I read it cover to cover more than 5 times and studied specific portions for several years. Being opened minded is one thing, but I found that for me to believe it caused a disconnect from reality. To be open minded a person should read other things too.
People of the United States in the early nineteenth century began publishing many writings about Indian structures made of earth and the artifacts found inside. The most popular ideas to spread were those of an ancient advanced race of people who had built and accomplished remarkable things, a race of civilized people who disappeared before Columbus.
Often the blame for the extinction of this lost civilization was placed on the American Indian. The Indian was said to be too inferior to have built anything, and must have been the others who killed off a great nation.
Many people have realized that these ideas influenced the writing of the Book of Mormon. One Mormon scholar who recognized that influence was B. H. Roberts.
http://www.utlm.org/newsletters/no84.htm (Scroll down to see B. H. Robert's Doubts)
B. H. Roberts admitted that he had not fully considered the writings of Josiah Priest. The Wonders of Nature and Providence had been published in 1824 and printed later in Rochester, New York, only about 20 miles from Palmyra. This was six years before the Book of Mormon. Roberts acknowledged that he had not known about the works of Josiah Priest when he [Roberts] published his book The New Witness for God.
Even in the 21st century we find the LDS continuing this flawed theory of an ancient advanced race that disappeared. During the October 2009 General Conference the apostle Jeffrey Holland mentioned Mormon and Moroni weeping at the destruction of an entire civilization.
If the 19th century ideas were in error and the Book of Mormon was a product of those errors, it stands to reason that the LDS are believing a lie. The following is a collection of sources about the mound builders.
One of the earliest popular writings in the United States was:
Transactions and Collections of the American Antiquarian Society, Vol I., Worcester, Massachusetts; printed for the American Antiquarian Society by William Manning, 1820, pages 120, 121
"Antiquities of the People who formerly inhabited the Western Parts of the United States.
It is time to consider the third, last, and most highly interesting class of Antiquities, which comprehends those belonging to that people who erected our ancient forts and tumuli; those military works, whose walls and ditches cost so much labour in their structure, those numerous and sometimes lofty mounds, which owe their origin to a people far more civilized than our Indians, but far less so than Europeans.
They were once forts, cemeteries, temples, altars, camps, towns, villages, race grounds, and other places of amusement, habitations of chieftains, videttes, watch towers, monuments, &c."
From this publication, another book was printed which became a best seller:
American Antiquities, and Discoveries in the West, by Josiah Priest, Third Edition, 1833, pages 170 to 171
"A Description of Western Tumuli or Mounds.
We now proceed to a description of the ancient tumuli of the west, and of discoveries made on opening many of them; quoted from the Researches of the Antiquarian Society.
Ancient Tumuli are considered a kind of antiquities, differing in character from that of the other works; both on account of what is frequently discovered in them, and the manner of their construction. They are conical mounds, either of earth or stones, which were intended for sacred and important purposes. In many parts of the world, similar mounds were used as monuments, sepulchres, altars, and temples."
This fascination of earth works and the speculation of who built them became the subject of the first publication by the Smithsonian Institution. It was titled Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley, by Ephraim George Squier and Edwin Hamilton Davis in 1848. The book has scientific value because it documented locations and descriptions of hundreds of earth works. But even the authors thought an ancient advanced race had built these works.
Observations on the Aboriginal Monuments of the Mississippi Valley, by E. G. Squier From the Second Volume of the Transactions of the American Ethnological Society, 1847, Pages 5 to 6
"Aboriginal Monuments of the Mississippi Valley.
That the western portion of the United States, embraced within the great basin of the Mississippi River and its tributaries, abounds with rude but imposing monuments, the origin of which is lost in the obscurity of antiquity, is a fact generally known."
The origin of these structures was not "lost in the obscurity of antiquity". The writers of the 19th century failed to accurately consider the living American Indian. Also left out was the writings of previous centuries. The structures included many things. Burial mounds were only one aspect. Fortified walls of dirt and wood were common. Also trenches were used both around the villages and with each dwelling.
