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| Suggested Reading | |
Below are some of the books you may find interesting to learn more about the polygamous culture. | |
| Zero Chance: | |
| Power of Love...Love of Power | |
| By Jason Williams (Author), JM and Anthus Williams (Contributor) | |
| Book Description | |
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When religion and family turn on you, what is left? This is the amazing story of a young man willing to do whatever is necessary to maintain a relationship with his children. After growing up in a polygamist family and life-style, Jason Williams is given zero chance for salvation from the leaders of the FLDS. His wife and children are kidnapped from him and he is instructed to have nothing to do with them. Instead of giving in, read the true story of how Jason took on the FLDS leaders and saved his children.
Ordering Information | |
| "What Peace There May Be" by Susanna Barlow Susanna Barlow's book is available for sale from The HOPE Organization Order it now | |
| What Peace There May Be: A Memoir | |
| By Susanna Barlow | |
| Book Description | |
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Young Susanna doesn’t know anything other than the family environment that has been created for her — a system without regard for society or man’s laws. Raised in a sequestered home in a busy city neighborhood, everything beyond the front gate is off-limits. The isolation proves to be a breeding ground for abuse, and Susanna struggles to reconcile her desire to escape and her need to belong. The book recounts six critical years in Susanna’s life as she comes to terms with her conditions. This coming-of-age story is as much a testament to survival as it is to surrender. Pushed to the limits of her coping abilities, Susanna tries anything she can to bring about the peace that seems always out of reach.
Ordering Information | |
| Author to appear at Book Cellar | |
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BY PATRICE ST. GERMAIN The Spectrum Originally published September 8, 2009 | |
| ST. GEORGE - Susanna Barlow's first book, "What Peace There May Be," a memoir, was so good that Elaine Tyler can't wait to read the continuation of her story in Barlow's second book. Tyler, president of the Hope Organization, a United Way Dixie partner agency assisting people who have left the polygamous lifestyle safely transition into mainstream society, said she has read almost all the books written by people who were in polygamous family relationships. Barlow's book was, at times, difficult to read, she said, but bottom line, Tyler said the book talking about Barlow's childhood and family relationships was a great book. "It upset me about all the abuse she endured, but she has such a positive attitude," Tyler said. Barlow will be at the Book Cellar bookstore on Thursday at 6 p.m. Information found on Barlow's Web site states that she is the 23rd child of 46 children, growing up in a The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints religious home that shaped her life, her values and her views on everything. Her memoir tells of growing up while suffering abuse in a polygamous family living in Utah. Raised in a sequestered home in a busy city neighborhood, everything beyond the front gate was off-limits. Read more | |
| Torn by God: A Family's Struggle with Polygamy | |
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By Zoe Murdock | |
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Book Description
Inspired by true events, Torn by God is a riveting family drama that takes place in 1959 in a small Mormon town in Utah. It chronicles the devastation brought upon the Sterling family when the father has a vision which leads him to become involved with a local polygamist group run by a self-serving fundamentalist named Brother Reuben. Under the influence of this group, the father comes to believe that the Mormon Church never should have rescinded polygamy. He knows that the practice is against the law and grounds for excommunication, but he feels it is something God demands of him. Twelve-year-old Beth watches helplessly as her father becomes increasingly involved with the polygamists and her mother sinks into depression and illness. Even Beth is not safe from Brother Reuben with his piercing eyes and suggestive sexual remarks. When her father leaves home to build a church for the polygamists, the family is cast off by the Mormon community. It is up to Beth to take care of her sick mother and her little brother, Mikey. This story delves deep into the controversial association between mainstream Mormons and fundamentalist off-shoot groups such as those led by Warren Jeffs.
Paperback: 296 pages Publisher: H.O.T. Press (January 6, 2009) Language: English ISBN-10: 0923178066 ISBN-13: 978-0923178062 Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.7 inches | |
| Upcoming Events | |
| Author of polygamy novel visits St. George | |
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Public Service Announcements News 88.9 KNPR - Nevada Public Radio Originally published September 24, 2009 | |
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Zoe Murdock will be in St. George, Utah on September 24 to read from and discuss her new novel "Torn by God: A Family's Struggle with Polygamy." It shows polygamy as a bad thing, and "exposes the destructive power of religious indoctrination and control."
She'll be at the The Book Cellar (37 East Saint George Boulevard) starting at 6 p.m. More about her and her writing at www.zoemurdock.com. | |
| Author to discuss polygamy book | |
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For The Spectrum Daily News The Spectrum Originally published September 20, 2009 | |
| ST. GEORGE - Zoe Murdock always saw a deep sadness in her mother's eyes, but she wasn't sure what caused it. Then when her mother died, she read her journals and began to understand. Some of the things her mother wrote revealed just how terribly hurt she was during the period her husband was exploring polygamy. Murdock will discuss her novel at The Book Cellar, 130 N. Main St., Suite C, St. George, on Thursday from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Call 652-0227 or log onto www.sgbookcellar.com for more information. Murdock knew about her father's interest in polygamy and she knew his best friend had become a polygamist, but she didn't know exactly what had happened between her parents. She was young at the time, and they never talked about polygamy around the children. She did remember her mother saying, "If there's polygamy in heaven, I don't want to go there." She remembered finding her mother in the bathroom with a towel over her head, crying. When Murdock's father died several years ago, she found a notebook in which he had written his thoughts about polygamy, about wanting to see God and wanting to become a god himself. She was startled to see just how obsessed he was with it, and it made her remember more things: like how he always wanted to practice the Law of Consecration, and how he tried to move the family to Hurricane about that same time he was exploring polygamy, and how he left home for three months and she didn't know where he was or what he was doing. Murdock novel, "Torn by God: A Family's Struggle with Polygamy" is the product of a journey back in time. Read more | |
| Author to discuss a family's struggle with polygamy | |
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The Spectrum Originally published August 26, 2009 | |
| ST. GEORGE — On Sept. 24 from 6 to 7:30 p.m., The Book Cellar will present Zoe Murdock in a reading and discussion of her new novel, "Torn by God: A Family’s Struggle with Polygamy." Inspired by true events, "Torn by God," is a riveting family drama that takes place in 1959 in a small Mormon town in Utah. It chronicles the devastation brought upon the Sterling family when the father has a vision that leads him to become involved with a local polygamist group run by a self-serving fundamentalist. The father comes to believe that the Mormon Church never should have rescinded polygamy. Even though the practice is now against the law and grounds for excommunication, he feels it is something God demands of him. When her father gets more and more involved with the polygamist group, 12-year-old Beth watches helplessly as her mother sinks into depression and illness. When he leaves town to build a church for the polygamists, the family is cast off by the Mormon community, and it is up to Beth to take care of her sick mother and her little brother. Murdock currently lives in California, but she was born and raised in a small town in Utah. Although this is her first novel, Murdock has previously published a number of non-fiction books. She and her husband, Doc, teach advanced writing workshops in California. To learn more about the author and this book log onto www.zoemurdock.com. The Book Cellar is located at 37 E. St. George Blvd. For more information or reservations call 652-0227. | |
