The saintly scoundrel : the life and times of Dr. John Cook Bennett / Andrew F. Smith.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Smith, Andrew F., 1946-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Bennett, John Cook, 1804-1867.

Bennett, John Cook.

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints--Membership.

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Latter Day Saints--United States--Biography.

Latter Day Saints.

Ex-church members--United States--Biography.

Ex-church members.

Ex-church members--Mormon Church--Biography.

Latter Day Saint churches--United States--Membership.

Latter Day Saint churches.

Surgeons--United States--Biography.

Surgeons.

Horticulturists--United States--Biography.

Horticulturists.

Ex-church members--Latter Day Saint churches.

Membership requirements.

Latter Day Saint churches--Membership.

United States.

Local Subjects:

Bennett, John Cook, 1804-1867.

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints--Membership.

Genre:

Biographies.

Physical Description:

xiii, 271 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Urbana : University of Illinois Press, ©1997.

Summary:

This is the first biography of one of this nation's most outrageous individuals, a man who was president of the medical departments of two universities and chancellor of two others, a member and officer of at least twenty different agricultural, medical, or social organizations, an itinerant minister in three different denominations, and a lobbyist who successfully ushered bills through legislatures in Ohio, Virginia, Indiana, and Illinois.

Bennett's roles ranged from mayor of Nauvoo, confidant of Joseph Smith, and chicken breeder to surgeon, quartermaster general of Illinois, promoter of the tomato, and diploma salesman. His story is brilliantly told by an author who spent nine years uncovering and piecing together the facts. The Saintly Scoundrel reveals Bennett as one of the nineteenth century's most enterprising and entertaining humbugs, truly a man who excelled at promoting beliefs, places, things, and himself, whose ability to abruptly shift positions on people and faiths would dazzle even the most formidable propagandist of the twentieth century.

Contents:

Westward immigrants

The diploma peddler

The getter up of colleges

The tomato campaign

Vagabond interludes

Nauvoo : the saintly city

Smith's exposé of Bennett

Bennett's exposé of Smith

The lecture circuit

Ho for Voree : Bennett's Mormon encore

A fowl ending

In retrospect.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 237-261) and index.

ISBN:

0252022823

9780252022821

OCLC:

34721478

Online:

Book review (H-Net)