In his essay, “Apostate Religion in the Book of Mormon,” A. Keith Thompson noted that:
Whether we take the condescending summary of Lamanite culture in Mosiah 10 at face value or not, it seems fair to accept the assertion that the Zeniffites were more industrious by comparison. For not only did they “repair the walls of the cit[ies] … of Lehi-Nephi, and … Shilom,” they implemented agriculture and horticulture and built new buildings. During the reign of King Noah, that construction work included “a spacious palace” for the king, the refurbishment of the existing temple with fine wood, copper, brass, and pure gold, as well as a tower in the refurbished temple complex in the land of Lehi-Nephi and another on a historic hill of sanctuary in the land of Shilom. (A. Keith Thompson, "Apostate Religion in the Book of Mormon," Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship 25 [2017]:204)
In a note to the above, Thompson references Dieter F. Uchtdorf's January 13, 2013 CES speech, "What Is Truth?” that seemingly acknowledges bias, not just by the Nephites, but among the Nephite record
keepers:
In the Book of Mormon, both the Nephites as well as the Lamanites created their own “truths” about each other. The Nephites’ “truth” about the Lamanites was that they “were a wild, and ferocious, and a blood-thirsty people,” never able to accept the gospel. The Lamanites’ “truth” about the Nephites was that Nephi had stolen his brother’s birthright and that Nephi’s descendants were liars who continued to rob the Lamanites of what was rightfully theirs. These “truths” fed their hatred for one another until it finally consumed them all.
Needless to say, there are many examples in the Book of Mormon that contradict both of these
stereotypes. Nevertheless, the Nephites and Lamanites believed these “truths” that shaped the destiny of this once-mighty and beautiful people.