second edition of Salamander deals with Victims.
The weaknesses aside, Turley has given us a well-balanced account of the Hofmann case. What it loses in complexity is more than made up for by its thoroughness. It is remarkably free from speculation, and highly recommended for those looking for a book placing the focus of the Hofmann case there it belongs: on Hofmann's victims.
A Very Solid Treatment of the Case.......2000-04-10
This is a fine and careful account of a very difficult and complex subject. Much better than the several more lurid books out there on the market. Incidentally, if the reviewer below thinks that inspired people cannot be deceived and believes that the biblical Joshua was an inspired man, he should have a look at Exodus 9.
Book Description
Well-liked and respected, Mark Hacking came from a highly successful Mormon family. His father was a pediatrician. One of his brothers was also a doctor, and his other brother was an electrical engineer. With acceptances into both George Washington University and University of North Carolina medical schools, Mark was on the road to continuing his family's legacy of achievement. And with a beautiful wife by his side, Mark seemed to have it all. But what he had was a tangled web of lies... For eight years, Mark lived a double life of deceptions, petty crimes, and failures, duping everyone, including his trusting wife Lori. But when Lori uncovered his most extraordinary lie, Mark Hacking turned from deceiver to stone-cold killer. On a hot July day in Utah, Mark Hacking told police that his wife had disappeared while jogging. For fourteen days, searchers looked frantically for Lori. The people who knew Mark Hacking and his wife best watched in amazement as suspicion fell on the outwardly normal, doting young husband who everyone thought was on his way to medical school.When Lori Hacking's badly decomposed body was found in a Salt Lake City landfill, investigators and even family members finally discovered the shocking truth: Mark Hacking was not the man he seemed to be....
Customer Reviews:
Couldn't have been done better!.......2007-09-07
I'm from Utah and remember this very well! It was wrote well and i would tell anyone that likes to read true crime to read this!
not a good crime book.......2007-07-21
I love crime books. I've read hunderds of them. This one, just might be the worst I've read in years. The story is just so shallow, the characters are so flat, and the ending totally predictable. I really can't recommend this book to anyone.
It's Mormons not Mormans.......2007-07-02
Just tell the story without all the made up religious storytelling.
I know it makes for a more interesting read but when one has been a member over 45 years it becomes very distracting to read all the negative, fabricated, salacious and skewed details. Mormonism really isn't that wacko...sorry to disappoint you. Other than that I didn't find any new details.
Very disappointed.......2007-05-23
Nothing new here. I knew most of this information from news reports. The detail on the last page was new, but it was put in a strange place -- it didn't seem to fit on the last page.
I kept waiting to find out what Mark did during his missionary trip -- but it was never revealed, unless I missed it. The subject was brought up several times, and it was the only thing that kept me reading -- actually, by the end, I was "skimming," because I was tired of wasting my time on this book.
Not That Good.......2007-03-06
I am a true crime buff...and I found this book rather boring. I could have written the same book, as there was no "inside info"...it seems like the author just gathered all the television news stories and put them inside the book
Book Description
On October 15, 1985, two pipe bombs shook the calm of Salt Lake City, Utah, killing two people. The only link-both victims belonged to the Mormon Church. The next day, a third bomb was detonated in the parked car of church-going family man, Mark Hoffman. Incredibly, he survived. It wasn't until authorities questioned the strangely evasive Hoffman that another, more shocking link between the victims emerged....It was the appearance of an alleged historic document that challenged the very bedrock of Mormon teaching, questioned the legitimacy of its founder, and threatened to disillusion millions of its faithful-unless the Mormon hierarchy buried the evidence.Drawing on exclusive interviews, The Mormon Murders reconstructs a secret conspiracy of God, greed, and murder that would expose one of the most ingenious con men in the annals of crime-and shake the very foundation of a multibillion-dollar empire to its core.
Customer Reviews:
One of the best true crime books ever written.......2007-09-09
This is a very detailed story of the infamous Mormon Murders case, wherein a fraudulent dealer in rare documents decided to kill off everyone who might reveal his deceptions.
