AMONG the many books that have been written upon Mormonism, there is not one that purports to be a plain, concise, complete, and unbiased history of the early days of the Mormon Church, where no tinge of personal interest existed, and no theory was to be advanced or defended. The main body of writers upon polygamy and Salt Lake, have only referred incidentally to the days of Palmyra, Kirtland, and Nauvoo, that they might properly introduce and explain the main topics it was their purpose to discuss. In these pages the author has simply told the story of the inception and growth of that remarkable body of misleading and misled men, from the birth of Joseph Smith to his tragic death in Carthage jail, -a story so full of incident and interest that it becomes worthy of narration by itself, as detached from the final journey across the wilderness, and the founding of Brigham Young's empire in the valley of Salt Lake