The story of Joseph Smith the man and the early history of the LDS church are inextricably intertwined. The boy Joseph's first vision and the establishment of the new church that would become the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is a sacred event to more than sixteen million people around the world. This is a fascinating story of visions, angels, gold Bibles, exotic ancient records, persecutions, discrimination, false charges, sham trials, and the massacre of innocent Mormon settlers. Joseph Smith and the Mormons as a people were relentlessly persecuted for sixteen years from 1830 to 1846 and ran out of four different states, ending in the valley of the Great Salt Lake. To the faithful members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints who have never had any ill will against anyone, this unjustified persecution and blind prejudice was and still is a mystery.
