John Brooke's HEART OF THE COMMONWEALTH is an amazing book. Specifically, it is about Worchester County, Massachusetts in the years 1713- 1861. Anyone interested in early Massachusetts history simply must read this book.

But HEART is much more than that. Brooke's book is what historians call a microhistory, a study of a small place that, because it is so attentive to detail, is able to shed light on American History as a whole. HEART OF THE COMMONWEALTH does this, explaining how different political ideologies in the years after Queen Annes War developed into the ideas of Republicanism and Liberalism that are so much discussed by historians in the acadamy today.

Whether interested in Massachusetts, politics, society, or any aspect of early American life, HEART OF THE COMMONWEALTH is a book worth reading. It belongs on the self of everyone interested in the story of America.

This work is certainly original and brings in a lot of connections from the past with early Mormon theology. I think that he also presents, on the most part a fair interpretation of the history and belief's of the early Church, and presents a great general view of the 'mentality' of upper New York in the 1800's to 1820's. I do consider some of his conclusions a stretch, but nothing to get bent out of shape over. I just found the book boring and really hard to get through, and the material should be really interesting to someone with my interests in Mormon and Social history.
I have to say that I enjoy the information I recieved from the book greater then the process of getting it.

Conservative Mormons dislike this interesting book because Brooke attempts to trace the origins of some LDS doctrines back to 17th century mysticism or even farther. But just because Mormon theology has a history doesn't mean that it's man-made. Brooke's pedigree of LDS beliefs is really traces or remnants of ancient doctrines that were rediscovered by Joseph Smith (and as Harold Bloom points out, Smith had no initial knowledge of Kabbalah or other esoteric traditions.) In any case, Brooke convincingly demonstrates it didn't start with Joseph Smith and Brigham Young. For a more believing perspective on the same subject, see D. Michael Quinn's "Early Mormonism and the Magic World View."

Most reviewers of this text misunderstand it. The FARMS reviews and others on this site are clearly driven by an agenda to cover up the historical development of this 19th century new religious movement. In fact, Brooke's text seeks to investigate the depth to which early LDS history is indebted to modern interpretations of ancient and Renaissance Hermeticism and magic. Brooke successfully argues that the three-tiered Heaven, "pre-Creation existence of eternal spirits," and latent divinity of Man are all derived from a popular 19th century American hermetic milleu fused with apocalyptic Christian mysticism. We must not forget that the Gospel of John itself is an esoteric religious text. The development of Western esoteric and occult thought owes much to the Gospel of John as well as Hermetic thought born of Egyptian, Christian, and Jewish elements.

Brooke clearly shows that Smith was immersed in the treasure-divining culture of his time and place, as well as Masonic knowledge, visionary experiences, and other elements of a popular Hermetic framework. Contrary to some reviewers, Brooke displays an amazing knowledge of Mormon doctrine, faithfully backing up his assertions with credible citations of standard LDS theological sources.

Brooke does not claim that LDS is an "occult" religion. What he claims is that American popular hermeticism fused with an apocalyptic interpretation and command of scripture created the early foundations of Mormonism. Contemporary LDS institutions like FARMS are, like many religions, concerned with erasing their origins to maintain legitimacy. But excommunicating scholars and misinterpreting solid pieces of scholarship (perhaps deliberately) will not stand the test of rigorous historical investigation. To those who would let FARMS decide what is legitimate LDS scholarship and what is not, hear this: Religious institutions, like political and social ones, have a vested interest in projecting a certain image. Currently, the Mormon church is trying insert itself into the mainstream of activist Protestantism. But teaching that God was once a man who walked the soil, that earth is (or will be) a level of heaven, and that angels are essentially "recycled" humans, is essentially a hermetic, historically occult doctrine-- and no amount of political whitewashing will change that. There is nothing disrespectful about the presence of occultism in Mormon history---Judaism, Islam, and Christianity all have absorbed heavy doses of hermetic and kabbalistic thought, and all have survived quite well.

Read this book. Read D. Michael Quinn as well. Read Bruce R. McConkie, Brian Copenhaver's "Hermetica," and the Gospel of John, and you will begin to be able to trace the religious development of Mormon ideas starting in antiquity.