Compared to so-called similar books of its day, including The Book of Pukei, Manuscript Found, and View of the Hebrews, the Book of Mormon’s cultural setting is markedly different. Where the former three works are set in a world heavily influenced by Roman culture, the Book of Mormon’s setting is dominated by ancient Near Eastern and Mesoamerican cultures. After Lehi’s group arrived in the New World, they started to assimilate the environment of their promised land. If Joseph Smith had read a book such as View of the Hebrews and used it in “writing” the Book of Mormon, as some critics mistakenly supposed he did, the cultures portrayed in the two books would not be so noticeably different. (See Echoes, 313–314).