[Key Excerpts] On the First Vision accounts: "The first vision story in the official church history was not known in the 1830s. Neither the 1832 nor the 1835 account of the first vision were published or made available to the general church membership until the 1960s. The evolving nature of the accounts — from a personal quest for forgiveness to a theophany involving two personages — suggests a narrative that developed over time." On the Book of Mormon translation: "The picture that emerges from a careful study of all available sources is that Joseph Smith composed the Book of Mormon by drawing upon ideas, language, and theology available in his nineteenth-century environment. The parallels between the Book of Mormon and contemporary works such as View of the Hebrews, The Late War, and the King James Bible are extensive and detailed." On the evolution of priesthood restoration claims: "The earliest documents make no mention of angelic ordinations by Peter, James, and John or by John the Baptist. These accounts appear to have been retrofitted into the historical narrative after 1834-35, coinciding with a period when Joseph Smith was consolidating ecclesiastical authority." Palmer's central thesis is that "honest scholarship requires us to acknowledge the human fingerprints on the founding events of Mormonism, even as we recognize the sincere religious convictions of those involved."