Type of bind: Paperback
EAN num: 9781573451574
ISBN number: 1573451576
Label: Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies
Manufacturer: Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies
Page Count: 415
Printing Date: 1996
Publishing house: Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies
Sale Popularity Level: 1158761
Studio: Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies
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Rated by buyers 
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This book is such an incredibly strained endeavor to force Book of Mormon geography into a real world setting that I found it to be of very limited value. Sorenson wasn't the first, nor will he be the last, LDS apologist/researcher to endeavor to find a setting for the Book of Mormon (BoM).
Up front, I must state the effect this book had on me when I very first read it 15 years ago (previous edition). Since I had grown up in the LDS church, I had read many books by church authors that at the time seemed quite impressive. They really seemed to know what they were talking about and there arguments seemed unassailable. Of course, part of the reason for that was my limited experience with counter-arguments. Occasionally I ran across claims that seemed over the top, unsupported, or even flat wrong, but I didn't know enough to feel comfortable in asserting that. In my late twenties, I started reading a lot of Hugh Nibley books. Again, I had the same experiences until I read a book wherein he was arguing in support of the hemispheric model. He argued that the (pardon if my facts are a little off, since it has been a while) descendants of Lehi could have spread out across the entire continent. To support the idea he compared the Lehites to ancient Mongolians nomadic tribes who wandered over vast areas of Asian. It was at that point I suddenly realized that Hugh Nibley was comparing apples to oranges....nomadic Mongolians to sedentary Lehites fixed on a specific area of the continent.
Before I read the book now under review, I found a similar book that argued the BoM story took place in Peru. The author had many seemingly strong arguments, but overall I was certain the book should not be taken seriously.
So when I read Sorenson's book, I was already prepped for weird, unofficial, obviously bogus claims to BoM geography. What I wasn't prepared for, was the degree to which a BYU professor and apologist would summarily dismiss the church's consistent history of claiming Lamanites were to be found all over the American continent and Pacific islands. He utterly ignored any references that contradicted his thesis, despite the vast quantity of them.
To make matters worse, he developed the Two Hill Cumorah Theory in a vain endeavor to cover over his glaring omission that the Hill Cumorah was officially claimed by the church to be in New York, not Central America. Not only had the church claimed the plates were found by Joseph Smith in New York, but the church has officially and directly stated at least two times that the New York hill was the same place where the BoM end wars took place. Joseph Fielding Smith even officially stated the Limited Geography Theories were false, partly because he knew the official stance of the church placed the BoM end wars in New York State.
And Sorenson glaringly omits any reference to BoM statements in Moroni 1:1 and 1:4 that conclusively show Moroni had buried the plates in the Hill Cumorah because he thought he would be killed. The whole premise of the BoM is that prophets would bury the plates to be later found by another prophet for publishing to the remnants of his people. But Moroni then says, he was not killed, so he came back and wrote some more. Here are the direct quotes that put the whole, false, two-Cumorah claim to rest:
Moroni 1:1 - "Now I, Moroni, after having made an end of abridging the account of the people of Jared, I had supposed not to have written more, but I have not as yet perished; and I make not myself known to the Lamanites lest they should destroy me. "
Moroni 1:4 - "Wherefore, I write a few more things, contrary to that which I had supposed; for I had supposed not to have written any more; but I write a few more things..."
So, thanks to Sorenson, my eyes have been officially opened wide to the bold-faced dishonesty of many Mormon apologists. Now, when I read Mormon apologetics, I can see the glaring distortions and outright lies that make about their own doctrines and history.
Every endeavor to fit the BoM story anywhere is hindered by the fact that the church has, for most of its existence, officially claimed BoM descendants to be all over the continent and pacific islands (I won't delve into support for this because tons of references are available on the Internet, such as revelations in Doctrine & Covenants, Lamanite programs, official statements by Joseph Smith, Joseph Fielding Smith, official statements by Spencer W. Kiimball, etc), while at the same time the book internally seems to describe both a hemispheric model and a limited geography model.
B.H. Roberts stated it well in his A Book of Mormon Study, wherein he says something to the effect that the author of the BoM clearly exhibits a juvenile conception of time and distances.
