Three Kings, the Book of Mormon

If you had to write a single volume on the course of American history, what would you have to leave out? And what if the time you had to cover, instead of starting with the western discovery of the continents and ending at the year 2000, instead had to cover a full one thousand years?
What I'm implying is that single volumes of scripture, like the Bible and the Book of Mormon, must emphasize the teachings of prophets at the expense of the details of history. There just isn't room for everything. This entry, however, describes a tiny sliver of Nephite history featuring three leaders who were known as "kings".
A Nephite named Zeniff, wished to live on land that had since been occupied by the volume's other major group, the Lamanites. He assembled a group of like-minded people who left their homes in order to live in this new/old land. The scripture does not say specifically why, though their motives seem to have been benign.
But there's a problem. The Lamanites far outnumber these newcomers, and instead of simply accommodating the immigrants, they discover that Zeniff is a little too willing to make concessions than he should be, and that they can exploit the immigrants with these two sources of leverage.  Too late, Zeniff realizes the weakness that leads to his mistake, but he is forced to live out his days in semi-captivity. Luckily, he does prove to be a better military leader than a king, and so the Nephites retain some freedom, though they must constantly stand guard against invasion.
Time passes, as does. Zeniff. His successor is his son, Noah, who is a poor leader in the classic mold, taking from his own people and living extravagantly just because he can. God sends a prophet to warn the people of coming destruction, but he is burned at the stake on trumped up charges. Noah's short reign ends soon after with invasion by the Lamanites. Noah does not retain the loyalty of his troops, and does not survive.
There is great destruction, but the Nephites are allowed to have a leader, Noah's son Limhi. Against all odds, Limhi proves to be an excellent leader, perhaps because he could clearly see his own father's failings. The circumstances are terrible, and both counterattack against the Lamanites and escape seem impossible. Limhi, though he has no easy answers, is still able to keep his people together and holds out hope even as their situation declines into near slavery. Notably, there are no revolts against Limhi, and the people, though oppressed, follow him loyally.    
The group is finally rescued with the help of some soldiers of the main body of Nephites, from whom they had been disconnected for many years. It is felt by many Book of Mormon scholars that the main reason to include this record was that Noah had at least one good man among his group of corrupt priests, named Alma, who becomes the ancestor to a long line of prophets whose service extends for hundreds of years.