Review

Title: The Lost 116 Pages: Reconstructing the Book of Mormon’s Missing Stories
Author: Don Bradley
Publisher: Greg Kofford Books
Genre: Religious Non-Fiction, History
Year Published: 2019
Number of Pages: 318
Binding: Paperback
ISBN: 9781589587601
Price: $29.95

Reviewed by Kevin Folkman for the Association for Mormon Letters

There is a subtle twist to Independent historian Don Bradley’s deliberately provocative title for The Lost 116 Pages. That title pulls you in with promises of insights into a mystery that has intrigued him (and most of the rest of us!) since first hearing the story of the “Lost Pages” as a child in Primary. While he delivers on aspects of that promise, Bradley also uses the missing pages to reveal new insights into our understanding of the parts of the Book of Mormon that we already have.

Bradley’s methodology is straightforward, drawing his conclusions from two major sources. First, there are clues in the Book of Mormon text itself, references to the contents of the “large plates of Nephi” as recorded in other books of our existing Book of Mormon. The accounts in 1st and 2nd Nephi point to some of the differences by naming the things that Nephi includes in his own account as opposed to those in the longer record that were kept on “the large plates.” Further references are included from the “small plates of Nephi” that were substituted for the missing pages. Jarom, the son of Enos, gives a brief account of wars with the Lamanites and of the preaching of prophets to his people, but notes that “…ye can go to the other plates of Nephi: for behold, upon them the records of our wars are engraven, according to the writings of the kings…” (Jarom 1:11) These are just a few of the pointers found within the text of the Book of Mormon itself.

Similarly, when Amulek begins preaching with Alma to the citizens of the city of Ammonihah, he references his lineage from “…that same Aminadi who interpreted the writing which was on the wall of the temple, which was written by the finger of God.” (Alma 10:2) Bradley points out that Amulek (and Mormon in his abridgement) relates the story of Aminadi without preamble or explanation, anticipating that it is a well known narrative even among the non-believers in Ammonihah, and the readers of Mormon’s abridgement. This is evidence, Bradley writes, that Aminadi’s story was familiar among the Nephites, and that Mormon’s abridgement almost certainly included a full account.

Second, there are contemporaneous accounts by individuals who had either read the manuscript Martin Harris borrowed, or were told of its contents by Harris, Joseph Smith, or others with firsthand knowledge. A key account is one written by Fayette Lapham, based on interviews he conducted in 1830 with Joseph Smith, Sr. Lapham, a non-believer, gives a description of the plates, and relates stories about the contents of the missing transcript. Taken together with other clues, there is a remarkable amount of agreement as to the nature of the lost narratives. Bradley never tries to recreate the missing pages, but merely indicates the most probable inclusions, and what they might mean.

Bradley’s careful research includes some new thoughts on the translation process, the role of the Urim and Thummim, and Joseph’s seerstone. He concludes that the “lost 116” pages were more likely closer to 300 in number, based on clues such as the type of “foolscap” paper available to Martin Harris in upstate New York at the time, the amount of time that Harris served as scribe, and other factors. Bradley argues that the missing pages probably resembled books like Mosiah and Helaman in their treatments of history and the work of prophets prior to King Benjamin, and that the lost account was of nearly equal length to the rest of Mormon’s abridgement of Mosiah through Ether.

Bradley also attempts to identify the most likely suspect in the theft of the missing pages (spoiler: it probably was NOT Lucy Harris, despite her ambivalence towards the work). He names the lineage of Ishmael and his family, and shares interesting clues concerning the origins of the Sword of Laban. Bradley is more than willing to admit the speculative nature of some of his conclusions, but makes clear the probability of his ideas, and how he arrived at each.

Bradley’s best arguments are well-substantiated hypotheses with compelling arguments. A few, however, do seem to stretch beyond the available evidence. In other cases, some exclusions are noticeable. I found it surprising that nowhere does Bradley speculate on the presence of indigenous populations in the area settled by Lehi and his family. Brant Gardner and others have postulated on the topic, using as one example Jacob’s condemnation of the second generation of Lehi’s descendants for their “many wives,” and the search for gold and silver, precious commodities that had little value outside of trade in an otherwise agrarian economy (Jacob 2). These are the trappings of a more populous community, probably made up of a mix of Nephites and assimilated native peoples, with the ability to trade with other communities that did not include the Lamanites. The parallels Bradley suggests between the Lehite exodus and the Old Testament exodus would seem to argue for native peoples in the lands occupied by Lehi’s descendants, just as the Canaanites occupied Moses’s promised lands.

But it is the relationship of the lost pages to the rest of the Book of Mormon that is the fortunate byproduct of Bradley’s work. He admits that his initial childhood curiosity led him to seek a greater understanding of “…the part of the Book of Mormon that we do have.” (Introduction, page x) As a result, he explores the parallels between the exodus of Lehi and Nephi from Jerusalem and the exodus account of the Old Testament. He draws relationships between the Jewish calendar of feasts and festivals to the coming forth of the Book of Mormon, to Nephite and Old Testament tabernacles and temples, and the Book of Mormon as the account of the tribe of Joseph as a complement to the account of the tribe of Judah in the Old Testament.

I referred to this book in my opening paragraph as “a subtle twist.” In no sense did I mean to imply any kind of a bait-and-switch or deception on the part of the author. Some of what I learned about the missing pages was there to be seen had I been looking carefully in the first place, but it is the overall concept of the Book of Mormon itself that is most benefited by this work. Bradley reaffirms the value of continued study and close reading of the text of the Book of Mormon that we do have. In this sense, The Lost 116 Pages should be a valuable study companion for anyone interested in better understanding the Book of Mormon.