Words of Mormon

Who wrote it? Mormon (abridger and compiler of the Book of Mormon, Father of Moroni, military leader among the Nephites) 

Summary: Mormon explains his abridgment of the Large Plates of Nephi.  In 1 Nephi  9:3&5 the Lord commanded Nephi to make two sets of place for a special and a wise purpose.  

Time Period: About 385 A.D. (500 years after Amaleki had written) (After having seen the destruction of most of his people) (He did not say where he was when he wrote it)

What Was Going On in the World:




Main Characters:
Mormon
Moroni
King Benjamin
Amaleki

Purpose: Basically, I think this book is included because it provides a bridge to start the Large Plates of Nephi, by taking us to the end of King Benjamin's life, so that we are getting in to talking about another group of people. 
                "As a historical account, the book serves as a bridge between the small           
plates of Nephi (1 Nephi–Omni) and Mormon’s abridgment of the large plates of 
Nephi (Mosiah–4 Nephi)."

Other Interesting Facts:

• This book interrupts how each book was written right after the other.  It picks up 500 years after the previous book.  

"Many years later, one reason for this inspiration became apparent. When Joseph Smith began translating the Book of Mormon, he started with Mormon’s abridgment of the large plates of Nephi—the secular history. Martin Harris, who was the Prophet’s scribe for this portion of the translation, lost 116 pages of the manuscript. The Lord revealed to Joseph Smith that wicked men had obtained those pages and changed the words (see D&C 10:8–10). If Joseph had translated the same material again, those men would have claimed that he was not a prophet because he could not translate the book the same way twice (see D&C 10:11–19). The Lord told Joseph not to translate that part again but to translate the small plates of Nephi that Mormon had included with his abridgment of the large plates (see D&C 10:30–45). Thus, Words of Mormon helps us see how the Lord prepared a way to frustrate the plan of wicked men and to include scripture that not only covered the same time period as the lost manuscript but provided “greater views upon [the Lord’s] gospel” (D&C 10:45). Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles taught: “Obviously it would be exciting if someone were one day to find the lost 116 pages of the original manuscript of the Book of Mormon. But whatever those pages contain, it could not be more important or more fundamental to the purpose of the Book of Mormon than the teachings … recorded on the small plates” (Christ and the New Covenant: The Messianic Message of the Book of Mormon [1997], 35–36)."