Delves deeply into the daily routine and hierarchy of the Mormon Church. Does not whitewash anything. Also highlights the mountain of evidence against the murderer. Blends the elements of the criminal case with the culture that surrounds it.
This book will shock people and educate them as well.
Rewrite.......2007-08-12
The book by Lindsey, A Gathering of Saints was written in 1991, and it is the exact same story. A new book should have something new in it. NN
Great insight.......2007-07-20
I've always wondered what goes on behind the closed doors of this religion and while I may not ever know it all, this book made me really think.
The book gives so much "insight" intot he Church and the way it operates and hides it's behaviour. If you've ever been curious about the Mormon Church, have a read!
A solid thriller .......2007-03-17
This book is a solid real-life crime thriller. As others have covered the good points I'll cover only the bad. This book has 2 things against it. The first is that it concentrates so much of the story on the faked items that were sold to the Mormon Church. This is a disservice to the whole story. He also forged documents "signed" by Emily Dickinson, Abraham Lincoln and Mark Twain, among many others (by some accounts over 100 different people). While it concentrates the story into something easy to fit into a paperback it isn't the whole story.
The second thing this book has against it, is about halfway through the book becomes a stream of who he's trying to con to pay off someone else. It gets tedious quickly as you can't possible keep track of how much he owes so you just wait until the author summarizes how much Mark Hoffman really owes(A staggering 1.2 million). It is virtually impossible to follow until you get the total. So many names come and go and amounts change that it just becomes too overwhelming to follow.
One thing I would have also liked was a complete list of items Hoffman had forged. Unfortunately this book didn't have that.
A Great Book .......2006-12-29
Two themes are very evident in this book. The first is a story of a very clever forger who knew the weaknesses of his customers. When he could no longer cover his forgeries, he murdered two people before accidentally setting off one of his bombs and being injured. That, by its self in an interesting story.
The second part of the story is the Theocracy of Utah and the political power of the dominant religion there. A few people sincerely tried to get the evidence and prosecute the crime. Others on the case drug their feet and presented every possible obstacle. The Mormon Church made it very clear they did not want media attention and did not want to testify. Gordon B. Hinckley went so far as to say that they just wanted the matter dropped. The FBI agent leading that part of the investigation was Mormon, some of the police investigators were Mormon, the Prosecuting Attorney was Mormon, the Sheriff was Mormon and the Federal Attorney was Mormon. They all took orders from the Mormon Church. Here is a quote from the book:
If the Church didn't want the truth out, then neither, it appeared did Brent Ward. If the Church didn't want this case in the headlines, didn't want to get itself involved in the legal process, who was Brent Ward to put it there? As for his sworn duty to uphold the law, well there were laws and there were laws. As one investigator on the case saw it: "Brent Ward's motives are above the law. Do you think a good Mormon in the U.S. Attorney's office is going to hesitate for one minute deciding to do what's correct for the law or what's best for the Church? This guy was on his way to being a GOD(emphasis in original). Next to that, US attorney looks pretty insignificant."
The reason the Mormon Church did not want the press, is because Hoffman dealt with the top leadership of the Mormon Church. He was on a first name basis and could get in to see them any time. To admit that they had dealt with him and purchased documents from him would be admitting that their much vaunted "power of discernment" did not exist. If it had existed, they would not have purchased the documents and would have known he was a forger. While Gordon B. Hinckley was not the official head of the Mormon Church, however one of the people over him had advanced senility and the other had suffered a massive stroke. He was essentially in charge and he had been dealing directly with Mark Hoffman.
Because of the influence of the Mormon Church, and the desire of the Mormon Church to end any media involvement, the prosecutor took a solid murder one case and bargained it to one Murder two guilty plea with a sentencing of Manslaughter. Mark Hoffman got 5 to life for premeditated murder. This was the same sentence that another Utah man recieved for robbing a fast food restaurant. The two men entered prison at the same time. The prosecution's evidence was overwhelming that he was guilty.
Anyone who wants to understand the inner workings and power that is wielded by the "Brethren" should read this book. Absolute power corrupts absolutely.
