Reluctant Polygamist

Reluctant Polygamist PDF

Author: Meg Stout

Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform

Published: 2018-03-31

Total Pages: 434

ISBN-13: 9781987413113

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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

Reluctant Polygamist

Reluctant Polygamist PDF

Author: Meg Stout

Publisher:

Published: 2017-03-17

Total Pages: 422

ISBN-13: 9781533386564

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Mormon founder Joseph Smith was shot by a mob in 1844 while in the custody of the State of Illinois. Many agree his violent death was linked to reports that he had secretly married several women. The history of polygamy haunts believers even today.Joseph's successor, Brigham Young, taught that plural marriage was critical to salvation, though only a minority of Mormon men ever had more than one wife. Joseph's wife, Emma, would maintain on her death bed that she'd been Joseph's only wife.Brigham's followers and Emma's descendants would each honor Joseph's memory, while embracing entirely divergent versions of Joseph's history.Reluctant Polygamist examines the difficult birth of the Mormon belief that all mankind can be united with their loved ones in eternity. Stout explores the intrigue that fundamentally divided those wishing to embrace the Restored Gospel for which Joseph had given his life.Jeff Lindsay writes, "[Stout's] analysis of the cultural setting in which polygamy was introduced and the details of the life of her polygamous ancestor add several new dimensions to our understanding of polygamy... 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, Mormanity BlogGregory Prince writes, "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.

Reluctant Polygamist

Reluctant Polygamist PDF

Author: Meg Stout

Publisher:

Published: 2015-11-30

Total Pages: 338

ISBN-13: 9781506187730

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Mormon founder, Joseph Smith, reportedly married dozens of women in the early 1800s, from young teenagers to married grandmothers. Most agree this unusual behavior contributed to Joseph Smith's violent death while in the custody of the Illinois State Militia. Joseph Smith's followers, led by Brigham Young, continued this practice of marrying large numbers of women, extreme compared to even most Old Testament examples of polygamy. For decades Joseph's successors taught that this form of marriage was critical to salvation. Yet Joseph's first wife, Emma Hale, maintained that it was not appropriate for men to have sex with their plural wives. On her deathbed, she affirmed that she had been Joseph's only wife. Is it possible that both Brigham and Emma were right? Reluctant Polygamist builds on the "Faithful Joseph" series Meg Stout published at Millennial Star from Dec 2013 through August 2014, exploring the intrigue that may explain why Joseph Smith married so many women. This book discusses spiritual wifery, also known as illicit intercourse. Parental discretion is advised.

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 PDF

Author: Carol Lynn Pearson

Publisher: Pivot Point Books

Published: 2016-07-12

Total Pages: 244

ISBN-13: 9780997458206

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"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 PDF

Author: Brian C. Hales

Publisher: Greg Kofford Books, Incorporated

Published: 2015

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781589587236

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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 PDF

Author: Brady Udall

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company

Published: 2010-05-03

Total Pages: 624

ISBN-13: 9780393080933

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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 PDF

Author: Kathleen Tracy

Publisher:

Published: 2002

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781570717239

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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.

The 19th Wife

The 19th Wife PDF

Author: David Ebershoff

Publisher: Random House

Published: 2008-08-05

Total Pages: 530

ISBN-13: 1588367487

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Faith, I tell them, is a mystery, elusive to many, and never easy to explain. Sweeping and lyrical, spellbinding and unforgettable, David Ebershoff’s The 19th Wife combines epic historical fiction with a modern murder mystery to create a brilliant novel of literary suspense. It is 1875, and Ann Eliza Young has recently separated from her powerful husband, Brigham Young, prophet and leader of the Mormon Church. Expelled and an outcast, Ann Eliza embarks on a crusade to end polygamy in the United States. A rich account of a family’s polygamous history is revealed, including how a young woman became a plural wife. Soon after Ann Eliza’s story begins, a second exquisite narrative unfolds–a tale of murder involving a polygamist family in present-day Utah. Jordan Scott, a young man who was thrown out of his fundamentalist sect years earlier, must reenter the world that cast him aside in order to discover the truth behind his father’s death. And as Ann Eliza’s narrative intertwines with that of Jordan’ s search, readers are pulled deeper into the mysteries of love and faith. Praise for The 19th Wife “This exquisite tour de force explores the dark roots of polygamy and its modern-day fruit in a renegade cult . . . Ebershoff brilliantly blends a haunting fictional narrative by Ann Eliza Young, the real-life 19th “rebel” wife of Mormon leader Brigham Young, with the equally compelling contemporary narrative of fictional Jordan Scott, a 20-year-old gay man. . . . With the topic of plural marriage and its shattering impact on women and powerless children in today's headlines, this novel is essential reading for anyone seeking understanding of the subject.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

The Polygamist

The Polygamist PDF

Author: Sue Nyathi

Publisher: Pan Macmillan South africa

Published: 2020-02-01

Total Pages: 177

ISBN-13: 1770106901

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Two’s company... five is definitely a crowd! The Polygamist weaves a tale of four women whose lives become intertwined when they all fall for a wealthy banking magnate Jonasi Gomora. Seemingly indomitable, and oozing money, power and sex appeal, Jonasi is about to complicate all their lives forever. Joyce is pampered wife number one who lives in the lap of luxury. She believes she has the perfect marriage until Matipa rears her coiffed head. Matipa is the glamorous mistress every married woman hates. Her driving ambition is to usurp Joyce’s role as Jonasi’s lover and wife. Essie is Jonasi’s best-kept secret — the second wife no one knows about. She cared for Jonasi long before he became the man he is, and plays the role of second fiddle knowing he’ll always come back to her. Lindani’s main goal in life is to upgrade from girlfriend to wife. When she meets Jonasi, she thinks all her problems have been answered, not knowing they have only just begun... Take a journey with these four women and get caught up in the explosive havoc of marriage to a multitude!

A House Full of Females

A House Full of Females PDF

Author: Laurel Thatcher Ulrich

Publisher: Vintage

Published: 2018-02-20

Total Pages: 530

ISBN-13: 0307742121

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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.