The saintly scoundrel
Subtitle: the life and times of Dr. John Cook Bennett
By: Andrew F. Smith.
Publisher: University of Illinois Press
Published: 1997
Place of publication: Urbana
Language: eng
Number of pages: 271
Subjects: Bennett, John Cook, 1804-1867.; Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints -- Membership.; Mormons -- United States -- Biography.; Ex-church members -- United States -- Biography.; Ex-church members -- Mormon Church -- Biography.; Mormon Church -- United States -- Membership.; Surgeons -- United States -- Biography.; Horticulturists -- United States -- Biography.
Description: This is the first biography of one of this nation's most outrageous individuals, a man who was president of the medical departments of two universities and chancellor of two others, a member and officer of at least twenty different agricultural, medical, or social organizations, an itinerant minister in three different denominations, and a lobbyist who successfully ushered bills through legislatures in Ohio, Virginia, Indiana, and Illinois.

Bennett's roles ranged from mayor of Nauvoo, confidant of Joseph Smith, and chicken breeder to surgeon, quartermaster general of Illinois, promoter of the tomato, and diploma salesman. His story is brilliantly told by an author who spent nine years uncovering and piecing together the facts.

The Saintly Scoundrel reveals Bennett as one of the nineteenth century's most enterprising and entertaining humbugs, truly a man who excelled at promoting beliefs, places, things, and himself, whose ability to abruptly shift positions on people and faiths would dazzle even the most formidable propagandist of the twentieth century.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [237]-261) and index.
Table of contents: title: Westward immigrants; title: The diploma peddler; title: The getter up of colleges; title: The tomato campaign; title: Vagabond interludes; title: Nauvoo : the saintly city; title: Smith's exposé of Bennett; title: Bennett's exposé of Smith; title: The lecture circuit; title: Ho for Voree : Bennett's Mormon encore; title: A fowl ending; title: In retrospect.