Customer Reviews:
Uh. . . .......2005-08-18
I absolutely loved The Children of Promise series by Dean Hughes, but I could not get past Troubled Waters in this series. I got maybe half way through, buy couldn't read anymore because of the way that one certain character is completely fawned over. I'm sorry, but just because someone may be beautiful in outward appearance does not make them a "beautiful" person and it also does mean that every Tom, Dick or Harry on the street is going to fall at their feet. I enjoy other books by Hughes, but I really hesitate at this one.
Where's the next one?!.......2003-01-29
This book is great. I am struggling (still) with finding good books to read, but I finished this one in about 5 days and I even work full time and have stuff going on every night. Great touching story and I can't wait for the next one!!
Average customer rating:
|
Prostitution, Polygamy, and Power: Salt Lake City, 1847-1918
Jeffrey Nichols
Manufacturer: University of Illinois Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
General
| State & Local
| United States
| Americas
| History
| Subjects
| Books
Utah
| State & Local
| United States
| Americas
| History
| Subjects
| Books
Human
| Sexuality
| Psychology & Counseling
| Health, Mind & Body
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
Marriage & Family
| Sociology
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Mormonism
| Christianity
| Religion & Spirituality
| Subjects
| Books
Marriage
| Relationships
| Christian Living
| Christianity
| Religion & Spirituality
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Religion & Spirituality
| Subjects
| Books
Look Inside Religion & Spirituality Books
| Trip
| Specialty Stores
| Books
All Titles
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
ASIN: 025202768X |
Customer Reviews:
One for the Sinners.......2003-10-14
The richness and diversity of Utah history tends to be obscured by Mormon history. So much energy is expended canonizing Utah's saints that few resources remain for celebrating and preserving the capricious, ironic, and improvisatory. ("[In Utah] people talk only of the Prophet, hogs, and Fords," cracked Bernard DeVoto in 1926.)
In New York City, for example, A. J. Liebling and Joseph Mitchell chronicled gorgeous demotic street scenes for the ages. But as far as I know, nothing comparable in Utah literature ever emerged. The stories a Liebling or Mitchell might have dug up had they toured Utah, however, are at least hinted at in Jeffrey Nichols's study of prostitution in Salt Lake City (and Ogden) during the years just before and after statehood (1896). (In fact, as Nichols tells us, a very young Harold Ross covered the red-light district for the Salt Lake Tribune two decades before founding The New Yorker.)
Despite the unique religious and moral strictures in Utah's criminal code, prostitution as an industry had no better or worse luck surviving in Salt Lake than elsewhere. If other cities experimented with regulation but then gravitated toward total suppression, Nichols shows that Utah moved in lockstep with the rest of the country. A few hilarious bits bubble up through the book's erudition. One sumptuous brothel flourished for a time inside the Brigham Young Trust Company building. Later, a high-profile madam included the governing councils of the Mormon Church among the Utah dignitaries to whom she sent engraved invitations to the opening of her Palace bordello.
For Utah history buffs, Nichols's bibliography and notes alone are worth the price of the book.
Book Description
In this new edition, you can enjoy 100 rides that cover the entire state of Utah.
Customer Reviews:
Great Guide Book!.......2000-06-15
I can't stop singing the praises of this book. I've been biking Utah for a while, and this book exposed me to some trails that I hadn't seen. If you're in Utah and want to find some great trails, or if you're coming to Utah to ride, GET THIS BOOK!
Book Description
In The Poet and the Murderer, acclaimed journalist Simon Worrall takes readers into the haunting mind of Mark Hofmann, one of the most daring literary forgers and remorseless murderers of the late twentieth century.
He was a young Mormon boy who loathed what he believed to be the hypocrisy of his faith, and who devised secret ways to infiltrate and undermine the church. Mark Hofmann began his career by forging and selling rare Mormon coins, and quickly moved on to creating false, highly controversial religious documents that threw the Church of Latter-Day Saints into turmoil. But it was his infamous Emily Dickinson poem that would prove his greatest deception, stunning the art and literary worlds and earning him thousands from the most distinguished Dickinson scholars. It would also prove his ultimate undoing, when his desperation to keep his greatest forgery a secret drove him to commit ever more heinous crimes-including acts of shocking violence.
