A need for a history of the Handbook

There may be only one person alive today who has memorized the entire contents of the Church Handbook of Instructions. That would be President Thomas S. Monson, and that was with an older verion of the handbook, to get it into East Germany without being confiscated and destroyed by  GDR government agents. When he arrived in East Germany, then Elder Monson sat down with the Church leader he was about to teach the handbook to, and saw a mimiegraphed copy of the handbook on the wall.

President Monson has been involved in the revisions since then.

A history of the handbook to me is a needed part of the generalized history of the Church. It would not be an easy thing to write, and would best be written by people who had shown a long record of disgretion and professionalism.

Too often LDS history has been written by people who have never shown skills in either.

Currently the handbook is divided into two sections. Part 2 is posted on the internet, and members are encouraged to read it. Part 1 is more often the domain of sensationalism and fire eaters in attempts to force the Church to more publicize these instuctions to bishops and higher leaders, that are often meant as many things.