Rating: 
Summary: Proves once again that past is prologue.
Review: "Kingdom of Matthias" serves as proof that religious cults and their leaders are not new to this century. A fascinating account and eerily accurate reflection of what happens when successful, intelligent people look for something more from life in the wrong place. With the sex scandals, questionable financial practices, media attention, and made-to-order eccentric leader, this story is a historical mirror to today's events. Recommended.
Rating: 
Summary: Wondering About Christianity
Review: I did too. I read this book with an amazement on how basic Bible priniples can me misused to the detriment of oneself and others around them. Please read this book to understand the confusion that enslaves so many Christians. If you truly seeking God, you that they way they tried to find it in this book is not the way to find him.
Rating:
Summary: Wondering About Christianity
Review: I did too. I read this book with an amazement on how basic Bible priniples can me misused to the detriment of oneself and others around them. Please read this book to understand the confusion that enslaves so many Christians. If you truly seeking God, you that they way they tried to find it in this book is not the way to find him.
Rating: 
Summary: brothersjudddotcom barely recommends
Review: In 1830, in the midst of the Second Great Awakening, an addled carpenter in Albany, NY determined that he was truly the wandering Jewish prophet Matthias. Taking advantage of the spiritual swirl of the times, he got several New York businessmen to join his "kingdom", which he established on one of their estates in Sing Sing. Members of the patriarchal kingdom followed his word absolutely until sexual scandal and charges of murder and fraud tore the place apart. The subsequent trial of Matthias became one of the first big stories for the emergent penny press, but he was eventually cleared of all of the serious charges. Wilentz and Johnson take this extremely minor, albeit colorful, episode from the American past and try to spin out grand theories from it concerning things like the social displacement caused by industrialization, the changing roles of women, religion in general, and so on. But ultimately, the story is really only interesting for its most colorful aspects and for the frisson of recognition it provides as we see parallels to modern equivalents like David Koresh and Jim Jones. Oh, and there's one other parallel that the authors could not have imagined when they wrote the book-- the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal. You see, Wilentz, if memory serves (see article), was one of the driving forces behind the Potemkin petition signed by "400 Historians!" averring that the Founding Fathers never intended impeachment to apply to crimes like obstruction of justice, perjury, and the like so long as they pertained to the President's private sexual behavior. How delicious are the ironies of life. These smug little liberal elitist profs set out to write a book about how the poor confused hoi polloi of the last century were sucked into the scams of charismatic but fraudulent religious hucksters who preyed on their need for reassurance in a tumultuous time. As it turns out, a hundred years from now when historians write about the huckster in the White House and his scandals, sexual and otherwise, and about the needy liberals who were willing to enable his degenerate behavior, Sean Wilentz will get his own footnote or brief mention as one of the minions eager to cover up or gloss over the aberrant sexual behavior of his messiah--just like one of the acolytes of Matthias. Whichever prophet you follow, you've gotta love a God who delivers such ironies. The book makes for an interesting if inconsequential read. It seems like it would have been better as a journal article. Or what would make the most sense, how about a book on why Joseph Smith, who has a brief cameo here, succeeded so brilliantly in founding the Mormon Church, while folks like Matthias failed so miserably? But, of course, that would require dealing with a successful & still powerful religious movement, rather than poking fun at a long dead oddball.
Rating:
Summary: brothersjudddotcom barely recommends
Review: In 1830, in the midst of the Second Great Awakening, an addled carpenter in Albany, NY determined that he was truly the wandering Jewish prophet Matthias. Taking advantage of the spiritual swirl of the times, he got several New York businessmen to join his "kingdom", which he established on one of their estates in Sing Sing. Members of the patriarchal kingdom followed his word absolutely until sexual scandal and charges of murder and fraud tore the place apart. The subsequent trial of Matthias became one of the first big stories for the emergent penny press, but he was eventually cleared of all of the serious charges. Wilentz and Johnson take this extremely minor, albeit colorful, episode from the American past and try to spin out grand theories from it concerning things like the social displacement caused by industrialization, the changing roles of women, religion in general, and so on. But ultimately, the story is really only interesting for its most colorful aspects and for the frisson of recognition it provides as we see parallels to modern equivalents like David Koresh and Jim Jones. Oh, and there's one other parallel that the authors could not have imagined when they wrote the book-- the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal. You see, Wilentz, if memory serves (see article), was one of the driving forces behind the Potemkin petition signed by "400 Historians!" averring that the Founding Fathers never intended impeachment to apply to crimes like obstruction of justice, perjury, and the like so long as they pertained to the President's private sexual behavior. How delicious are the ironies of life. These smug little liberal elitist profs set out to write a book about how the poor confused hoi polloi of the last century were sucked into the scams of charismatic but fraudulent religious hucksters who preyed on their need for reassurance in a tumultuous time. As it turns out, a hundred years from now when historians write about the huckster in the White House and his scandals, sexual and otherwise, and about the needy liberals who were willing to enable his degenerate behavior, Sean Wilentz will get his own footnote or brief mention as one of the minions eager to cover up or gloss over the aberrant sexual behavior of his messiah--just like one of the acolytes of Matthias. Whichever prophet you follow, you've gotta love a God who delivers such ironies. The book makes for an interesting if inconsequential read. It seems like it would have been better as a journal article. Or what would make the most sense, how about a book on why Joseph Smith, who has a brief cameo here, succeeded so brilliantly in founding the Mormon Church, while folks like Matthias failed so miserably? But, of course, that would require dealing with a successful & still powerful religious movement, rather than poking fun at a long dead oddball.