Filled with the page-turning suspense and tantalizing sleuthing techniques of a literary thriller, The Poet and the Murderer gives us an unforgettable portrait of a deeply irreligious man and a brilliant con artist whose greatest talent-and greatest tragedy--was his ability to conceal his mad genius behind the unique gifts and enduring celebrity of others.
Customer Reviews:
Good read but I wanted more.......2007-04-01
Simon Worral is clearly an accomplished writer and his book, The Poet and the Murderer, demonstrates that skill. It's a fascinating story about a forger who earns a good living faking historical documents, mainly those that could be important to the Mormon Church. The reader learns a great deal about how document forgery is accomplished, about how little concern the nation's major auction houses demonstrate for the validity of what they put on the block, and about the roots of Mormonism.
The only problem with the book is that the story wanders around in interesting but not necessarily riveting detail --- detail that sometimes loses sight of the story line. What was auctioned off as a poem of Emily Dickinson frames the story in an opening that zeros in on the purchaser, Daniel Lombardo, then the curator of special collections for the Jones Library in Amherst, Massachusetts, the center of Dickinson lore.
The character who turns out to be a forger and murderer, Mark Hoffman, fails to come alive in the sense one can identify with him, or pity him or even be truly appalled by him. Raised a Mormon and obsessed by the church, he is portrayed as mechanical man. If his crime had been foreshadowed in greater detail, with a more sympathetic portrayal of the victims, I think the story would have held more of my attention.
But it is wrong to be too critical of Worral's work, which is an easy read. I just wanted more. That is not a bad way to leave a reader, but it does seem that more might have been available to Worral, more of what I wanted to know about Lombardo as well as Hoffman's victims. Finally I'd like to have footnotes on Worral's detailed analysis of the early years of Mormonism, or at least some citations of his secondary sources, so I could easily follow up where my interest was stimulated by this book.
Bad Midwife of a Story with GREAT Potential.......2006-10-09
The only reason I think this book warrants two stars instead of one is because at least Worrall had the sense to recognize a story rich with possibilities. His "Wikipedia" version, though, is disappointing. Worrall spends way too much time practicing cheap psychology, repeating cheesy pet phrases (ex. "Hofmann was beginning to sense the thin line separating reality from illusion"), and way too little time on the key elements of the tale. There are significant connections to be made from this intersection of poetry, Mormonism, and murder!! But he DOES NOT make them. It's still a fun read, but ultimately disappointing. I really wish someone with more scholarly dedication had written this book - it should have been about 500 pages long and intensively researched, and NOT dumbed down for the reader. See "Death of Innocents" for a good example of what true-crime nonfiction can be.
Terrific book - couldn't put it down.......2005-07-15
I read this in a couple of hours.
Fantastic book. Well written, well researched. Now I want to read a bio of Emily Dickinson.
It made a lot of people angry? Too bad!
Sad to see that, although Dorie Olds, Mark Hofmann's ex wife, has moved on with her life in many ways, she still clings to both the delusion that Hofmann did not commit the murders and a religion that keeps women submissive and in the dark about the real world.
The cover of the book says "bizarre beliefs" - absolutely.
I would highly recommend this book.
