Fawn M. Brodie

Biographer whose study of Joseph Smith interprets the development of his religious teachings and plural marriage.

history · religious studies

Degree: M.A., English Literature, University of Chicago
1
They married the same day Fawn received her master’s degree in English literature, August 28, 1936.
Fawn McKay Brodie: A Biographer’s Life
BYU Studies Quarterly · as of 2026-10-02
Original · Archived
Life: 1915–1981
2
Fawn Brodie was born September 15, 1915, in Ogden, Utah; she died of lung cancer January 10, 1981, in southern California
Fawn McKay Brodie: A Biographer’s Life
BYU Studies Quarterly · as of 2026-10-02
Original · Archived

Positions

How did Joseph Smith practice plural marriage, and how should it be understood?

Personal motives and religious explanation

Brodie argues that Smith’s desire to move beyond exclusive monogamous marriage helped shape his developing theology. Her account links personal motives with the construction of a religious system that made plural marriage meaningful and permissible to him.

Fawn M. Brodie, No Man Knows My History: The Life of Joseph Smith, the Mormon Prophet (Vintage Books, 1995).

Corrections