| Books: new releases | |
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Baltimore Sun Originally published May 17, 2009 | |
| Lost Boy by Brent W. Jeffs with Maia Szalavitz (Broadway, $24.95). Jeffs, the nephew of former (now imprisoned) president of Utah's Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (FLDS), recently filed a sexual-abuse lawsuit against his uncle. Two of his brothers, also former FLDS members, killed themselves after leaving the FLDS community. This memoir aims to help former members cross the chasm that stands between the disparate worlds of the FLDS and American society. | |
| Lost Boy | |
| Web-Exclusive Reviews: Week of 5/18/2009 | |
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Publishers Weekly - New York, NY Originally published May 18, 2009 | |
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Brent. W. Jeffs with Maia Szalavitz. Broadway, $24.95 (256p) ISBN 9780767931779
In this moving debut memoir, the nephew of a Mormon sect leader chronicles life in the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and what came after. Among a 10,000-member Mormon community, Jeffs grew up with three mothers, more than a dozen siblings, and a deep fear of the world outside of the church. Within the secretive community, Jeffs was taught that purity came from special attention to dress, hard work, generosity and, most importantly, obedience to one’s elders (especially his uncle, the prophet Warren Jeffs). The focus of this fast-paced memoir is the sexual abuse Jeffs and his brothers endured at the hands of their relatives during church and school functions, for which he would file a class-action lawsuit in 2004. Jeffs’s descent into depression proves the beginning of the end for his relationship with the church and, consequently, with much of his family. Jeffs outlines the core beliefs of the Church, along with the oppressive ends to which they were used, and the heartbreaking fate of those church members expelled into a society they were raised to see as evil and corrupt. This hard-to-put-down, tightly woven account pulls back the curtain on what’s become a perennial news story, while illustrating the impiety of absolute power and the delicacy of innocence. (May) | |
| Inside Warren Jeffs' Polygamous Group | |
| Read an Excerpt of 'Lost Boy' Below. | |
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Good Morning America ABC News Originally published May 21, 2009 | |
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Former Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints member Brent Jeffs details his life inside the polygamous sect in "Lost Boy." Brent Jeffs, who is the nephew of imprisoned FLDS leader Warren Jeffs, walked away from the religious group in which he grew up because it hid a dark reality. He was the first to file a sexual abuse lawsuit against his uncle, and in his book, he discusses how in FLDS girls are valued property, but boys are expendable. Read an excerpt of this book below and check out more interesting titles in the "GMA" Library.
Heaven or Hell Every child believes he's special. But when you are number ten of twenty, with three "sister-mothers" — two of whom are full-blooded sisters — and a grandfather whom thousands of people believe speaks directly to God, it can be hard to figure out what "special" really means. All told, I have roughly sixty-five aunts and uncles on my dad's side and twenty-two on my mom's — with probably thousands of cousins. In families as large as mine, even keeping track of your own siblings — let alone cousins and aunts and uncles — is difficult. As a grandson of Rulon Jeffs and nephew of Warren Jeffs, it once seemed that I was destined for high honor in the FLDS. My family had what our church called "royal blood." We were direct descendants of our prophet through my father's line. My mother, too, is the child of a prophet, who split from our group in 1978 to lead his own polygamous sect. When I was little, my family was favored, in the church's elite. I was assured that there was a place for me in the highest realms of heaven and at least three wives for me right here on earth once I attained the Melchizedek priesthood. I was in a chosen family in a chosen people, visiting sacred land near end times. I would one day become a god, ruling over my own spinning world. So why would I ever abandon such status and rank? In the world of the FLDS, things are not always what they seem. The shiny, smiling surfaces often hide a world of rot and pain. And even royal blood and being born male can't protect you from sudden changes in its convoluted power structure. Read more | |
| Book Review: Illegitimate: How a Loving God Rescued a Son of Polygamy by Brian Mackert with Susan Martins Miller | |
| Part of: It's All About Him | |
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By Jennifer Bogart Books Blogcritics.org - Aurora, Ohio Originally published May 4, 2009 | |
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Brian Mackert’s childhood is a tapestry of the familiar; wide open spaces, mischief, farm animals, and the secret solidarity of brothers. A strictly frugal and distant father, a timid yet loving mother, all of these elements form the backdrop for a life that might be taken from the pages of any number of works of classic Americana. While the details, nuances and flavours of childhood may seem so familiar to us, the larger picture of Mackert’s childhood is strikingly foreign and unfamiliar.
One father, four mothers, 31 children: Mackert’s birth into a Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS) community sets his experience of early life in direct contrast to those of the vast majority of North Americans. Related in a straightforward narrative Illegitimate: How a Loving God Rescued a Son of Polygamy transparently shares the logistical difficulties, emotional challenges and fear of persecution that the life of an FLDS child is filled with. Boasting a familial ancestry tracing itself to the earliest Mormon church fathers, they held firmly to the doctrine of Joseph Smith, Brigham Young despite raids, pressure from mainstream Mormons and mainstream culture. Read more | |
| Former FLDS Member Reveals the Truth Behind the Headlines in a New Book | |
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Press Release 7thSpace Interactive Originally published Monday, September 29, 2008 | |
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The shocking news of polygamous cults has sparked a national dialogue on religious sects. Splintered from and repudiated by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, these secretive families exist in a world far removed from mainstream American culture.
Yet for Brian Mackert, life inside this sect was all too real. As the 28th child in a family of one father, four mothers, and 30 siblings, Brian experienced firsthand the devastating realities of polygamous cults. Brian's family belonged to the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS), the same splinter group that made headlines when its Texas compound was raided and children were taken from their families due to suspected abuse. In a provocative new book called Illegitimate: How a Loving God Rescued a Son of Polygamy (October 1, 2008 - David C. Cook), Brian Mackert takes readers behind today's shocking headlines of this controversial sect, and gives us a glimpse as to what it was like to grow up as a child in the FLDS. A heart-wrenching and gripping account, it is the first-ever memoir written by a man raised inside the FLDS. Read more | |
| Survivor of Violent Polygamist Cult Shares Her Story | |
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PR Web (press release) - Ferndale, WA Originally published February 17, 2009 | |
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It began as a quest for a peaceful existence in an unorthodox religious society. It ended in mayhem, murder, and tragedy.
