Irony in the Book of Mormon Robert A. Rees Questions about the
authorship of the Book of Mormon have occupied both naturalist
and apologist critics since its publication in 1830. Various
theorists have marshaled evidence to prove either that Joseph
Smith or some other 19th-century American wrote the Book of
Mormon or that it is an authentic ancient record. Discussions of
authorship have focused on a number of issues—geography,
philology, archaeology, anthropology, history, culture,
literature, and theology. In an article entitled "Joseph Smith,
the Book of Mormon and the American Renaissance," I compare
Joseph Smith's literary capabilities with those of his
illustrative contemporary authors—Emerson, Thoreau, Hawthorne,
Melville, and Whitman.1 There is a dramatic contrast between the
rich intellectual and cultural milieu of these major American
writers and the rather backwater, provincial frontier in which
Joseph Smith came of age. In comparison to Joseph Smith, all of
these major American writers had rich edu