The collection of journals kept between 1840 and 1853 by William Clayton, personal secretary to Joseph Smith (founder of the Mormon Church), which was originally published amid some controversy as a limited edition in 1991, is here made available for the first time as a one-volume trade edition. Clayton was a meticulous diarist (probably too meticulous for the taste of most general readers) who was close to Joseph Smith and Brigham Young at the beginning of the polygamy controversy, and he accompanied Young on the westward expedition from Nauvoo, Illinois, that blazed the Mormon trail to Salt Lake City. The journals, along with the editor's excellent historical introduction and extensive notes, will be particularly relevant to readers with a specific interest in Mormon Church history, but they also provide a fascinating glimpse into nineteenth-century frontier life that may merit a broader readership. --Steve Schroeder