Grants Pass, OR (PRWEB) February 17, 2009 -- First time author Kim Taylor has surprised members of her small community, including some of her own family and friends, with the release of her tragic memoirs in a book that reads stranger than fiction. For the first time ever, the easy-going Oregon housewife shares in detail the fascinating events that took place in her young life. In her story, titled Daughters of Zion: A Family's Conversion to Polygamy (212 pp, tpb, $15.95), Taylor chronicles being uprooted from her family's comfortable middle class home in Utah at the tender age of seven to be raised in a polygamous cult in Mexico. Her life takes unbelievable twists and turns as her older sisters become plural wives, and young Kim herself is eventually courted by the polygamist fathers of her close friends. All semblance of a peaceful life is shattered when violence erupts within the ranks of the priesthood leaving one sister a widow. Kim fears for her own life as some of the people she cares most about become murderers in the name of religion. Read more | |
| "Nauvoo Polygamy" awarded "Best Book" by historical association | |
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By Clair Barrus Salt Lake City Mormon History Examiner Originally published September 28, 2009 | |
| A book on Mormon polygamy was given the "Best Book" award by a conference of Mormon scholars earlier this week. The John Whitmer Historical Association held its annual conference with historians presenting their latest research on Mormon history to several hundred attendees. This year's award went to George D. Smith for 'Nauvoo Polygamy: "... But We Called It Celestial Marriage" published by Signature Books. Bill Russell, Awards Committee Chair said "Polygamy has been the stickiest issue in the history of Mormonism ... Mormon polygamy defied the norms of Western Christianity." The John Whitmer Historical Society is sponsored mainly by the Community of Christ (formerly RLDS Church), but opens its doors to all scholars interested the history of the restoration. "Though civilly married to Emma Hale, Joseph Smith married some 37 additional women" says Tom Kimball of the book. Some of the prophet’s 'celestial' wives included mother-daughter pairs, sisters, girls in their teens, women in their late fifties, and most controversially women already married to living husbands." Kimball is the publicist for Signature Books. The Community of Christ denied that Joseph Smith practiced polygamy for over a century. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints continued the practice under Brigham Young, ending it under difficult circumstances around the turn of the 20th century. "But today both of our churches would like to forget that it ever existed" joked Russell. Read more | |
| Sunstone panel critiques book on Mormon polygamy | |
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By Clair Barrus Salt Lake History Examiner Originally published August 13, 2009 | |
| "In order to get a complete picture and understanding of Joseph Smith, I see this book as absolutely essential reading." So declared Newell Bringhurst, former president of the Mormon History Association Thursday at the Salt Lake Sunstone Symposium. Bringhurst was one of three panelists critiquing George D. Smith's new book -- Nauvoo Polygamy: "... but we called it celestial marriage." Also on the panel was 3rd generation fundamentalist Mormon Marianne T. Watson, who found it a difficult book to read. As a practicing polygamist, Watson found the topic too close to her heart with it's less than generous attitude towards the practice of polygamy. The Sunstone symposium is underway this week with over 100 scholars and Mormon studies enthusiasts presenting their analysis on aspects of Mormonism. But Watson was glad to have read it because of it's in depth analysis of the Latter-day Saint practice of polygamy. She particularly enjoyed information on the rise of Mormon fundamentalism in the early 20th century, calling the book a "tremendous contribution" to Mormon history. Cheryl Bruno, an active member of the LDS church found the book "intriguing" but felt the author betrayed his bias against polygamy. However she felt the author's willingness to explore innuendo and rumor in Nauvoo made the book come alive. Bruno noted there was a lot of information in the book never before published, and thought the tables and charts listing data on Nauvoo polygamy enhanced the book. Read more | |
| The Essentials | |
| City Weekly's Entertainment Picks Dec 25-31 | |
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BOOKS By Dallas Robbins Salt Lake City Weekly Originally published December 25, 2008 | |
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With an endless stream of books on polygamy and its discontents, do we really need another one? If the answer includes mention of NAUVOO POLYGAMY: "... but we called it celestial marriage" by George Smith, it would be a definitive yes. Ten years in the making, Nauvoo Polygamy traces the origins and establishment of Joseph Smith's vision of "spiritual wives" before it ever stepped foot in the State of Deseret. The book should dispel forever the common misperception that Joseph pined after only one wife, and polygamy was Brigham's idea while crossing the plains.
The book argues that good brother Joseph engaged in extramarital affairs - e.g., Fanny Alger - before officially marrying his first plural wife, Louisa Beaman, in 1841. Afterward, he married women at an average rate of one per month until late 1843. By early 1846, nearly 200 men and 717 women entered the practice, making up the polygamous pioneers who would later lay the foundation in the Great Basin. The book fills a gap in exploring how polygamy was established and worked at this early stage. Read more | |
| Book festival ready to start Wednesday | |
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BY DOUGLAS D. ALDER For The Spectrum & Daily News Originally published October 18, 2009 | |
| ST. GEORGE - Book authors, filmmakers, poets, book clubs, puppet show, bookstores, book signings, local author displays, discussion groups - all these will converge at the St. George City Town Square for the annual St. George Book Festival, beginning Wednesday and running through Saturday. Sponsored by the Utah Humanities Council, Utah Arts Council, The City of St. George, The Spectrum and Washington County Library, all the events are free to the public. Wednesday at 7 p.m. in the St. George Tabernacle, Drs. Ron Esplin and Dean Jessee will discuss the massive Joseph Smith Papers project sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' Historical Department. The first volume, Journal Volume 1, 1832-39 appeared in 2008 and has enjoyed brisk sales. It is the first of approximately 30 volumes that will document the life of the LDS Prophet Joseph Smith. On Saturday from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., authors will speak and discussions will be held in the Community Arts Building (the Old Dixie College) on the corner of Main Street and 100 South. Booksellers and local authors will have signing tables and book displays near the entrance. At 9 a.m. Stephen Nasser, a survivor of the Nazi Holocaust, will tell of his experiences as a seven-year-old child in the concentration camps at Auschwitz and Dachau. He will discuss his book, "My Brother's Voice," which is based on the journal his brother secretly kept during the imprisonment. Nasser lives in Las Vegas. In a different session, William Kerig will talk about his book, The Edge of Nowhere, which describes searching for his father who was lost while skiing in the Utah mountains. Stephen Singular will speak in the third session that hour. He is an investigative reporter from Colorado who has published, When Men Become Gods, about FLDS polygamy and their prophet, Warren Jeffs. Read more | |
| New York Times Best Selling Author Stephen Singular to discuss his new book – When Men Become Gods | |
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Press Release The Book Cellar - St George, Utah Originally published June 20, 2008 | |
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For Immediate Release - Historic Downtown St George, Utah, The Book Cellar, June 27th, 6pm:
The Book Cellar will be hosting Stephen Singular discussing his newest book When Men Become Gods, Mormon Polygamist Warren Jeffs, His Cult of Fear, and The Women Who Fought Back on Friday June 27th at 6pm. In May 2006, Jeffs was placed on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted List for crimes in Arizona (alleged) and Utah and was arrested in August 2006. This book exposes the social impact of plural marriage, the dangers of religious extremism, and the intersection where faith meets criminal behavior. Twenty years ago the author was nominated for a national award for documenting the rise and fall of the neo-Nazi group known as The Order. Two decades later the subject of violently fanatical theology has become a worldwide issue. When Men Become Gods examines Jeff’s story, how it fits into this larger phenomenon and offers a different approach to fighting terrorism. With new revelations into the nearly impenetrable world of the FLDS, a place of 19th century attire, inbreeding, and eerie seclusion, bestselling author and veteran crime journalist Stephen Singular provides a rare glimpse into a tradition that’s nearly a century old, but only now gaining wide exposure. In Singular’s new book he discusses forced under-aged marriages, young "lost boys" being kicked out of their homes and the community, the rise to power of FLDS prophet Warren Jeffs, the courageous women who helped bring Jeffs to justice, the efforts of investigators and what the Mormon church has (or has not) done to help the victims of the FLDS. Read more | |
| Book Review: Stolen Innocence by Elissa Wall | |
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Written by Alyse Wax BlogCritics Magazine Originally published June 30, 2008 | |
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This book deals with the Fundamentalist Latter-Day Saints (FLDS), the extremely conservative sect of Mormonism that has recently been in the national news with the raid on a Texas FLDS camp. Mainstream Mormonism is not a factor in this book. All references and opinions in this review are strictly based on the FLDS as presented in these pages.
