Within the pages of the latest Joseph Smith Papers Project volume, one finds the perspective of four men assigned to write early histories of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, two of whom remained faithful and two who turned against it and were excommunicated from the church during the course of their writing.

"Histories, Volume 2: Assigned Historical Writings, 1831-1847" is the seventh release in an anticipated two dozen or so volumes in the project.

Introduced Sept. 25 at the Church History Library in a gathering for Internet bloggers and other interested persons, the new book completes the project's two-volume "Histories" series. It differs from the first, which contains histories written, dictated or supervised by Joseph Smith himself, though both books cover roughly the same time period.