The Story of The Latter-day Saints - Overview

Overview

The authors summarized the tone of their work by identifying four recurring themes that emerged throughout The Story of the Latter-day Saints:

1. The Latter-day Saints were primarily religiously motivated.
2. The church was always influenced by its environment, to some degree.
3. The church started small and American, but would grow into an international organization.
4. The church has been flexible with some issues, yet committed to certain central teachings.

Although seen as well-written and comprehensive, the book was intended for a Latter-day Saint audience, because it detailed minutiae like organizational changes, but didn't focus on issues of interest to new readers on Mormonism. Unlike most earlier Mormon histories, this book focused on casting the church in a broader context, addressed controversial historical issues, and covered the events of the twentieth century.

The following list of the book's chapters also describe its historical scope:

1. The Religious Setting for the Restoration
2. The Restoration Commences, 1820-1831
3. Unfolding Latter-day Zion, 1831-1836
4. The Saints Move On, 1836-1839
5. Building the City Beautiful, 1839-1842
6. Difficult Days: Nauvoo, 1842-1845
7. Exodus to a New Zion, 1846-1850
8. Establishing an Ensign, 1851-1856
9. In the National Spotlight, 1856-1863
10. Challenges and Cooperatives, 1864-1872
11. Close of a Career, 1872-1877
12. A Turbulent Decade, 1877-1887
13. The End of an Era, 1887-1896
14. A Time of Transition, 1897-1907
15. Consolidating for Growth, 1908-1918
16. Change and Continuity in the Postwar Decade, 1919-1930
17. The Church and the Great Depression, 1930-1938
18. The Church in World War II, 1939-1950
19. Foundations for Expansion, 1951-1959
20. Correlating the Worldwide Church, 1960-1973
21. "Lengthening Our Stride," 1973-1976

In the 1992 second edition, the last chapter was changed to "Toward a Universal Church, 1974-1990".