History's Apprentice: The Diaries of B. H. Roberts

by B.H. Roberts

On 13 March 1882, a twenty-five-year-old from a small Utah town, serving an LDS mission in rural Tennessee, recorded the following plaintive Perhaps one-half of my life has passed away--and what have I done? But little of anything, either of good or evil; my misdeeds are like my talents--on the small order. I have made attempts to accomplish something in various directions, but "miserable failure" is written across the face of each of them. ... I can but choose to regret the past when looking over it, but as I cannot call it back to amend it, or straighten out the crooks which appear in the path I have trod, I will look to the present and future, trying to profit by the experience of the past. ... The author of this diary entry was of course B. H. Roberts, who would become a household name in some circles and would live a remarkably full and productive life by anyone’s standard but his own. In the half century between March 1882 and Roberts’s death in September 1933, his achievements surpassed most mortals in areas of religion, politics, and scholarship. But he remained somewhat dissatisfied with himself and occasionally suffered bouts of depression. After his mission, Roberts cut his teeth as a writer and opinion maker at the Salt Lake Herald, followed by an assignment as editor of the church's overseas publication, the Millennial Star. Years later, his more mature histories and biographies received wide critical praise as definitive works of LDS history and apologetics. In fact, these studies are still read today and continue to be held in high esteem

380 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

Brigham Henry Roberts was a Mormon leader, historian, and politician who published a six-volume history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) and was denied a seat as a member of United States Congress because of his practice of plural marriage.