A few weeks ago, FAIR held a virtual conference focusing on church history. Because “Saints, Volume 4: Sounded in Every Ear, 1955–2020” was about to be published, we invited Matt McBride to give a presentation on it as the keynote speaker.
On October 29, a press conference was held at the Church History Library to announce the release of the book. It is the fourth and final book in the series, and the series is the third multi-volume official history of the Church. This volume spans the years 1955 to 2020 over 831 pages.
Matt Grow, the managing director of the Church History Department, said of the series: “We had three main criteria. First, the history had to be impeccable. It had to be meticulously researched. It had to be totally accurate. Second, the series had to be a page-turner. 
Driven forward by a narrative of individual Latter Day Saints seeking to understand the will of God for their own lives, and making history in the process. And third, the volumes had to meet the needs of all Latter-day Saints around the globe, particularly those who we called the rising generation, young adult, and those relatively new to the church.”
Elder Hugo E. Martinez, assistant executive director of the Church History Department, said the volume contains “stories of people who follow Jesus Christ, and find Him. We will find our savior, Jesus Christ, in the pages, and the devotion, and the lives that are there.” He spoke of personally knowing and serving with some of the people mentioned. Readers will find that even if they don’t personally know the people mentioned (there are stories of people representing many parts of the world), they will recognize having lived through many of the events in the time span covered, which makes it a different experience than reading the earlier volumes.
Some of the things mentioned in the book include:
- Organization of the Correlation Committee
The discovery of some of the papyri related to the Book of Abraham- Wesley Walters’ criticism of the First Vision and the resulting research begun by Richard Bushman, Truman Madsen, and others
- The Osmonds
- Priesthood and temple restriction and the revelation rescinding it
- Mark Hofmann
- Hugh Nibley and FARMS
- FamilySearch.org
- 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City
- Preach My Gospel
- California proposition 8
- The Family Proclamation
- COVID
All 4 volumes of Saints are available in print and in the Gospel Library. There are 245 Church History Topics articles available to go along with the Saints series. There is also a podcast series available. The Saints brand will continue with an online feature called Saints Stories. This is a great way to get an introduction to church history that will help the reader understand not only the origins of the church but how it got to where it is today. And many of the difficult topics in our history that can often be stumbling blocks are much more easily understood as they are learned about in their proper context as told in the series.
Trevor Holyoak is the Vice President of FAIR. He has been actively involved with FAIR for over 20 years and received the John Taylor Defender of the Faith Award in 2014. He graduated magna cum laude from Weber State University with a BS in computer science and now works as a programmer and systems administrator. He is currently serving as a young mens advisor in his ward and is also involved in the leadership of the Utah Valley Amateur Radio Club. He and his wife have five children and live in Cedar Hills, Utah.
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