The American Antiquarian Society had published its first volume in 1820 and wrote about ancient forts, etc. Much less well known is that three years later in 1823 the United States Army, assisted by the Sioux, attacked the Aricara. This is known as the Leavenworth Expedition and can be read with all of the Army letters and documents. It was published in The South Dakota Historical Collections in 1902. It contains this:
“We found the Ricara Indians in two villages; the lower one containing seventy-one dirt lodges, and the upper village seventy dirt lodges; each village was enclosed with palisades or pickets, and a ditch; and the greater part of the lodges had a ditch around the bottom on the inside.”
While the American Antiquarian Society was making popular the idea of an ancient race of advanced builders, the United States Army at almost the same time was involved in a campaign against people who built and used these structures. Historical documents contain the truth that has been ignored. As I said, the 19th century writers left out previous centuries. Here are some of the earlier writings.
1542
The Journey of Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca, Translated from his own Narrative, by Fanny Bandelier, 1905, pages 119 to 120
"They all are warriors and so astute in guarding themselves from an enemy as if trained in continuous wars and in Italy. When in places where their enemies can offend them, they set their lodges on the edge of the roughest and densest timber and dig a trench close to it in which they sleep. The men at arm are hidden by brushwood and have their loopholes, and are so well covered and concealed that even at close range they cannot be seen.
To the densest part of the forest they open a very narrow trail and there arrange a sleeping place for their women and children. As night sets in they build fires in the lodges, so that if there should be spies about, these would think the people to sleep there. And before sunrise they light the same fires again. Now, ditches, without being seen or discovered.
In case there are no forests wherein they can hide thus and prepare their ambushes, they settle on the plain wherever it appears most appropriate, surrounding the place with trenches protected by brushwood. In these they open loopholes through which they can reach the enemy with arrows, and those parapets they build for the night."
1544
From the de Soto writings, Historical Collections of Louisiana, by B.F. French, Part II, Second Edition, 1850, pages 105 and 172
"We journeyed two days, and reached a village in the midst of a plain surrounded by walls, and a ditch filled with water, which had been made by the Indians. We approached it cautiously, and when we got near it, we saw the inhabitants going off. We entered it without any trouble, and took a few Indians.
Upon Wednesday, the 19th of June, 1541, the Governor entered into Pacaha. He lodged in the town, where the cacique used to reside, which was very great, walled, and beset with towers, and many loopholes were in the towers and wall. And in the town was great store of old maize, and great quantity of new in the fields. Within a league and a half a league were great towns all walled. Where the Governor was lodged was a great lake, that came near unto the wall; and it entered into a ditch, that went round about the town, wanting but a little to environ it around. From the lake to the great river was made a wear by which the fish came into it; which the cacique kept for his recreation and sport. With nets that were found in the town, they took as much as they would; and took they never so much, there was no want perceived."
The Conquest of Florida, by Hernando de Soto, by Theodore Irving, 1857, pages 261 to 262
"About eight o'clock in the morning of October the 18th [1540], they arrived before the village of Mauvila [located in south or central Alabama]. This was the stronghold of the cacique, where he and his principal men resided; and, being on the frontiers of his territories, it was strongly fortified. It stood in a fine plain, and was surrounded by a high wall formed of huge trunks of trees driven into the ground, side by side, and wedged together. These were crossed within and without by others smaller and longer, bound to them by bands made of split reeds and wild vines. The whole was thickly plastered over with a kind of mortar, made of clay and straw tranpled together, which filled up every chink and crevice of the wood-work, so that it appeared as if smoothed with a trowel. Throughout its whole circuit, the wall was pierced, at the height of a man, with loopholes, whence arrows might be discharged at an enemy, and at every fifty paces it was surmounted by a tower, capable of holding seven or eight fighting men. Numbers of the trees which had been driven into the ground had taken root, and flourished, springing up loftily out of the rampart, and spreading their branches above it, so as to form a circle of foilage around the village. There were but two gates at the place, one to the east, the other to the west. In the centre of the village was a large square, around which were erected the principal dwellings. The whole number of houses in the place did not exceed eighty, but they were of great size, capable of lodging from five to fifteen hundred persons each. They were built after the Indian fashion, not cut up into different rooms, but consisting simply of one great hall, like a church; and as they belonged either to the cacique or his principal subjects, they were constructed with more than usual skill."
