Review

Title: First: The Life and Faith of Emma Smith
Author: Jennifer Reeder
Publisher: Deseret Book
Genre: Biography
Year Published: 2021
Number of Pages: 224
Binding: Hardback
ISBN10: 1629728780
ISBN13: 978-1629728780
Price: $22.99

Reviewed by Michelle Magnusson for the Association for Mormon Letters

First, a disclaimer: Emma is my fourth cousin seven times removed. As someone who converted in adulthood with a family where half of the members arrived in America after 1950, it’s rare enough to have an LDS relative at all, let alone the founding mother. During difficult “firsts” in my own religious journey, I’ve turned to Emma as an example. It hasn’t been easy to get information – Emma’s story is one that hasn’t been well told through church-endorsed sources, for both historical and political reasons. First: The Life and Faith of Emma Smith by historian Jennifer Reeder, explores the many ways Emma pioneered in her role as a leader of the Restoration through a faithful and creative series of lenses.

Emma Hale Smith Bidamon was a woman of firsts, as Reeder explores in ten themes – First Family and First Home, First Love, First Mother of The Latter Days, First Priestess, First Scribe, First Latter-day Saint Hymnal, First Lady, First Presidentess of the Relief Society, First Partner, and First Widow. Reeder organizes the book thematically rather than chronologically, which will likely assist non-academic readers to access the information and all users to better integrate it into lessons and remarks in a church setting. It does lead to some repetition, but not so much that it disrupts the flow of the overall book. To support readers who need things chronologically, Reeder provides a detailed timeline as well as a pedigree of the families of which Emma was a part. Tracing Emma’s life from start to finish thematically gives a unique richness as similar events are analyzed from different angles.

So much of what we have known of Emma are recollections from others, mostly recorded many years after the original events and after the Saints were already in Utah (and Emma’s reputation already tarnished). Sources offering Emma’s thoughts and opinions in her own words are rare, but Reeder does a masterful job weaving personal correspondence from later in her life into the narrative of her entire life. These short phrases, often from mundane letters to children and grandchildren, give the reader a sense of Emma in her own words – her steadfast commitment to family and faith as well as her fierce desire to provide for herself and her family through hard work and creative solutions. While they do not shed unique light on pivotal moments in Emma’s life or LDS Church history, they offer brief (and mostly new to me) windows into what was important to her.

Issues like polygamy and Emma’s conflicts with Brigham Young and the institutional church after Joseph’s death are addressed. Because Reeder is so committed to avoiding secondhand or less reliable accounts, it’s difficult to get a full picture of what happened. It doesn’t feel like a brushoff or an unwillingness to engage, as has been true in some previous publications available as church curriculum or at Deseret Book, but it does feel unsatisfying, as the reader knows these events dramatically impacted Emma’s life and contributed to the hardships she experienced.

Reeder is careful to explicitly call out her own gentle speculation – really more extrapolation after the in-depth work she has done with original sources – whenever it appears in the volume. Her repeated use of “Emma may have felt” adds a richness to a woman who has been called a “Mormon Enigma.” I appreciated the sharp distinction between source material and speculation, either that of the author or of Emma’s contemporaries.

In terms of writing style, First is easy to read. It’s well-researched and documented for those who would like to dig deeper into any aspect, but the narrative flows. The primary audience for First would be Latter-day Saints. However, Emma and her children’s participation in the Re-organized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (now called The Community of Christ) is treated with respect. In terms of content, First was at times difficult for me to read. I had to set the book down a few times and take a break from my own feelings around the many traumatic losses she experienced in succession – repeated death of children and loved ones, deteriorated family relationships, mob violence, financial losses, betrayals of trust by those dearest to her, infidelity, the murder of her first husband, and the lack of stability in so many domains where she was prepared to excel.

Emma was more than just first. She was resilient in the face of repeated and extended trauma. Reeder leans into these events in a way that doesn’t feel voyeuristic or presented as an excuse. She elevates them as threads weaving together the rich, full tapestry that was Emma. First: The Life and Faith of Emma Smith shows Emma, polished by adversity, returned to her rightful place as a foremother of the Restoration.