This book was written to provide a detailed explanation of how Joseph Smith and the scribes who served with him described the process of translating the gold plates and the difficulties encountered as they sought to publish the completed book. Although both members and academics alike often think of this story as well known, recent insights and discoveries associated with the efforts by the Church History Department to publish The Joseph Smith Papers have provided a fuller, richer understanding of the translation and publication of the Book of Mormon. The actual process of translating the Book of Mormon, according to the witnesses of the event and the earliest sources, is generally unknown to members of the Church since Joseph Smith placed little emphasis upon the actual process. This book attempts to capture the first-person point of view of Joseph Smith and those who witnessed the translation and publication of the Book of Mormon.