1564
From the French in Florida, Narrative of Le Moyne, An Artist who Accompanied the French Expedition to Florida, 1875.
"30. Construction of fortified towns among the Floridians.
The Indians are accustomed to build their fortified towns as follows: A position is selected near the channel of some swift stream. They level it as even as possible, and then dig a ditch in a circle around the site, in which they set thick round pales, close together, to twice the height of a man; and they carry this paling some ways past the beginning of it, spiral-wise, to make a narrow entrance admitting not more than two persons abreast. The course of the stream is also diverted to this entrance; and at each end of it they are accustomed to erect a small round building, each full of cracks and holes, and built, considering their means, with much elegance. In these they station as sentinels men who can smell the traces of an enemy at a great distance, and who, as soon as they perceive such traces, set off the discover the. As soon as they find them, they set up a cry which summons those within the town to the defence, armed with bows and arrows and clubs. The chief’s dwelling stands in the middle of the town, and is partly underground, in consequence of the sun’s heat. Around this are the houses of the principal men, all lightly roofed with palm-branches, as they are occupied only nine months in the year; the other three, as has been related, being spent in the woods. When they come back, they occupy their houses again; and, if they find that the enemy has burnt them down, they build others of similar materials. Thus magnificent are the palaces of the Indians."
"40. Ceremonies at the death of a chief or of priests.
When a chief in that province dies, he is buried with great solemnities; his drinking-cup is placed on the grave, and many arrow are planted in the earth about the mound itself. His subjects mourn for him three whole days and nights, without taking any food. All the other chiefs, his friends, mourn in like manner; and both men and women, in testimony of their love for him, cut off more than half their hair. Besides this, for six months afterwards certain chosen women three times every day, at dawn, noon, and twilight, mourn for the deceased king with a great howling. And all his household stuff is put into his house, which is set on fire, and the whole burned up together.
In like manner, when their priests die, they are buried in their own houses; which are then set on fire, and burned up with all their furniture."
I have shown writings at the time of Joseph Smith and historic writings from the earliest explorers into the region of the United States. Now consider that eleven years after the Book of Mormon had been published, and eight years after Josiah Priest published his American Antiquities, George Catlin published his observations among the living American Indian.
Letters and Notes on the Manners, Customs, and Condition of the North American Indian, by Geo. Catlin, volume II, 1841 page 260
“And as evidence in support of my opinion that they came from the banks of the Ohio, and have brought with them some of the customs of the civilized people who erected those ancient fortifications, I am able to say, that the numerous specimens of pottery which have been taken from the graves and tumuli about those ancient works, (many of which may be seen now, in the Cincinnati Museum, and some of which, my own donations, and which have so much surprised the enquiring world,) were to be seen in great numbers in the use of the Mandans; and scarcely a day in the summer, when the visitor to their village would not see the women at work with their hands and fingers, moulding them from black clay, into vases, cups, pitchers, and pots, and baking them in their little kilns in the sides of the hill, or under the bank of the river.”
There was no ancient, lost civilization. The Book of Mormon is based on false ideas. The mounds of North America were fully covered in 1894 by the Smithsonian, in the Twelfth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology. This entire publication was about the mounds. It was the most exhaustive and complete writings put together, and should have ended once and for all any notions of a lost civilization. It gives a much more accurate and correct understanding of the American Indian than any of those earlier works of fiction, but few people today have read it.
It was limited to the region of the United States and apologists might attempt to argue the Meso-America geography and claim that the mound people were the others. To that possibility I would reply that they need to read the Twenty-fifth Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology, 1907. This publication contained a writing titled: Certain Antiquities of Eastern Mexico, by Jesse Walter Fewkes. It addressed mounds in Mexico that had not been included in the Twelfth Annual Report. Apologists who attempt to isolate Mexico and Central America from the region of the United States must do so by ignoring facts.
Jeffrey Holland said: "if he or she leaves this Church, it must be done by crawling over or under or around the Book of Mormon to make that exit." 19th century falsehoods perpetuated in the 21st century do not require crawling to get to the truth!