The sources introduced at this level provide information on important persons in Church history contained in books that are considered accessible to the general reader.
Dallin H. Oaks (1932‒Living)
President Dallin H. Oaks is one of the most important Latter-day Saint leaders of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. His official biography, In the Hands of the Lord: The Life of Dallin H. Oaks, provides a readable life sketch of this key leader, showing a personal side of him that many people miss when watching only his formal addresses. Here is an excerpt from page 182 about his first day in the office as a general authority:
On Wednesday, May 2—his effective resignation date after finishing his work on pending court cases—Dallin prepared to visit Church headquarters for the first time since his call. He was “full of apprehension about measuring up to the new challenges ahead,” he wrote. He
had prayer with family members before leaving for his new workplace and “told June and Sharmon that I felt like a little boy, just leaving for his first day at school, full of wonder and concern at the newness of this beginning. Sharmon squeezed my arm in a comforting fashion and said, half seriously, ‘Don’t worry, Daddy. They’ll be nice to you.’”
“They were,” Dallin later wrote in relief.