To make matters worse, the various sciences that come to bear ... Read More
Rated by buyers 
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Sorenson attempts to give geographic ruins in north-central America the place names from the book of mormon text, and attempts to explain ancient culture, linguistics and genetic heritage in context of the book of mormon text. He makes no excuses for his pro-Mormon point of view, in advocating the book of mormon as real history of a lost-people.
Interestingly, he claims the culture and language of a group of north-central aboriginal americans has left remnants of their existence, but only a whisper of these alleged lost-people can be seen today. From the POV of modern-day fragments of archeology, anthropology, linguistics and genetics he attempts to construct a "probable" explanation of book of mormon events.
This is a book about WHAT Mormons could or can believe, and NOT about WHY you should believe it, and definitely NOT an official Mormon church stance on the matter. Sorenson asks so many questions that cannot currently be answered, I'm amazed more books haven't been published to counter or support this work, since it was very first published in 1985! I was desperate to read a counter to Sorenson's ideas but all that I could find were whiner-babies on internet forums opposing the Mormon church or Mormonism as a religion.
Let's have a real "counter-Sorenson" scholarly treatise to this book and see what it turns up!?!
In the meantime, this book is very compelling FOR the legitimacy of the Book of Bormon.
Rated by buyers -
This is indeed a fine book that has been able to stand strong for over 20 years. It offers pioneering insights that have brought the Book of Mormon into new light and have set the trajectory of Book of Mormon studies into a new and exciting arena. Indeed, this is a must for any serious student of the Book of Mormon, and would make for a fine introduction for those interested in Book of Mormon studies.
Some of the amazing insights that Sorenson brings into view in this work is the idea of two separate Cumorah's - something which David Palmer followed up with brilliantly in his book "In Search of Cumorah" - the DNA issue, long before it was up in "Losing a Lost Tribe" and the likes of the same ilk, and the discusion on plants, animals, metals, etc.
So this book is indeed a seminal work and a must for serious students of the Book of Mormon. Absolutely brilliant!
Rated by buyers -
We all know a lot of things that aren't so. This may because of the way we receive knowledge from others. An individual bit of knowledge might have been garbled in its path to us, it may have always been nonsense, it might have been state of the art understanding that has since been supplanted, or it might be a decent approximation of reality. This book is, I believe, quite important because it is part of a serious effort to let the Book of Mormon speak for itself rather than imposing on it a mix of interpretations that come from certain hopes and guesses about what the Book of Mormon was actually saying without studying it thoroughly.
Sorenson very first builds a map based upon the information provided in the book. This does away with the notion of the so-called "continental" view of the range of the Book of Mormon. He then shows us the very complex cultures in Meso-America and how things seem to have been in the centuries the Book of Mormon took place. While I have my own views and interpretations, I admire Sorenson for sticking to what the Book actually says and what the archaeological and anthropological evidence actually shows us. He doesn't try to get to the point of fitting it together and claiming that this is actually that or anything of the sort. That is a trap too many have fallen into over the years and it actually blinds more than it enlightens.
He compares what the Book of Mormon people say about their lives, the culture and its wars with the way the people of that region lived, adapted, and fought. Sorenson shows us how the rising population and the expansion of the Mayan kingdoms put pressure on the large mix of smaller tribes that "filled in the gaps". The author also helps us see quite clearly what was happening at the time of the end of Nephite civilization. This is a very interesting set of insights.
I think this is a terrific book. Yes, Sorenson is a believer (so am I). Still, this book does a very fine job of stating things on the basis of evidence. No, it does not provide a photograph of Lehi and Nephi on the beach holding the Liahona with the boat in the background. However, even if it did, non-believers would find a way to explain it away, and believers would still believe (because the belief comes from something beyond photographs).
The book has many helpful maps, illustrations, and photographs. It also has a very useful index.
Highly recommended.
Rated by buyers -
Notwithstanding the fact I disagree with Sorenson about his views on Quetzecoatl, this book is a MUST for Book of Mormon students as it presents an extremely plausible geographical and cultural setting for the events related in the text of the Book of Mormon. Sorenson discusses how the drumlin in New York is _not_ the Hill Ramah/Cumorah of the Book of Mormon, contrary popular Latter-day Saint belief, metallurgy, plants and animals, distances, cities, and so forth. The fact that such a thing is plausible bodes poorly for the anti-Mormon theory that Smith was a fraud and the Book of Mormon is an example of 19th centiry fiction.
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