A Short History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

by

Gordon B. Hinckley

Webmaster's Introduction
If you really want to understand what the LDS Church is, you need to understand its history.  While there are several Church History websites, they generally only give a few pieces of the Church History puzzle and are geared towards people already familiar with the basic story.  The Internet is sorely lacking a really good introduction to the history of the LDS Church.  That is the need that this site is intended to fill.

There is no better place to begin your study of Church History than the book Truth Restored, written by Gordon B. Hinckley and published by the church itself.  This small, well-written book is standard issue in the official missionary library and is, in fact, the only book on Church History that missionaries are allowed to read.

The phrase "Truth Restored" is a double-entendre.  It is meant to imply that the story of the LDS Church is the story of the true form of Christianity being re-established on the earth.  But it can also mean something like "truth remodeled" or "truth fixed-up".  This second meaning is quite relevant because one of the most important aspects of Church History is how the church has re-defined itself over time, often re-writing its history in the process. This has lead to an orthodox, sanitized history, of which Truth Restored is a part.  Sanitized history is meant to promote faith, but at least occasionally it leads to a loss of faith when the rest of the story is learned.