"So long as a mystery hangs over the origin of The Book of Mormon, so long will the name of Solomon Spalding be associated with a creed which was formulated years after his death and with a church of which he had never heard." James Harrison Kennedy (1888)

One of the richest, most influential, and fastest-growing religious organizations in the world is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, with headquarters in Salt Lake City, Utah. Also known as the Mormons, the Church is renowned for its aggressive missionary activities, its virtual stranglehold on Utah politics, and its long history of shrewd financial dealings that have made it a force to be reckoned with. However, few are aware of a fascinating body of evidence that has continued to accumulate over the years and, despite efforts by pro-Mormon scholars to deny or dismiss it, has grown to such proportion that it now poses a significant challenge to history itself. At stake is nothing less than the Church's most sacred text, The Book of Mormon. At issue is whether this long-revered book is actually a valuable historical record of pre-Columbian North America or a deception of the first order perpetrated upon the gullible and the credulous by the very founder of the Church himself, Prophet Joseph Smith.

Some of this evidence has been previously published, only to be met with a wall of denial from loyal and often eloquent Mormon apologists. However, upon being integrated with certain recent discoveries, a case of such overwhelming historical significance emerges that continuing to ignore the record would constitute an injustice. The purpose of this volume is to present the facts for all to see in a purely critical form, free from the dogmatic pronouncements of the church on high. Indeed, the challenge surrounding The Book of Mormon were best stated by one of Mormonism's founding fathers, Elder Orson Pratt, who, as one of Joseph Smith's original twelve apostles, made the following astute observation more than 150 years ago:

"This book must be either true or false. If true, it is one of the most important messages ever sent from God... If false, it is one of the most cunning, wicked, bold, deep-laid impositions ever palmed upon the world, calculated to deceive and ruin millions. The nature of the message in The Book of Mormon is such that if true, no one can possibly be saved and reject it; if false, no one can possibly be saved and receive it... If, after rigid examination, it be found an imposition, it should be extensively published to the world as such; the evidences and arguments on which the imposture was detected should be clearly and logically stated, that those who have been sincerely yet unfortunately deceived may perceive the nature of the deception and be reclaimed, and that those who continue to publish the delusion may be exposed and silenced, not by physical force, neither by persecutions, bare assertions, nor ridicule, but by strong and powerful arguments—by evidences adduced from scripture and reason... But on the other hand, if investigations should prove The Book of Mormon true... the American and English nations should utterly reject both the Popish [i.e., Roman Catholic] and Protestant ministry, together with all the churches which have been built up by them or that have sprung from them, as being entirely destitute of authority."

With the Latter-day Saints themselves having pointed the way, it remains only to examine the evidence and see where it will lead.