Reluctant Polygamist

Reluctant Polygamist
Author: Meg Stout
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
Total Pages: 434
Release: 2018-03-31
Genre:
ISBN: 9781987413113

Joseph Smith, Jr., founded the Mormon Church. He was killed less than fifteen years later. Critics of Smith have long believed he was corrupt and dangerous. But even believers have been split. Smith's wife and sons defended a man who was honorable and monogamous. Apostles in the Church formed by Smith defended a prophet who was honorable. But they also claimed Smith taught plural marriage. Hundreds of thousands of 19th-century Mormons defended the practice of plural marriage, despite hardship and national oppression. Stout takes a fresh look at the history and allows us to see the complex reality that birthed these radically divergent viewpoints. Along the way, she gives the reader a window into the reasons for the secrecy, unifying the disparate perspectives on Smith and his contemporaries into an understandable whole. The 7th edition incorporates new insights from emerging documents and the research of other historians, validating and strengthening the patterns Stout had sketched out in previous editions. Reviews Reluctant Polygamist is a remarkable example of investigative journalism, almost a murder mystery or spy thriller in the making... There are some very scary bad guys in this story-and Joseph is not one of them. - Jeff Lindsay, LDS FAQ: Mormon Answers, MormanityBlog Reluctant Polygamist asks the reader to accept the complexity and ambiguity of LDS plural marriage, rather than going for a simplistic explanation. I think that's a real service. - Gregory A. Prince, David O. McKay and the Rise of Modern Mormonism For an unexpected look at the secrets lurking around Nauvoo in the days of Joseph Smith, I highly recommend the Reluctant Polygamist as a very good place to start. Meg Stout has provided us the opportunity to see Joseph in a new light. - Gerald A. Smith, historian, blogger Meg's recent book built up my faith, and gave me faithful answers to the questions I had about Joseph's polygamy versus Brigham's polygamy. It also totally unpacked/explicated/untangled the "spiritual wifery" accusations from real sealing/eternal marriage/eternity-only-sealing. - Bookslinger, blogger

The Ghost of Eternal Polygamy: Haunting the Hearts and Heaven of Mormon Women and Men

The Ghost of Eternal Polygamy: Haunting the Hearts and Heaven of Mormon Women and Men
Author: Carol Lynn Pearson
Publisher: Pivot Point Books
Total Pages: 244
Release: 2016-07-12
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9780997458206

"Polygamy?" says the mainstream Mormon Church. "We gave that up long ago." Not so, claims noted LDS poet and author Carol Lynn Pearson, who examines the issue as it has never been examined before. Any member of the LDS Church today who enters the practice of polygamy is immediately excommunicated. However, Pearson claims, polygamy itself has never been excommunicated, but has an honored and protected place at the table. It has only been postponed, a fact confirmed by thousands of "eternal sealings" giving a man an assurance that he will claim as wives in heaven the two, three, or even more women he has sequentially married during his lifetime. No such opportunity is available to women. Through her own personal stories, those of her ancestors, and the thousands of stories that came to her through an Internet survey, Pearson shows the power of the Ghost of Eternal Polygamy as it not only waits on the other side to greet the most righteous in heaven, but also haunts the living-hiding in the recesses of the Mormon psyche, inflicting profound pain and fear, assuring women that they are still objects, harming or destroying marriages, bringing chaos to family relationships, leading many to lose faith in the church and in God. Mormon historian and author Dr. Gregory Prince says of The Ghost of Eternal Polygamy: "Carol Lynn Pearson has hit a home run in her quest to illuminate both the damage that Mormonism's de facto practice of polygamy continues to inflict, and the route to a better, more humane place. Those who truly hope for eternal polygamy or who resent any call to institutional reform will be upset, but countless others will rejoice that she has shown 'a more excellent way.' "

Joseph Smith's Polygamy

Joseph Smith's Polygamy
Author: Brian C. Hales
Publisher: Greg Kofford Books, Incorporated
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2015
Genre: History
ISBN: 9781589587236