Stolen Innocence is the autobiography of Elissa Wall, a former FLDS member who managed to break free from the religion. Elissa was born into the FLDS. Her mother – who birthed 18 children - was the second of three wives. All three were "assigned" to Mr. Wall, and it led to a strained home life. After much shuffling, Sharon Wall and all her birth children were removed from the Wall residence. After staying with relatives, the prophet "assigned" them to a new man, Fred Jessop. He was an elder in the FLDS community, and was to be Elissa’s new father. She was not allowed any contact with her biological father. The FLDS operated much like a cult. Television and pop music were banned. Clothing was restricted to heavy prairie-style dresses that covered clavicle to ankle, even in the summer. For a brief time, children were allowed to attend public school. But when prophet Rulon Jeffs fell ill, and his son Warren took over, things became even stricter. Children were forbidden to attend public school. Their education came from church elders, was completely based in religious teachings, and often children were pulled from school by the time they reached their teen years. Throughout her childhood, many of Elissa’s siblings were either "married" off, shipped off to "behavioral camps," or simply excommunicated. But the trauma doesn’t end there for Elissa. At age 14, she is assigned to "marry" Allen, her first cousin, a man of 18 who was quite a bully to Elissa in their childhood. Despite constant pleas for help – from church elders, from her new father Fred, from her mother, from her older siblings – no one would allow her to postpone her "marriage." The marriage is not a legal one; the FLDS members marry in secret across the Nevada border to avoid the attention of the authorities. Read more | |
| Book review - Stolen Innocence, Elissa Wall and Lisa Pulitzer | |
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By Stephen Davenport The Independent Weekly - Adelaide, South Australia Originally published July 28, 2008 | |
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Warren Jeffs was the leader in the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, a polygamous sect which has been accused of widespread child abuse. A raid on Jeffs’s ranch in Texas resulted in the removal of hundreds of children from their homes and thrust the church’s practices into the spotlight. Arguably the darkest secret of the sect unfurls at a secluded motel in Nevada, where girls as young as 14 are forced into wedlock. Elissa Wall claims she was one such under age bride and had no choice but to marry her 19-year-old first cousin Allen Steed. In Stolen Innocence: My Story of Growing Up in a Polygamous Sect, Becoming a Teenage Bride, and Breaking Free of Warren Jeffs, Wall tells her story.
Her vivid account of the sect’s behaviour is by turns shocking, bewildering, harrowing and compelling. Wall emerges as a courageous and credible woman who testifies against a twisted criminal. However, it is her childhood perceptions on life and the harsh realities in a closed community that prove to be the most haunting and inspirational. She discusses her turbulent youth, her family’s devotion and Warren Jeffs’s influence over the church. Then she reveals the truth about her marriage. Insisting that it was her duty to submit to his every desire, Allen nightly raped his bride Wall found the strength to break free and give evidence against her husband and the church. Read more | |
| What a tangled web they wove | |
| When 15-year-old Debbie Oler married Ray Blackmore, it was with the belief that she could cure him of his leukemia | |
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By Daphne Bramham Vancouver Sun | |
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Daphne Bramham has been a columnist at The Sun since 2000, winning a National Newspaper Award in 2004. Since May of 2004 she has written more than 100 columns on the fundamentalist Mormons. She has been honoured by the non-profit group, Beyond Borders, for her continuing series on the fundamentalist Mormons. Her new book, The Secret Lives of Saints: Child Brides and Lost Boys in Canada's Polygamous Mormon Sect, comes out Tuesday.
THE SECRET LIVES OF SAINTS: CHILD BRIDES AND LOST BOYS IN CANADA'S POLYGAMOUS MORMON SECT Daphne Bramham Random House Canada, 480 pages ($32.95) - - - It wasn't just the exhortations and expectations of the priesthood leaders that made Debbie Oler anxious to marry. She also believed in the power of revelation, and that by fasting and praying she would come to know God's plan for her. And what she came to believe was that God not only had chosen her to be Ray Blackmore's wife, but that he would tell her how to cure Ray of his leukemia if she loved him enough, was obedient enough and prayed hard enough. That fall, after her 14th birthday, Debbie told her father about her revelation and how she felt about Ray. Dalmon Oler approached the prophet LeRoy Johnson on his next visit to Lister. The prophet listened but said nothing. Debbie was heartbroken and, in her distress, poured out her heart to her friends, and Ray's busybody son heard almost every word. "Oh what an uproar at school," Winston wrote in his questionable account of the strange romance: "The girls sobbed their hearts out . . . In her mind, she [Debbie] was mature, desperate and time was running out for my father, who had been diagnosed with cancer and he was in the fight for this life. She seemed to be driven by the belief that if she could just marry him then she could somehow prolong his life, and she seemed driven to get out of her own father's home. Her tears and fuss at school brought on a whole new scene of wonder among the students . . . . Read more | |
| Polygamists' secrets laid bare | |
| Journalists takes governments to task for not acting | |
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Catherine Ford, For the Calgary Herald Originally published Sunday, March 23, 2008 | |
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The Secret Lives of Saints:
Child Brides and Lost Boys in a Polygamous Mormon Sect by Daphne Bramham (Random House Canada, $32.95, 432 pages) - - - - The fatal flaw in polygamy is arithmetic, writes Vancouver Sun columnist Daphne Bramham. Given that a society normally produces as many boys as girls, what does a polygamous community do with all the extra men? Kick them out, of course, preferably before they present a challenge for the charms of girls their own age. But the story of these "lost boys" is incidental to the focus of The Secret Lives Of Saints, although they are the collateral damage of the tale. The real damage is the fate of young, pubescent, nubile girls. This is one society where protection would come in the form of physical ugliness. Bramham is unsparing in her criticism for the "religion" of fundamentalism, for the law, the legislatures concerned and, ultimately, the lies that underpin the promotion of polygamy as some sort of normal, albeit alternative, lifestyle. She is scathing in her condemnation of the notion that it is appropriate to marry off girls barely in their teens to men old enough to be, and in some cases are, their own grandfathers. Read more | |
| Secrets of Bountiful | |
| BOOK REVIEW | |
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By Jan DeGrass/Arts and Enterainment Writer Coast Reporter - Tsawassen, BC, Canada Originally published Friday, May 30, 2008 | |
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There are two reasons why the latest book from Vancouver Sun columnist Daphne Bramham, The Secret Lives of Saints, is a riveting read. One is the sheer power of the story itself: an investigation into the complex machinations of the sect known as the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS) who live in Bountiful, near Creston, B.C. The book’s sub title is Child Brides and Lost Boys in Canada’s Polygamous Mormon Sect, and the stories cover similar territory to newspaper articles from the award-winning journalist.