Emily's just a teaser for the Hofmann forgery/bombing tale.......2005-01-11
I liked this book more than most of the 42 earlier reviewers, although most of them did like it. I'm kind of the perfect reader for Simon Worrall, for two reasons: first, I've spent the past 25 years, part-time, researching all things Dickinson because in the 80's I wrote a play about the surviving kin who brought her poetry to the world amid adultery and feuds and greed and envy. Second, I've read three books about the astonishing and evil career of forger/murderer Mark Hofmann. So not everything in the book was new to me, although the information which was new was fascinating. It is not a perfectly written book, nor a perfectly organized one, nor a perfectly edited one. It would have benefitted from lots more photos of Hofmann's forged documents and of the victims of his bombs and deceit. Prior reviewers all make those points. However, it still is a worthwhile read, and the more so if you do not know as much as I do about Emily or about Hofmann's criminal activities. I won't rehash here the history of the Mormon Church, which is an essential ingredient in the tale and has nothing to do with Emily but everything to do with Mark Hofmann and why he became a killer. Some of the other reviewers chose to comment on that aspect in detail. Likewise, Mr. Worrall takes a few liberties with Emily which do not really belong in this story, such as relating a dream of taking a walk with her, and later trying to solve the mystery of the famous "master" letters---items which Hofmann did not forge, and which might relate to one of three men Emily probably had crushes on during her life (some think a woman might have been the object of these sad love letters.) Worrall tells us his pick, but there is no better evidence for it than for any of the other candidates, although I would also pick the same guy. Those few pages are unneeded in this tale, and should have been saved for some future magazine piece about Emily's life. Those criticisms aside, this remains a good read. One of the "heroes" is former special collections curator Dan Lombardo, then of the Jones Library in Amherst, Mass., Emily's hometown. I never met him, but during the creation of my play, which took a couple years of research and a couple more to put in final form, he and I corresponded. He was quite helpful to me, a total nobody, and I have always been grateful. It was nice to find out that during a huge crisis in his professional career, he behaved with honor and courage. (Yes, even librarians can have situations which can mean life or death to their reputations, jobs or institutions!) Mark Hofmann tried to pass off one of his own poems as an Emily Dickinson manuscript in order to make money and to make fools of the experts, and he almost succeeded. That's part of what the book is about. The rest of it details his anti-Mormon forgeries and a few other of the hundreds of fake items he sold in the late '70's and early '80's, before he killed two people to try to stave off financial ruin and exposure for himself. It is, then, at heart, a true crime story. Hofmann has been the subject of a bunch of other books, but none in which the Dickinson forgery is the starting point. If you like Emily, or true crime tales, this one is worth reading. I also recommend "The Mormon Murders." And for more on Emily, there is nothing as good as Richard Sewell's "The Life of Emily Dickinson" which will take months to read, but is wonderful.
Opportunity missed .........2004-09-01
The premise linking a forged Dickinson poem, forged Mormon documents, and the forger enticed me to read this book.
Parts of the book describing how forgeries are done and detected were very interesting. Alas however, there are no pictures of the forged documents that the author talks about. Thus you are left to your imagination when things such as "the second loop in the S" come up. Finally, I printed off samples of "The Oathe(sic) Of a Freeman", "Salamander Letter", and "Anthon Transcripts" from the web. Do this if you want to follow the descriptions in the book.
Often the author states "in pictures of Hoffman from the...". But NONE of these pictures are in the book. This took a lot away from the quality of the work. Behind the book there are two pictures of Dickenson poems, one forged and one real. That's it.
The writing is good in parts but somewhat disjointed as a flowing narrative.
There is nothing new in regards to the forger, Mark Hoffman, and his Mormon forgaries.
Books:
- Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs: Official Companion Book to the Exhibition sponsored by National Geographic
- Waterproof Costa Rica Map
- Women at the Crossroads: A Prostitute Community's Response to AIDS in Urban Senegal
- 6 + 1 Traits of Writing: The Complete Guide (Grades 3 and Up)
- A Diver's Guide to Reef Life
- A Year in Provence
- Access All Areas: A User's Guide to the Art of Urban Exploration
- Advanced Social Psychology
- Architecture of New Prague 1895-1945
- Are You Somebody?: The Accidental Memoir of a Dublin Woman
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- History: Fiction or Science
- Earn What You're Worth: A Widely Sophisticated Approach to Investing In Your Career-and Yourself
- Auditing: An Assertions Approach
- Backyard Ballistics: Build Potato Cannons, Paper Match Rockets, Cincinnati Fire Kites, Tennis Ball M
- Currency Derivatives: Pricing Theory, Exotic Options, and Hedging Applications
- Ethan Frome
- Essentials of Business Communication
- Manual del puesto de contralor de costos de alimentos y bebidas
- Collected Papers of Kenneth J. Arrow, Volume 4, The Economics of Information
- BUCKING THE SUN : A Novel
A Mormon in the White House?: 10 Things Every American Should Know about Mitt Romney
The Mormon Way of Doing Business: Leadership and Success Through Faith and Family
Leadership
Between Worlds: The Making of a Political Life
From Hope to Higher Ground: 12 STOPS to Restoring America's Greatness
