“Alma 53 is narrated in third person by Mormon who is making an abridgement of the Large Plates of Nephi. But in Alma 56–58, Mormon chooses to give us the account on the sons of Helaman from the original source, which happens to be a letter from Helaman to the Captain of the Nephite army, Moroni. … With the exception of one verse of personal commentary (Alma 56:52), Mormon lets us see their battles through the pen of the man who saw the courage of these stripling warriors first hand” (Bassett, “Nephi’s Freedom Thesis and the Sons of Helaman,” 296).