Bramham’s stand is clear. Though her account employs a journalist’s training — it is detailed and factual and she has checked her sources and done extensive research into the roots of polygamy — her repugnance lies close to the surface. Bramham recounts tales of child brides of 14 or 15 "assigned" to husbands by the self-proclaimed prophets of the sect. She describes stories of rape and abuse from those who have left the group, and of the despair of boys forced to work on construction projects owned by the sect’s leaders at slave wages or banished from their community because they are rivals for the gene pool of young women. Families are torn apart with wives and children "reassigned" to other men and homes taken away because husbands did not comply with the revelations of the prophets. It seems no one wins: women, children, young men or disobedient husbands — except for the prophets themselves, which in Bountiful means Winston Blackmore with his dozens of child-bearing wives or Warren Jeffs, the accused in a U.S. rape trial, both of whom own companies that have made them wealthy and powerful. Read more | |
| The Secret Lives of Saints: Child Brides and Lost Boys in Canada’s Polygamous Mormon Sect | |
| New book examines the religious sect that infringes on human rights | |
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Book Review By Sheryl Spencer United Church Observer - Toronto, Canada Originally published Tuesday, September 2, 2008 | |
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The Secret Lives of Saints: Child Brides and Lost Boys in Canada’s Polygamous Mormon Sect By Daphne Bramham (Random House of Canada) $32.95 In 1843, Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism, had a revelation. Only men with multiple wives would reach the highest realm of heaven, Smith proclaimed before taking on additional "celestial" wives himself. Smith’s successor, Brigham Young, also practised polygamy. But in 1890, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints renounced the practice, which was, and remains, illegal in both the United States and Canada. Still, dissidents persisted in believing that they must abide completely by all the commandments set down by Smith. The polygamous communities located in Bountiful, B.C., and the twin cities of Colorado City, Ariz., and Hildale, Utah, are the creation of one such splinter group, the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS), and the topic of Daphne Bramham’s exhaustive research in The Secret Lives of Saints. For the most part, FLDS polygamists have been treated with a "live and let live" attitude by their neighbours and by all levels of government in both countries. Bramham is determined to point out, however, that the FLDS developed from a religious sect into an economic and social construct that infringes on human rights. She illustrates this by detailing some of the FLDS’s more abhorrent practices, such as assigning marriages of girls as young as 14, imposing child labour and systematically expelling boys into the "outside" world, for which they are woefully ill-prepared. Read more | |
| Young Wife's Tales of Polygamy | |
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By Carolyn See Washington Post Originally published Friday, November 2, 2007 | |
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ESCAPE
By Carolyn Jessop (with Laura Palmer) Broadway. 413 pp. $24.95 Up against the Arizona-Utah border lies a town comprising about 10,000 zealots, members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. They differ from conventional Mormons in that they continue -- with enthusiasm-- the practice of polygamy. Their current prophet, Warren Jeffs, recently was convicted of being an accomplice to rape. They've been the subject of some marvelously over-the-top journalism, from Michael Fessier's landmark magazine piece decades ago in New West magazine to Jon Krakauer's "Under the Banner of Heaven," which appeared in 2003. Carolyn Jessop's "Escape" is different from Fessier's or Krakauer's work because it's written in the first person by a woman who was raised as a member of FLDS, and lived by the tenets of the faith until the age of 35, when, with her eight children, she felt she absolutely had to get out. It must be said up front that her narrative is inconsistent at times and irritatingly vague. You never know, for instance, whether she thinks that her escape has ruined her chance for salvation, whether she even believes in God, or whether, indeed, she ever did. But the book is fascinating for all that, mainly because of its close attention to the details of her everyday life and how it seemed to her. She took each event as it came, until her existence became unbearable, untenable, and then she came up with the courage to radically change her life. Read more | |
| Carolyn Jessop's Escape from Eternal Oppression | |
| Read Review of Carolyn Jessop and Laura Palmer - Escape | |
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By Bryan Carey Epinions.com Originally published December 28, 2007 | |
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Pros The ultimate triumph of the human mind and spirit Cons Writing a little too detailed at times The Bottom Line This is a very good book for all to read. Carolyn gets a little carried away with details at times, but her story is still very inspirational. Full Review "For the first time, I began to see how religion could suppress something positive and life- giving. Failing to educate our children was unconscionable" - Carolyn Jessop, reacting to the decision of cult leader Warren Jeffs to oppose the opening of a new charter school in the community, based on the concern that educated children were a threat to his religious sect. Religious extremism can take on many forms. When most of us think of radical religion, we conjure up images of radical Muslims or other groups threatening to destroy an enemy in the name of God or actually following through on their threat via various means of force. We think back to the attacks on September 11, 2001, and wonder what makes some individuals so willing to commit such heinous acts under the banner of religion. Most of us don’t associate Christianity with extremism, but there are certainly radical groups in the Christian ranks. One such group is the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS) and at least one of its members has escaped from the cult and lived to tell her story. The woman’s name is Carolyn Jessop and in this book, Escape, Jessop explains how she went from neglected, disrespected polygamist wife to a free woman with a newfound outlook on life. Read more | |
| A Book A Week: Escape by Carolyn Jessop, with Laura Palmer | |
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By Becky Holmes Books The Daily Page - Madison, Wisconsin Originally published Originally published July 16, 2009 | |
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I don’t usually read books about the issue du jour, if you know what I mean. For some reason, however, I was attracted to Escape by Carolyn Jessop, who escaped from the FLDS, the fundamentalist polygamous cult that was recently raided by the Texas authorities for alleged child abuse.
Carolyn Jessop was raised in the FLDS community in Colorado City, Arizona, and forced at age 18 to marry a man 30 years her senior, a man who already had three wives and numerous children. She endured more than 15 years of marriage to him and gave birth to 8 children. Her book tells the story of how she went from being a true believer in the tenets of her religion to understanding the real nature of the FLDS: that it brainwashes its followers through isolation, violence and intimidation into total subservience to the leadership, which consists of corrupt old men. Read more | |
| His Favorite Wife: Trapped in Polygamy | |
| A true story of violent fanaticism | |
| By Susan Ray Schmidt | |
| Book Description | |
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His Favorite Wife details the experiences of a young girl raised in a fundamentalist polygamist sect. At the age of 14, Susan becomes the sixth wife of Verlan LeBaron, one of the sect leaders. Woven with jealousies, and heartache, her story leads the reader through a murderous power struggle between the LeBaron brothers. Polygamist women are taught that obedience and unquestioning acceptance of polygamy will assure them a crown in heaven as a goddess. Few search out truth for themselves. Living a cloistered, sheltered life and giving birth to many children, traps them. Susan's book deals with these issues, as she too, was one of these women.
