KnoWhy #227 - Why Did Mormon Write So Little about His Own Time Period? (Mormon 2:18)

By the time Mormon began documenting scenes and events from his own time, his commentary had become terse and despairing. The whole book of Mormon (chapters 1–6) covers a span of 64 years, including the entirety of Mormon’s adult life, in the space of approximately eleven pages.

The brevity of Mormon’s writings regarding his own time is surprising when compared to the depth of his coverage of the era of Alma, for example.

Mormon was careful to follow the instructions given to him by God regarding what the message of his record should be. He put enough detail into his book that future generations would be well aware of the lessons to be learned from the destruction of his people, without submerging them in the profound anguish that he experienced at the loss of the “fair ones” whose history he recorded.