When he became the church’s presiding authority in 1887, Mormonism faced virtual annihilation by the federal government—nearly all of the church’s leading men were on the underground or in prison, church property had been confiscated, and the Latter-day Saints were threatened with permanent disenfranchisement. It was Wilford Woodruff’s 1890 Manifesto that unlocked the door to statehood and eventual accommodation with American society. Woodruff thought of his diaries as "my journals of the history of the church" and stipulated that his sons should publish them. Through the cooperation of the Wilford Woodruff Family Association, the journals have been made available to the public for the first time. Included in each set is the complete text in typescript form, transcriptions of shorthand entries, symbolic representations of Woodruff’s illustrations, and photographic reproductions of selected manuscript pages.

Scott G. Kenney, a grandson of E. E. Ericksen, holds advanced degrees in American historical theology and musicology. He is the editor of Memories and Reflections and a contributor to The Wilderness of Faith. He was one of the original founders of Sunstone magazine and of Signature Books. He currently works in the computer industry. He and his wife, Susan, have two children and reside in Highland, Utah.