Cascading with well-developed characters, this true story will capture your soul and imagination as the author reveals how a group of kind-hearted, sincere people are led to embrace this controversial lifestyle in their pursuit of the highest degree of glory. Laced with surprising brush-strokes of humor, this heart-rending saga will take its readers on a journey that outsiders whisper of and shudder about. It answers the question that a polygamist's wife is asked countless times: How can you tolerate sharing your husband? Read more | |
| Book details woman's life while married to polygamist | |
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By Patrice St. Germain The Spectrum Originally broadcast May 9, 2007 | |
| After leaving her husband of eight years, Susan Ray Schmidt starting writing as self-therapy, to try and make sense of her life and her own belief system. Eventually, her writing evolved into a book - "His Favorite Wife" - in which Schmidt writes about her marriage at age 15 to Verlan LeBaron and the struggles she endured before, during and after the marriage. Schmidt was married for only eight years, but the marriage produced five children as Schmidt took on the role of the sixth wife to LeBaron. Schmidt will share her story as well as discuss her book and polygamy in general Thursday at the Book Cellar in St. George. "The personal account (in the book) is amazing," Book Cellar owner Margi LaPorte said. "Susan is an inspirational person, and people need to listen to her story and see how far she has come." The LeBaron family was head of the Church of the First Born in Mexico, where Schmidt's family moved from Utah to join the church, which held plural marriage among its tenets. She married Verlan, whose brother Ervil was excommunicated and began his own church - Church of the Lamb of God. Schmidt said Ervil orchestrated several murders, including the slaying of his own brother, Joel, and the attempted killing of Verlan. Schmidt said since she left that life behind in 1974, she has developed strong convictions. She said that she hopes people will read her book for a deeper understanding of what living in a polygamist group is like. Read more | |
| Escaping a lifestyle | |
| Author Susan Schmidt shares polygamy story | |
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By Patrice St. Gemain The Spectrum Originally published May 11, 2007 | |
| ST. GEORGE - Susan Ray Schmidt believes that she is truly one of the lucky ones - one who escaped a life of polygamy. Yet as Schmidt talked about her life, which she turned into a book, "His Favorite Wife: Trapped in Polygamy," Schmidt had a message for the more than 100 people who attended her book discussion: Help others who want to leave the life. Schmidt spoke at the Book Cellar in St. George about how as a young girl living in a polygamist community in Mexico, she became the sixth wife of Verlan LeBaron when she was still in her teens and he was 38. A member of the audience asked Schmidt if she ever questioned what she was doing, especially marrying so young or questioned the wisdom of the church leaders. "You are not allowed to think for yourself," Schmidt replied. "You don't feel there are any other options." Read more | |
| Keep Sweet: Children of Polygamy | |
| By Debbie Palmer and David Perrin | Winner of the 2005 VanCity Prize for the best book published in British Columbia on women's issues. |
| Book Description | |
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Best Selling Author, Dr. David Perrin, co-authored Keep Sweet with Debbie Palmer so that readers could understand what it would be like to be a young girl growing up in the polygamous Mormon community of Bountiful. The foreword was written by Jon Krakuer, author of Into Thin Air, Into the Wild, and Under the Banner of Heaven.
Although the book is set in the early 50s and 60s, Debbie's experiences are representative of those that many children of polygamous groups are currently experiencing. Keep Sweet is non-fiction, but names have been changed to protect the safety and privacy of people mentioned. Based on Palmer's early memories, letters, and diaries, the memoir takes the reader inside the daily lives of children, sister-wives, husbands and leaders and provides an in-depth insight into the teachings of the fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Palmer's story begins when her father takes her to the polygamous community near Creston, BC in 1957. We follow Debbie from age two as she struggles to integrate into a strange society and culture. At age fifteen she becomes the sixth wife to the community's fifty-five year old leader. Keep Sweet follows Debbie's trials until the death of her husband in 1974. Palmer remained in the community until 1988 when, pregnant with her seventh child, she managed to escape. Read more | |
| THE POLYGAMISTS: A HISTORY OF COLORADO CITY, ARIZONA | |
| By Benjamin G. Bistline | |
| Book Description | |
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The author has received a warning. The FBI is now involved.
For the media, a synopsis of the development of and recent events in Colorado City can be found by clicking here. What some of the people have been forced to endure in Colorado City is little different from living in a third world country. Ten-year-old Benjamin Bistline moved with his parents to Short Creek (Colorado City), Arizona, in 1945 to join with a group of excommunicated Mormons who believed in honoring the law of polygamy as revealed by the Prophet Joseph Smith and instituted by Brigham Young. Mr. Bistline has compiled A DETAILED HISTORY of the significant events that shaped and sustained this community from the beginning. He tells of the shifts in power, changes in leadership philosophies, persecution from outside forces – and from within. Mr. Bistline’s goal in writing this history is to reveal that the original leadership structure of a Council of men holding common and balancing power has slowly descended into a ONE-MAN TYRANNICAL RULE over the people. Bistline has observed:
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| Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith | |
| By Jon Krakauer | |
| Book Description | |
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Jon Krakauer’s literary reputation rests on insightful chronicles of lives conducted at the outer limits. In UNDER THE BANNER OF HEAVEN, he shifts his focus from extremes of physical adventure to extremes of religious belief within our own borders. At the core of his book is an appalling double murder committed by two Mormon Fundamentalist brothers, Ron and Dan Lafferty, who insist they received a revelation from God commanding them to kill their blameless victims. Beginning with a meticulously researched account of this "divinely inspired" crime, Krakauer constructs a multilayered, bone-chilling narrative of messianic delusion, savage violence, polygamy, and unyielding faith. Along the way, he uncovers a shadowy offshoot of America’s fastest-growing religion, and raises provocative questions about the nature of religious belief.
