Plates of Gold: The Book of Mormon Comes Forth

by Matthew B. Brown

Most Latter-day Saints know the essential story of the coming forth of the Book of Mormon, but there are scores of fascinating details of the saga that are seldom told. Now, author Matthew B. Brown connects many little-known historical fragments with more familiar accounts to present the most complete narrative to date on the restoration and translation of this most important scripture. As the engaging story unfolds, youÆll step into scenes suffused with a range of human experience-from awe-inspiring meetings with heavenly beings to very earthly altercations between men. YouÆll examine, in detail, the objects that Joseph Smith found in the stone box, and come to know those who were allowed to handle the sacred engravings. Intriguing and insightful, Plates of Gold: The Book of Mormon Comes Forth presents a sharpened picture of an important segment of LDS history.

Genres: Lds, Religion, Nonfiction

224 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

Matthew B. Brown (1964–2011) was an author and historian whose emphasis was on the history and doctrine of Joseph Smith and Brigham Young. He wrote several books published by Covenant Communications, and also published articles for the Neal A. Maxwell Institute of Religious Scholarship at BYU and FAIR (now FairMormon).

source: about the author in "Ancient Temple Worship"

Reviews

[Christopher Angulo]

This was a nice brief overview of the coming forth of the Book of Mormon. It was short and not filled too much unnecessary information, and the information included was interesting.

[Tammy]

I've read a lot of cheesy LDS books so I was happily surprised that this one didn't fit into that category. I thought it was well written and has information that some LDS members might not know.

The one thing that bothered me was the cover photo. Everyone knows that the plates were not translated with Joseph and his scribe sitting at a table like this. In the book he talks about needing a blanket to separate Joseph from his scribe or Joseph putting his head into a hat to read his seerstone or Urim and Thummim. I would have preferred a photo of the gold plates.

[Scott]

Wow! One of the best histories of the golden plates I have ever read. New insights and understandings of what the prophet went through. What the witnesses actually saw. The records they saw which was more than the just golden plates. The writings of wickedness and secret combinations. New insights on how the translation was accomplished.

[Kathleen]

An excellent and well researched book to read preparatory to the 2020 Bicentennial of The First Vision of the prophet, Joseph Smith. Don't skip the footnotes or appendixes. A concise overview of the coming forth of the Book of Mormon.

[Melissa]

It had some extra interesting facts, but not a page turner. I have read s bit of books from this time, so nothing riveting, but some good stuff. I loved that he told those in chronological order cause often people will jump around.

[Amy]

Wonderful, seldom reported details and nuance. WHAT A SCHOLAR.

[Bonita]

Many of the stories have been published before. Still, an enjoyable read, and I loved the little nuggets of new information.

[Jason Burt]

I picked up this book on a clearance rack because I like LDS history and thought it looked interesting. The author did include a few interesting facts about the coming forth of the Book or Mormon that I didn't know about, but not too many. The book was well researched but for the most part was just the normal story of how the Joseph Smith got the plates and translated the Book of Mormon - it would probably make for more interesting reading if you didn't already know most of the story.

[Ryan Daley]

Like most of Brown's books it has promise but ultimately loses the readers interest in the basic story telling of a tale and facts told a million times before. There are interesting moments - but most pages are filled with watered down filler content. Usually Brown's appendixes are pretty interesting but this time even those are filled with information of questionable relevance. Still enjoy moments - but nothing really to write home about.

[Cyndi]

The story of how The Book of Mormon came to be. Well and thoroughly researched. Can be used as a reference book but read easily. Plainly and simply told leaves the reader to decide for themselves.

[Dorry Lou]

This was a good book retelling about Joseph Smith obtaining the Gold Plates. There were a lot of additional information that I was not aware of . I enjoyed reading and refreshing my memory of all the sacrifice made by many people so that we can have what we do today as members of the church.

[Marvin]

A very interesting book about the restoring of additional scriptures brought forth in the 1830's.
Would be especially good for anyone who hasn't read other books of this event nor have visited the historical places where this event happened.

[John]

good background on the history

[Jared Evans]

I really enjoyed reading through this book. I learned several pieces of church history that I had never heard befor.

[Peter]

Important book for book of Mormon readers.

[Melissa]

Great information. I listened to this on CD and the readers were very good. I love the back story and I love little details. This was a great read on more information about how it all came about.