In the last several years a wealth of information has been published on Joseph Smith's practice of polygamy. For some who were already well aware of this aspect of early Mormon history, the availability of new research and discovered documents has been a wellspring of further insight and knowledge into this topic. For others who are learning of Joseph's marriages to other women for the first time, these books and online publications can be both an information overload and a challenge to one's faith. In this short volume, Brian C. Hales (author of the 3-volume Joseph Smith's Polygamy: History and Theology) and Laura H. Hales wade through the murky waters of history to help bring some clarity to this episode of Mormonism's past. As Joseph Smith's participation in plural marriage involved more than just the Prophet and his first wife Emma, this volume also includes short biographical sketches of the 35 other women who were sealed to Joseph but whose stories of faith, struggle, and courage have been largely forgotten and ignored over time. While we may never fully understand the details and reasons surrounding this practice, Brian and Laura Hales provide readers with an accessible, forthright, and faithful look into this challenging topic so that we can at least come toward a better understanding. Praise for Joseph Smith's Polygamy: Toward a Better Understanding "Few matters of LDS history have proven to be as faith-sensitive as Joseph Smith's plural marriages. While a number of efforts have been made in recent years to shed light on this challenging phenomenon, nothing has brought greater clarity, enlightenment, and, particularly for believing Saints, spiritual reassurance, than has the work of researcher Brian Hales. He and his wife Laura have now rendered a monumental service to Mormons and interested observers by bringing clarity and better understanding to this topic. I for one am grateful for the context, perspective, and both straightforward and faithful answers provided for so many of the questions surrounding Nauvoo polygamy. It is a book that will be read and discussed for years to come." - Robert L. Millet, Professor Emeritus of Religious Education, Brigham Young University

The Lonely Polygamist: A Novel

The Lonely Polygamist: A Novel
Author: Brady Udall
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Total Pages: 616
Release: 2010-05-03
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0393080935

A New York Times bestseller: "Udall masterfully portrays the hapless foibles and tragic yearnings of our fellow humans." —San Francisco Chronicle Golden Richards, husband to four wives, father to twenty-eight children, is having the mother of all midlife crises. His construction business is failing, his family has grown into an overpopulated mini-dukedom beset with insurrection and rivalry, and he is done in with grief: due to the accidental death of a daughter and the stillbirth of a son, he has come to doubt the capacity of his own heart. Brady Udall, one of our finest American fiction writers, tells a tragicomic story of a deeply faithful man who, crippled by grief and the demands of work and family, becomes entangled in an affair that threatens to destroy his family’s future. Like John Irving and Richard Yates, Udall creates characters that engage us to the fullest as they grapple with the nature of need, love, and belonging. Beautifully written, keenly observed, and ultimately redemptive, The Lonely Polygamist is an unforgettable story of an American family—with its inevitable dysfunctionality, heartbreak, and comedy—pushed to its outer limits.

The Secret Story of Polygamy

The Secret Story of Polygamy
Author: Kathleen Tracy
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2002
Genre: Mormon Church
ISBN: 9781570717239

Author Kathy Tracy examines the current state of polygamy, revealing the shocking abuse of women that often comprises life in a polygamist family. The revelations of this title are centered around a dramatic narrative of the 1999 court case of Mary Ann Kingston.

Prostitutes and Polygamists

Prostitutes and Polygamists
Author: David T. Lamb
Publisher: Zondervan
Total Pages: 209
Release: 2015-09-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0310518482

Jacob and Solomon were polygamists. Tamar and Rahab were prostitutes. What are polygamists and prostitutes doing on the pages of Holy Scripture? And God told the prophet Hosea to marry a prostitute. What about Cain—did he really marry his sister? Abraham did, and he was also a polygamist. Lot offered his daughters up for rape, David committed adultery (or rape?) and the Bible calls both men righteous. Love, Old Testament style, was bizarre. As readers of the Old Testament encounter these weird, confusing, and horrific “love” stories they ask, “What’s up with sex in the Old Testament?” The church often ignores the R-rated bits of the Bible, so it’s hard for people to find answers to their disturbing questions about sex in Scripture, which can lead people to give up on God and God’s word. However, these stories were included in the Bible for a reason, to reveal an even more shocking “love” story. When humans behave badly, God behaves graciously. God not only forgives people with sexual baggage, but also redeems their lives and includes them in his mission. God’s word records their story to benefit us. Just as sex was not often ideal in the Old Testament, it’s often not ideal today. Instead of ignoring these stories, Prostitutes and Polygamists engages, discusses, and learns from them.