Krakauer takes readers inside isolated communities in the American West, Canada, and Mexico, where some forty-thousand Mormon Fundamentalists believe the mainstream Mormon Church went unforgivably astray when it renounced polygamy. Defying both civil authorities and the Mormon establishment in Salt Lake City, the leaders of these outlaw sects are zealots who answer only to God. Marrying prodigiously and with virtual impunity (the leader of the largest fundamentalist church took seventy-five "plural wives," several of whom were wed to him when they were fourteen or fifteen and he was in his eighties), fundamentalist prophets exercise absolute control over the lives of their followers, and preach that any day now the world will be swept clean in a hurricane of fire, sparing only their most obedient adherents. Read more | |
| In Review: "Under the Banner of Heaven" | |
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By Sara Kaufman The Ponte Vedra Recorder - Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida Originally published December 29, 2008 | |
| During the holiday season, it's difficult not to focus on religions and their interpretations of the miracle of the season. With that in mind, I picked up "Under the Banner of Heaven" in the hopes that I would get a more in depth look at the details of the Mormon Church. What I found wasn't exactly warm and fuzzy. Jon Krakauer is most well known for his books "Into thin Air" and "Into the Wild," both of which achieved commercial and critical success and were turned into movies. In 2003's "Under the Banner of Heaven," Krakauer stepped away from outdoor topics and tackled the roots of the fundamentalist Morman culture. In 1984, Brenda Lafferty and her 18 month old daughter Erica were killed by Dan and Ron Lafferty. The Lafferty brothers are fundamentalist Mormans who believed they were ordered by God to end the lives of Brenda and Erica. Krakauer's book tells the story of this gruesome murder through interviews with the brothers and others close to them and tackles the history of the Mormon Church from its roots to the modern day and circles around the most highly disputed doctrine in the church - polygamy. Read more | |
| Bookshelf for October 25, 2008 | |
| "Under the Banner of Heaven" | |
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By Susan Orr Evansville Courier & Press - Evansville, Indiana Originally published October 25, 2008 | |
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"Under the Banner of Heaven"
By Jon Krakauer (nonfiction, Doubleday, 2003, paperback, $14.95) With the arrest and rape conviction of religious leader Warren Jeffs and the federal raid last April of its Texas compound, the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints has made headlines often in recent months. But several years before the polygamous sect became so widely known, author Jon Krakauer wrote about the group in his book "Under the Banner of Heaven." Krakauer, who also wrote "Into Thin Air" (an account of a fatal climbing trip on Mount Everest) and "Into the Wild" (about a young man who dies in Alaska's wilderness), is known for writing heavily researched nonfiction books that explore extreme aspects of human belief and behavior. "Heaven" is no exception. Read more | |
| Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith | |
| By Jon Krakauer | |
| Hilary Spurling with The Telegraph (UK) reviews this book | |
| The core of this book is an interview with a Mormon, handcuffed and shackled by the ankles in Utah State Prison, who hasn't cut his hair or shaved his beard for 18 years because he believes himself to be a reincarnation of the prophet Elijah. "I'm here to prepare the way for the return of the Son of Man," Dan Lafferty explained to Jon Krakauer. "I will be the one who will identify Christ when He returns." On July 24, 1984, Dan turned up on the doorstep of his sister-in-law, Brenda Lafferty, who refused to let him use her phone. "I was kind of silently talking to God," he explained to Krakauer, "and I asked, `What do I do now?' It felt comfortable to push past her and enter the house, so that's what I did.'" A few minutes later, Dan's elder brother Ron burst in to find him sitting astride Brenda on the floor, still being talked through his mission by remote control. "And I kind of said to myself, `What am I supposed to do, Lord?' Then I felt impressed that I was supposed to use a knife. That I was supposed to cut their throats." So he did, murdering first his baby niece, then her mother, with a butcher's knife supplied by Ron. Both men insisted they had committed no crime, since they were acting on orders from heaven. Read more | |
| Jon Krakauer Responds to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints' Official Response To 'Under The Banner of Heaven' | |
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Jon Krakauer - Interview BookBrowse.com Originally published July 3, 2003 | |
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At the end of June 2003, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints issued an official "response" to my new book, Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith. Disseminated nationwide more than two weeks before my book was scheduled to appear on bookstore shelves, this preemptive attack was authored by Richard E. Turley, Jr., a high-ranking church official who serves as managing director of the LDS Family and Church History Department. In his lengthy, carefully worded screed, Elder Turley characterized Under the Banner of Heaven as "a decidedly one-sided and negative view of Mormon history." According to his assessment, my book was written as "a condemnation of religion generally," and the Mormon faith in particular.
It saddens me that Elder Turley, speaking for the LDS leadership (and by extension for the church as a whole), elected to regard my book in such a reductionist light. Other reviewers have assessed Under the Banner of Heaven quite differently. As critic Edward Morris wrote in the July issue of Bookpage, "Raised among Mormons he greatly admired, Krakauer treats their religion--in all its theological shades--quite seriously. There's never a snide remark or sarcastic aside. But the studiously balanced reporting can't soften the savagery of the [Lafferty murders]." In fact it is impossible to comprehend the actions of the murderous Lafferty brothers, or any other Mormon Fundamentalist, without first making a serious effort to plumb their theological beliefs, and that requires some understanding of LDS history, along with an understanding of the complex and highly fluid teachings of the religion's remarkable founder, Joseph Smith. The life of Smith and the history of his church may be considered from myriad perspectives, of course. And therein lies the basis for the Mormon leadership's profound unhappiness with my book. Read more | |
| HICKMAN: 'Banner of Heaven' shakes church book club | |
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By Kathy Hickman Columns The Sun Chronicle - Attleboro, Massachusetts Originally published Monday, March 5, 2007 | |
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"This is scary stuff going on here."
"I couldn't bear to go back to it." "It was the most horrendous book I've ever read!" "The 'sacred' underwear intrigued me." Fuse together a lurid murder, an award-winning author, and his exploration into "the roots of brutality andthe nature of faith," add Murray Universalist's fervid First Sunday Book and Lunch Bunch, and you have all the ingredients to ignite an incendiary book discussion. Club members Linda Censorio, DJ Campbell, Joan Macauley, and the Rev. Sandra Fitzhenry, whose comments appear above, were among nine group members who recently shared spirited reactions to "Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith," Jon Krakauer's shocking account of Mormon "fundamentalists." After investigating the terrifying extremes of climbing Mt. Everest and of challenging the wilds of the Alaskan wilderness, Krakauer's 2003 book, "Under the Banner of Heaven" turns a critical eye on a "religious extremism" that has its roots in "the underbelly of the United States' most successful homegrown faith." He takes as his starting point the savage murder of a mother and child committed in 1984 by brothers Ron and Dan Lafferty, excommunicated members of the Latter Day Saints, who to this day insist that they received a personal "revelation" from God to act as instruments of death. Read more | |
| God's Brothel | |
| By Andrea Moore-Emmett | |
| Sandra Dallas with The Denver Post reviews this book | |
| When she was 4, Lillian was sexually abused by a half-brother. As a young child, she was raped by another half-brother and fondled by a half-sister. At 12, she was courted by one of her father's friends, and when she slapped his straying hand, the enraged man screamed that she didn't have the right as a child or as a woman to reject him. Instead of chastising his friend, Lillian's father punished her. On Lillian's 13th birthday, her sister's husband gave her a wedding cake as his way of proposing to her. She married him at 17, and four months later, Lillian's husband began looking for yet another wife. Some years later, she had flashbacks of being raped by her father and his friends and forced to eat rats. A half-sister had identical nightmares. Read more | |
| PREDATORS, PREY AND OTHER KINFOLK | |
| By Dorothy Allred Solomon | |
| Susan Whitney with the Deseret Morning News reviews this book | |
| In a new autobiography, "Predators, Prey and Other Kinfolk," local author Dorothy Solomon tells of growing up as the 28th child of polygamist Rulon Allred. Allred, as most Utahns will remember, was the naturopath who was murdered in 1977, shot by members of a rival polygamist group led by Ervil LeBaron. The murder was not the only drama in Solomon's family. Before she was born, her father served a jail sentence for polygamy. Then, when Solomon was 5 and it seemed that federal agents were again on his trail, she and her mother and some of the other wives and children fled to Mexico and hid out for a time. They were afraid that social workers would take the children. They were also afraid the wives would go to jail. The LeBarons came to Mexico, too, as Solomon recalls. She remembers being afraid of them. Soon after the Allreds returned to the United States, Rulon's families scattered. For years they lived separately, avoiding detection. Solomon and her brothers and mother were in Nevada. Solomon describes all the upheaval and intrigue in a straightforward way. Read more | |
| Prisons of the Mind | |
| By Kasiah May Hancock | |
| Book Description | |
| A powerful story of an unscrupulous man using religious compulsion in the extreme to subject and exploit other human beings to his own personal gain. By adding a word where it was convenient and subtracting words so as to give the Holy Scriptures a new meaning, then claiming power and rights, he locked naive victims into a trap. Preach long enough, loud enough, often enough and they will begin to believe it. Control the environment. Do not allow your subjects to have outside communication, then capitalize on their labor. And what do you have? Prisons of the Mind - a true story you will never forget. Read more about this remarkable lady | |
| MURDER OF A PROPHET The Dark Side of Utah Polygamy | |
| By John R. Llewellyn | |
| Book Description | |
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A riveting story of intrigue, murder, and sex. Lusting for worldwide power and recognition, the fanatical leader of a Utah polygamist cult launches a plan to become "the prophet" of all the polygamist cults—and then to take over the entire Mormon Church. Detectives fear a doomsday Waco-type standoff with women and children. Investigator John Llewellyn, polygamy expert, creates a fascinating tale of fiction based on real-life events.
