"For two centuries investigators of all kinds have sought to understand Joseph Smith's gold plates. Newspaper editors, treasure-seekers, critics, novelists, artists, historians, missionaries

In "Understanding the Book of Mormon, " Hardy offers the first comprehensive analysis of the work's narrative structure in its 180 year history. He identifies the book's literary techniques,

A witty and probing travelogue through the landscapes associated with The Book of Mormon, it argues for taking The Book of Mormon seriously as work of American storytelling.