The Standard of Truth: 1815–1846 by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Awesome book...literally couldn't put it down. I shy away from history books, but Saints #1 is a captivating read despite being history. Written in a narrative / documentary style, it was quick, interesting, and compelling reading. It is a chronological compilation of carefully researched books, papers, and quotes from Joseph Smith and his contemporaries, giving us a rounded view of the gospel that doesn’t shy away from the more controversial moments in early church history. “...it does not go beyond information found in historical sources. When the text includes even minor details, such as facial expressions or weather conditions, it is because these details are found in or reasonably deduced from the historical record.” While reading, if a new piece of the story is discovered, one can find the citation and in many cases follow a digital link to read the original source.

My advice to critical readers is to manage expectations. You won't find in-depth explorations of these topics in the text as it is intended to be accessible to a global readership. But you can find hundreds of pages of supplementary material in the meticulous footnotes and the Church History Topics essays.
I agree with Michael, https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/4... who said in his review, "If you don’t know much about Church history, I would say this is an excellent starting point. If there are aspects of the Prophet Joseph Smith’s life that disturb you because of his being subject to the frailties of human nature, this book will likely acknowledge those aspects and touch on them, but will do little to assuage those concerns.

If you really want to know if Joseph Smith was a Prophet I would recommend that you follow the Savior’s council as found in Matthew chapter 7:
16 Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?
17 Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.
18 A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.
19 Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.
20 Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.

You cannot know the fruits of Joseph’s works without reading the Book of Mormon, and deciding whether or not it is what he claims it was through study and prayer."

Having grown up as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints I was familiar with many of the stories and facts presented in the book, but there are many incidents and details in the book that were new to me. All of the stories were told in such a compelling manner that it constantly pulled me back to want to read more.

This eBook and Audio book are both free on the LDS Tools app! (Kindle Store $16.99) I listened to the audio version which I believe must be computer generated audio because many of the names and terms were incorrectly pronounced, i.e. phonetically instead of by common usage. This was a bit annoying, but worth it since I have so little time to sit and read and @ 1065 pages hearing the names of Moroni, Nephi, and Melchizedek mispronounced was worth it.

I appreciate the Church History Department, under direction of The First Presidency, and the way they are making all details of our history available. A favorable aspect of the new book is its thorough development of women's voices from the very beginning and throughout the narrative. We are enriched by those stories finally being center stage alongside those of the men. I highly recommend this book to everyone, of every faith, members and nonmembers both. It opens the gates of understanding and scholarship to readers at every level. There's a lot of fascinating history here, and it's told well, extensively footnoted and well worth reading... I am hoping Saints #2 is released soon!

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