As the drama unfolds, the personal background stories of individuals portray a realistic portrait of —
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| POLYGAMY UNDER ATTACK: FROM TOM GREEN TO BRIAN DAVID MITCHELL | |
| By John R. Llewellyn | |
| Book Description | |
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The worldwide bombshell of Brian David Mitchell, the itinerant sidewalk preacher who kidnaped Elizabeth Smart, finally brought the world’s attention to what Oprah Winfrey’s show labeled as third-world Taliban-type abuses in Utah and Arizona. The entire world had been focused on publicity hungry Tom Green and his claim of a peaceful life as a polygamist, when Mitchell and his accomplice wife shocked the world by their crime against Elizabeth Smart.
Polygamy expert and retired law enforcement officer John Llewellyn provides a dramatic inside look at each of the polygamist groups, how they began, how they rule their people, their beliefs, and how many are living off your tax dollars. He explores serious human rights abuses that occur in many groups such as forcing young girls to marry men old enough to be their father. A former friend of Tom Green, the author provides deep background on Tom’s life and polygamist activities. John explores the fascinating underground fraud by the various groups and evaluates Brian David Mitchell’s efforts to turn Elizabeth Smart into a compliant plural wife. And finally, he takes a hard look at the possible value of decriminalizing polygamy so that the many hidden abuses, including tens of millions of dollars of welfare fraud when polygamist wives pose as single mothers with children, can be brought out into the open and finally be dealt with realistically. Read more | |
| Child Brides | |
| By Carole A. Western | |
| Book Description | |
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CHILD BRIDES is an illuminating, intimate story of Julia Jefferson, who on her thirteenth birthday becomes a polygamous wife. In a religion where men have absolute control, Julia retaliates and saves her sanity by writing her memoirs. Through her journals, we experience the deprivation, jealousy, humiliation and abuse of being one of many women serving the sexual fantasies of one man. We learn how she and her daughters finally realize they are valuable human beings as they make their dangerous escape to the outside world and freedom.
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| Holy Murder: Polygamy's Blood | |
| By James R. Spencer | |
| Book Description | |
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HOLY MURDER is a look into the dark underground of polygamous Fundamentalism, practiced by more than 50,000 people in the West. Here sex and blood mix in religious excess. Men driven to obey God's devotion to "The Principle" live and die for their beliefs. Sometimes the violence spills over and touches people outside the system.
HOLY MURDER is set in the Wyoming of the Author's youth and describes the saga of Jan Kucera, a retired AP Bureau Chief who retires to the old homestead along the Bighorn River in Wyoming. Now freelancing, he writes a story for the New York Times about a polygamous sect located on a compound near the mouth of Shell Canyon at the foot of the Bighorns. Shortly after that account is published, a car bomb meant for him kills his wife. Now Jan has to face down his fears and the head of the cult, Prophet Hansen. Hansen is wealthy, politically savvy, and stealthy. State authorities are unable to connect the prophet, convincingly, to the crime. Read more | |
| New Book on Warren Jeffs' Polygamy Sect Provides Insight into Lives of Women Enslaved by Fundamentalist Group | |
| Women Who Escaped Tell Their Stories; Author Went Undercover to Interview | |
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Business Wire - San Francisco, CA Originally published February 27, 2008 | |
| ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--A new book, Inside the World of Warren Jeffs, by author Dr. Carole A. Western, takes the reader inside Short Creek, two nearby communities in Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz., where the Fundamentalist Latter-Day Saints (FLDS) leader ruled until his arrest and conviction in the fall of 2007 as an accomplice in the rape of a 14-year-old girl. Western details the experiences of several young women enslaved in Short Creek and lets them tell in their own words how they were coerced into virtual servitude and forced into unwanted pregnancies by the "husbands" they were ordered to marry. In addition, Western explains the power of the "First Wife," family sleeping arrangements and how polygamists manage to receive support from the U.S. Government under its welfare programs as well as Medicaid. Western also covers how teenage boys in polygamy sects are forced out of the colony, so as not to create competition for older men. Read more | |
| Anti-polygamy activist pens book on FLDS | |
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By Ben Winslow Deseret News Originally published Friday, Aug. 1, 2008 | |
| An anti-polygamy activist who has been a lightning rod of controversy when it comes to the Fundamentalist LDS Church will publish her autobiography next year. Flora Jessop's "Church of Lies: The True Story of Escaping Slavery and Polygamy, and Rescuing Women and Children from the Notorious Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints" will hit bookstore shelves in February 2009. It's being published by Jossey-Bass, a division of Wiley Publishing. "It's a book about my life, about what I come from and why I do what I do," Jessop told the Deseret News on Thursday. "I think that it's important to know why I do what I do, and for people to know why I'm fighting for these children." In the book's preface, Jessop said she was one of 28 children born to her father and his three wives. At 8, she said she began being sexually abused and tried to run away throughout her teenage years. She finally left the church about 20 years ago, enduring a rough life until she became an advocate for abused children in polygamy. Jessop now heads the Phoenix-based Child Protection Project, where she has helped women and children seeking to leave the FLDS communities of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz. She once proclaimed she'd be willing to go to jail for harboring runaways, if it meant protecting children from abuse. Read more | |
| 'Church of Lies' details woman’s life in FLDS | |
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By Tim Sampson The Daily Times - Kerrville, Texas Originally published June 24, 2009 | |
| When Flora Jessop was 16, she was forced to marry her own cousin. She was forced to do it because a "prophet" told her to. Jessop spent the first 16 years of her life as a prisoner to a fundamentalist sect of the Church of Latter Day Saints — a cult that practices an extreme version of the Mormon faith. The church alienates its followers from the outside world, practices polygamy and strips women of virtually all autonomy, she said. She chronicled her experience in the memoir "Church of Lies." She will be at Hastings on Main Street today from 1 to 3 p.m. for a book signing and discussion. Jessop was lucky to escape from the isolated religious compound where she was raised in Arizona. It was only by the permission of her husband — and cousin — that she was permitted to leave. Although men are free to leave, woman are held against their will. "If women and girls leave, they are hunted down," she said. "They are the prize. You need women and girls to continue and make the next generation." Marriages are all arranged by a single male leader, or a group of male leaders, who are viewed as prophets. She said girls are forced into marriage as young as 8. Like all members of the church, Jessop was born into it. The church doesn’t take outsiders. The cult eliminates all access to the outside world. Read more | |
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