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Rating: 
Summary: Sword of Laban cuts both ways into Mormon Psyche
Review: Dr. Morain presents a professionally done work with plausible explanations of the internal motivations of Joseph Smith, Jr. Anyone who has dealt with Post Traumatic Stress professionally or personally realizes the long term and powerful impact that trauma can have upon human beings, especially the young and impressionable. The book is as vivid in its descriptions as it is in its theory and hypothesis. Dr. Morains's book actually makes more sense and seems much more plausible than angels from heaven visiting Joseph Smith and giving him golden plates. One wonders why readers who so readily accept the angel stories, scoff at Dr. Morain's reasonable and scientific approach. Ardent believers of Joseph Smith and readers of the Book of Mormon be wary of the mythical Sword of Laban cutting both ways, leaving logic and reason decapitated from the body of truth.
Rating: 
Summary: More about Morian than about Joseph Smith
Review: I give the book two stars because the work does demonstrate some portion of creativity. But about Joseph Smith and his remarkable work, I expected much more analysis. Smith, with no formal education, wrote a book in his early 20s that millions two centuries later revere as others do the Bible or the Koran. He singlehandedly conceived, designed, initiated, recruited leadership for, and wrote policies and standards for a whole new religion with few subsequent changes that has florished for two centuries and seems destined in this century to become the third largest Christian religion in North America(after Catholics and Baptists). Great leaders such as Brigham Young, Sidney Rigdon, and intellectuals like Eliza R. Snow and John Taylor looked up to him and revered him. He may yet be widely regarded as the most influential man of his time. To write Smith and the Book of Mormon off as shallow and simply a result of an excrutiating childhood trauma seems itself shallow and may reveal Morian's own psychological expession of self hatred. Marian's roots trace back to Smith, at least indirectly, as a multigenerational decendent of a splinter group founded by Joseph Smith's wife and son. Smith's childhood trauma was important and no doubt did influence his subsequent psyche and behavior to some extent but it seems downright goofy to suppose that it defined his whole life or explained his extraordinary capability. Smith is one of the few young people in history to create a whole new philosophy, let alone one that has moved millions for centuries. Marian does little or nothing to explain the psycholgical underpinnings of how the man was able to do that. Rather he says the Book of Mormon is shallow and that Smith's work was driven by the horror from a sharp blade and his resonses and family relationships associated with that experience. Marian may have a valid point about the trauma, but, like the people who think birth order explains everything, this is WAY overblown! Its worth a page, not a book!
Rating: 
Summary: Fawn McKay Brodie jr!
Review: Its been years since I have been praying for a book like this. In my mind, I see that this books is swell and it swells in my mind. It finally discusses Joseph Smith's psychology (I didn't think they had the DSM back in 1830's and 1840's to read the lumps on his head).
I make all people (members of the Moron Faith) read book because it gets the heart of the matter and the mind of Joseph Smith
By the way, didn't Fawn Brodie do this last year-or maybe it was tomorrow?
Rating:
Summary: Wow
Review: One of the most interesting books I've read this year. Clearly not the "end all" in Joseph Smith bigraphical material but a major addition to naturalistic studies of Joseph's creative mind. I had a very hard time putting this book down. And a harder time not talking about it after. Not a "warm fuzzy" book but a very thought provoking read. I think Morain is uniquely qualified as a plastic surgeon on children to write about the several operations on Joseph's leg and how that might have effected him later in life. My best to he Author
Rating: 
Summary: I'd like to see him write a book on...........
Review: some of the stalwarts of the Protestant Reformation:
Maybe he should begin with Martin Luther who advised the use of the sword to exterminate the Anabaptists whose biggest "sins" were not believing in infant baptism, and, as concientious objectors, refusing to serve in the military. By 1530 over 2000 Anabaptists had suffered cruel and inhuman deaths. Is this not insanity? From several encyclopedias we learn that Luther rejected all who disagreed with him and branded them as heretics. He was the victim of an interior struggle that made him writhe in the throes of racking anxiety, distressing doubts and agonizing reproaches of conscience. He also had an irrepressible outbreak of sensuality which assailed him with unbridled fury, to which was added the intensifying stimulus of his imprudent gratification of his appetite for eating and drinking. In addition to his horror, his temptations, moral and spiritual, becamme vivid realities; satanic manifestations were frequent and alarming. And this author has the unmitigated gall to accuse Joseph Smith of a mental disorder?
Then there's that "wonderful" relationship between Luther and Ulrich Zwingli. Zwingli, like Luther, resorted to use of force, submission, and death of his opponents, committing the same atrocities for which he condemned the papacy of committing. Zwingli was slain at age 47. The Catholics quartered his body and burned it on a dung pyre. Luther remarked that it was "the judgement of heaven on a heathen....." Sweet Christian love, huh? Joseph Smith never had such 'love' for those who disagreed with him.
How about John Calvin who hated everyone who disagreed with him and subjected them to reproof, excommunication, banishment, and death. Calvin practiced strict non-toleration practices and his controls over his "subjects" of his "City of God", as he called Geneva. There he forced his religion on all the inhabitants of Geneva. Between 1542 and 1564 there were 76 banishments and 58 executions. You, dear reader, might want to read upon the murder of Michael Severtus, which Calvin was responsible for http://www.bcbsr.com/topics/servetus.html Now, that's a mental case.
I could go on and on about the witch hunts, burnings at the stake, burning of homes, persecution of anyone who disagreed with various Protestant sects, and so on.... These are historical facts, not some rantings by a wacked-out mental case. Check it out before you say this review didn't help you. Mormon-bashers beware, the truth will out....
Rating:
Summary: More about Morian than about Joseph Smith
Review: This book is a disturbing look into a deeply troubled mind. Unfortunately that is all I can say about William Morain. The fact that a man with a Phd has the nerve to wright what is clearly an attempt at psychological slander is amazing. If you truely want to find out FACTS about Joseph Smith and the Mormon religion, then check out some books that wouldn't be displayed at the local Moromon linching. However, if you just want a good "Bash The Mormons" book then you have a winner.
Rating:
Summary: Highly speculative
Review: This is a quick and easy read, perfect for after dinner reading. The argument intriguing, but one shouldn't take it so seriously. It's best to read this book with the same healthy skepticism one would bring to a "JFK assassination conspiracy" book. The author is simply connecting dots in Joseph Smith's life to construct his theory that Smith had a personality disorder, and that this disorder was the essence of his religious genius. The book's critical flaw is methodological: Morain never really compares Smith with other case studies from the literature on dissociative disorders, rendering his conclusions pure speculation. Still, Morain scores a few interesting points, and made me say "hmmmmmmmm" more than once. Five stars for readability. Three stars for scholarship. That's an average of 4.
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