A House Full of Females

A House Full of Females
Author: Laurel Thatcher Ulrich
Publisher: Vintage
Total Pages: 525
Release: 2017-01-10
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1101947977

From the author of A Midwife's Tale, winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the Bancroft Prize for History, and The Age of Homespun--a revelatory, nuanced, and deeply intimate look at the world of early Mormon women whose seemingly ordinary lives belied an astonishingly revolutionary spirit, drive, and determination. A stunning and sure-to-be controversial book that pieces together, through more than two dozen nineteenth-century diaries, letters, albums, minute-books, and quilts left by first-generation Latter-day Saints, or Mormons, the never-before-told story of the earliest days of the women of Mormon "plural marriage," whose right to vote in the state of Utah was given to them by a Mormon-dominated legislature as an outgrowth of polygamy in 1870, fifty years ahead of the vote nationally ratified by Congress, and who became political actors in spite of, or because of, their marital arrangements. Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, writing of this small group of Mormon women who've previously been seen as mere names and dates, has brilliantly reconstructed these textured, complex lives to give us a fulsome portrait of who these women were and of their "sex radicalism"--the idea that a woman should choose when and with whom to bear children.

American Crucifixion

American Crucifixion
Author: Alex Beam
Publisher: Public Affairs
Total Pages: 354
Release: 2014-04-22
Genre: History
ISBN: 1610393139

On June 27, 1844, a mob stormed the jail in the dusty frontier town of Carthage, Illinois. Clamorous and angry, they were hunting down a man they saw as a grave threat to their otherwise quiet lives: the founding prophet of Mormonism, Joseph Smith. They wanted blood. At thirty-nine years old, Smith had already lived an outsized life. In addition to starting the Church of Latter-day Saints and creating his own “Golden Bible” – the Book of Mormon – he had worked as a water-dowser and treasure hunter. He’d led his people to Ohio, then Missouri, then Illinois, where he founded a city larger than fledgling Chicago. He was running for President. And, secretly, he had married more than thirty women. In American Crucifixion, Alex Beam tells how Smith went from charismatic leader to public enemy: how his most seismic revelation – the doctrine of polygamy – created a rift among his people; how that schism turned to violence; and how, ultimately, Smith could not escape the consequences of his ambition and pride. Mormonism is America’s largest and most enduring native religion, and the “martyrdom” of Joseph Smith is one of its transformational events. Smith’s brutal assassination propelled the Mormons to colonize the American West and claim their place in the mainstream of American history. American Crucifixion is a gripping story of scandal and violence, with deep roots in our national identity.

Heber C. Kimball

Heber C. Kimball
Author: Stanley B. Kimball
Publisher: University of Illinois Press
Total Pages: 388
Release: 1986
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 9780252012990

Heber Chase Kimball (1801-1868) was born in Sheldon, Vermont to Solomon Farnham Kimball and Anna Spaulding. In 1831 he joined the LDS Church and in 1835 he became and apostle. he served for a number of years as a counselor to Brigham Young. Heber was married to forty-three women and was the father of sixty-five children.

Make Yourselves Gods

Make Yourselves Gods
Author: Peter Coviello
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages: 313
Release: 2019-11-14
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 022647447X

From the perspective of Protestant America, nineteenth-century Mormons were the victims of a peculiar zealotry, a population deranged––socially, sexually, even racially––by the extravagances of belief they called “religion.” Make Yourselves Gods offers a counter-history of early Mormon theology and practice, tracking the Saints from their emergence as a dissident sect to their renunciation of polygamy at century’s end. Over these turbulent decades, Mormons would appear by turns as heretics, sex-radicals, refugees, anti-imperialists, colonizers, and, eventually, reluctant monogamists and enfranchised citizens. Reading Mormonism through a synthesis of religious history, political theology, native studies, and queer theory, Peter Coviello deftly crafts a new framework for imagining orthodoxy, citizenship, and the fate of the flesh in nineteenth-century America. What emerges is a story about the violence, wild beauty, and extravagant imaginative power of this era of Mormonism—an impassioned book with a keen interest in the racial history of sexuality and the unfinished business of American secularism.