An Insider's View of Mormon Origins

I say give it a read. Study the text and the doctrines it advocates, but also study closely the background of how it was produced. I've read it probably close to two dozen times, including twice after leaving the church in 2012. I actually find it easier to read when studying it academically than when I read it devotionally. IMO It's worth reading if you have any interest in post-revolutionary American Christianity and/or the development of the western United States. Or just an interest in the history and theology of early Mormonism generally. I will warn you though. It'll likely put you to sleep more often than not. There's a reason Mark Twain described it as "a pretentious affair, and yet so 'slow,' so sleepy ... Such an insipid mess of inspiration ... Chloroform in print." Frankly, it reads a lot like KJV Bible fanfiction writ large for nascent America. And it contains many erroneous assumptions about ancient native American history and culture; while at the same time serving as a time capsule for Antebellum American beliefs about the so-called "Mound Builder" Amerindians who occupied the continent prior to European conquest. So while its pretenses as an historical account are spurious, there's definitely some interesting stuff in there too. I'd suggest it is best to approach it with the understanding that Joseph Smith was its author, and it therefore reflects the unique but flawed insights and worldview of an ambitious, gifted, but formally uneducated pious fraud. A 22 year old "hayseed" from upstate New York who was consumed with fixing his family's and the world's religious schism by means of a pseudepigraphic imposture, viz. The Book of Mormon. Even so, some of what he published and preached did connect with a fair few contemporary Christian seekers. And of course, modern Mormons still revere the BoM, although I'd argue the book's Modalistic Trinitarianism goes right over most Mormons' heads. For the best reconstruction of the original manuscripts of the Book of Mormon, I recommend Royal Skousen's Yale edition, "The Book of Mormon: The Earliest Text." It's how the earliest hearers/readers would have encountered the text and represents some excellent scholarship. In contrast, the modern "standard" edition contains thousands of (mostly) minor redactions/revisions. If you want something a bit more readable with some quality essays and reference material, I'd instead recommend Grant Hardy's University of Illinois Press publication, "The Book of Mormon: A Reader's Edition." It's based on the LDS church's 1920 version of the text, so they've streamlined a fair bit of poor grammar, redundant phrases, and inconsistencies that exist in the earliest editions. Just as important to the text is the occult context in which Joseph Smith produced the BoM translation. For an excellent treatment on the subject, I have two recommendations. An Insider's View of Mormon Origins by Grant Palmer is an easy read and cites a lot of quality modern scholarship on the subject. On the more academic side, and for a much more dense deep-dive, check out Early Mormonism and The Magic World View by D. Michael Quinn.