An Approach to the book of Mormon, by Hugh Nibley, Deseret Book Co., 40 E. South Temple, Salt Lake City, Utah 84130-0178; 541 pages, $17.95.

This comprehensive work by Hugh Nibley, a long-time professor of ancient religion at BYU, was first published in 1957 as a Melchizedek Priesthood manual. it was revised and republished in 1964. Now the third edition has been published in 1988.Nibley's framework in an approach to the book of Mormon is much like that of a wise teacher who starts with the soft, basic fundamentals of how to begin one's study of an ancient text. Then he builds to a crescendo with several scholarly comparisons of the Book of Mormon with its ancient Middle Eastern roots. K.S.

Establishing Zion: The Mormon church in the American West, 1847-1869, by Eugene E. Campbell, Signature Books, 350 South 500 East, Salt Lake City, Utah, 84111, 346 pages, $20.95

Eugene E. Campbell, a history professor at BYU until his retirement in 1980, spent about 13 years researching and writing "Establishing Zion" before his death in 1986. Campbell's account begins with the Mormon Pioneers settling the Great Basin in 1847 and ends with the driving of the golden spike at Promontory Summit, Utah, May 10, 1969 - an event that marked the completion of the transcontinental railroad.

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The book examines Brigham Young's colonizing effort and the keys to the pioneers' survival in a rugged wilderness.

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