The History of Joseph Smith by His Mother
I just got finish reading The History of Joseph Smith by His Mother - Lucy Mack Smith. There are certainly some very interesting stories in there from a very different perspective - that of his mother. I was amazed at the amount of financial difficulty and times the family were subjected to both jail and courts. Certain stories were mentioned about how people met and how love was lost that is befitting of a movie. Is it true that Brigham Young did not like what Lucy Mack Smith wrote?
Brigham Young was furious about the original manuscript and said the book was a "tissue of lies" and wanted lots of corrections made. In 1865 he ordered the church members to have their copies destroyed. He was mostly upset because Lucy Smith portrayed the Smith family as the legitimate leaders of the Church.
It's a very interesting read nonetheless. She shares stories about how there was an assassination attempt on Joseph's life before the First Vision, all the different ways they had to think up to hid the plates, Joseph Smith Sr's dream that was very similar to Lehi's dream of the tree of life before the Book of Mormon was translated, etc. One of my favorite books!
If Joseph's mother wrote it then why is it called "The History Of Joseph Smith By His Mother"? Not a title I would choose about my own son plus you have to wonder why all the revisions were needed. Did someone not like the wording she used or think that his mother did not get the story straight.