"As an early convert to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Oliver H. Olney experienced persecution and was forced to flee to Illinois, settling in Nauvoo. In Nauvoo, Olney became disgruntled with Church leadership and began to view Joseph Smith as a fallen prophet. His writings: journal entries, letters, and publications, express his concerns about what he viewed as serious iniquity within the church. His opposition resulted in his excommunication; however, Olney remained in Nauvoo after being expelled from the church and continued recording the things he witnessed. The handwritten papers of Oliver Olney are housed in the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University and are made available in published form for the first time. They offer historical researchers and interested readers of the early Latter-day Saint movement a unique glimpse from the margins of religious society in Nauvoo. Olneys writings add further light to key events in early Mormonism such as the secretive practice of polygamy, theological innovations, as well as growing tensions among disaffected church members and the rising conflict with non-Mormon neighbors"--