Rating: 
Summary: A Fascinating Microcosm of the Burned-Over District
Review: In this work, Paul Johnson has taken a relatively small and unknown event and used it to illustrate not only an interesting event but also an interesting perspective on the Burned-Over District as a whole. It touches on everything from sexual corruption to radical doctrinal innovations. The Burned-Over district saw the beginning of numerous religious movements such as Mormonism, Adventism, Christian Scientists, numerous smaller religions that did not survive, and even significant political movements such as Antimasonry. This book is the story of one of those movements. The prologue introduces Matthias as he went to Kirtland to visit with the Mormon Prophet, Joseph Smith. While this event occurred near the end of Matthias’ activity, it is obvious that he stole many of his ideas from Joseph Smith. Matthias initiated the practice of the washing of feet which was common to both the followers of Joseph Smith and Ellen White. He also believed that the truth of the Gospel had fallen from the earth shortly after the time of Christ another Mormon belief. In addition, he had a sword which he claimed was ancient similar to Smith’s sword of Laban, as well as naming the Priesthood after the order of Melchezidek. Likewise, his early mentor Mordecai Noah taught that the Indians were actually a branch of the Israelites which is a central idea found in the Book of Mormon. All of these ideas came out before 1830 when Matthias began his activity. The most humorous part of this history is the anecdotes that relate to Matthias’ enemies trying to shave off his beard. Johnson has done an excellent job condensing all the most relevant information in this short work. The Kingdom of Matthias is an enjoyable read and a must for anyone interested in this interesting period in American religious history.
Rating:
Summary: Extraordinary
Review: One of the best books I've ever read about American history. THIS SHOULD BE A MOVIE!
Rating:
Summary: An acurate account of Matthias in the 2nd Great Awakening.
Review: The Kingdom of Matthias is an accurate, unbiased account of a charismatic cult leader, who has a tradgic end (is there any other type?). Despite it's accuracy it has a very broken writing style, often events are broken by character descriptions making it a slow and difficult read. This is an excellent source for examples of life during the Second Great Awakening, but for pleasure it is slighty lacking because of the tedious detail.
Rating:
Summary: Some Messiah!
Review: This is a wonderful read about a sideline of American religious history. Matthias was one of a number of self-proclaimed messiahs who were more concerned with sex and glory than with the love of God. He met another "prophet" in Joseph Smith, the founder of the Mormon religion. It would be interesting to discover what influence Matthias had on Smith for they seem to have much in common. Even though it all took place in the 19th century, these false prophets are with us still.
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant!
Review: This is one of the exquisite books that I have read about this time. And to the writer "Orrin Judd", how dare you be such a anti-intellectual dunce? Just by holding on to the case of the Lewinsky/Clinton trial (which by the way Wilentz and Berman wrote before this happened) and other inane right-winged republican comments, if they are even worty of any name other than trash. They remark on this book as something it is far from being, a peice of garbage that can merely be thrown away as litter. As for the book itself, this is a masterpeice with pen and ink, wonderfully capturing the era. It goes behind the mind of this engrossing man and period, and includes people, such as Soujourner Truth, that were known later on, after the period the book was written. It just so awefully captures all the details and facts behind this, but still making it enjoyable. I reccomend this book highly, and give it 5 out of 5 stars. And to any creep, such as Orrin Judd, who thinks otherwise, then just consider this book one more time, the brilliance of it and the fabulous authors (Paul Berman and Sean Wilentz) who made the making of this book possible.
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