In this and other research, it was Roberts's proclivity to go wherever the evidence took him, in this case anticipating and defending against potential future problems. Yet the manuscript was so poorly received by fellow church leaders that it was left to Roberts alone to decide whether he had overlooked some important piece of the puzzle or whether the Mormon scripture's claims were, in fact, illegitimate. Clearly for most of his colleagues, institutional priorities overshadowed epistemological integrity.

But Roberts's pathbreaking work has been judged by the editor to be methodologically sound--still relevant today. It shows the work of a keen mind, and illustrates why Roberts was one of the most influential Mormon thinkers of his day. The manuscript is accompanied by a preface and introduction, a history of the documents' provenances, a biographical essay, correspondence to and from Roberts relating to the manuscript, a bibliography, and an afterword--all of which put the information into perspective.

Brigham Henry Roberts, born in England in 1857, was president of the LDS First Quorum of the Seventy and assistant church historian. His numerous historical (A Comprehensive History of the Church; Joseph Smith, The Prophet-Teacher; Life of John Taylor; The Missouri Persections; The Mormon Battalion, Its History and Achievements; Outlines of Ecclesiastical History; The Rise and Fall of Nauvoo; Succession in the Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) and theological works (A New Witness for God; The Mormon Doctrine of Deity: The Roberts-Van der Donckt Discussion; The Seventy's Course in Theology; Studies of the Book of Mormon; The Truth, The Way, The Life: An Elementary Treatise on Theology) which are still considered authoritative, earned him the epithet "defender of the faith." He died in 1933.

Brigham D. Madsen is an emeritus professor of history at the University of Utah. He is the author of eight books: Against the Grain: Memoirs of a Western Historian, The Bannock of Idaho, Corinne: The Gentile Capital of Utah, Exploring the Great Salt Lake: The Stansbury Expedition of 1848-50, Glory Hunter: A Biography of Patrick Edward Connor, The Lemhi: Sacajawea's People, The Northern Shoshoni, and The Shoshoni Frontier and the Bear River Massacre. He is the co-author of: North to Montana! Jehus, Bullwhackers, and Mule Skinners on the Montana Trail. He is the editor of three works: A Forty-Niner in Utah with the Stansbury Exploration of Great Salt Lake: Letters and Journal of John Hudson, 1848-1850, The Now Generation: Student Essays on Social Change in the Sixties, and Studies of the Book of Mormon. He has also authored several monograph-length studies and contributed to such books as The Feminine Frontier: Wyoming Women, 1850-1900.

Other works of Brigham H. Roberts, published by Signature Books.

B. H. Roberts (The Autobiography of B. H. Roberts)
B. H. Roberts (The Essential B. H. Roberts)
B. H. Roberts (The Mormon Doctrine of Deity)
B. H. Roberts (The Truth, The Way, The Life)
B. H. Roberts (The Diaries of B. H. Roberts)