Mormon polygamy: A history [Hardcover]

Richard S Van Wagoner (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: 1986

In this, the first comprehensive survey of Mormon polygamy—from nineteenth-century Ohio to twentieth-century Utah—Richard S. Van Wagoner details with precision and detachment the tumultuous reaction among Mormons and non-Mormons to plural marriage. Drawing heavily on first-hand accounts and recent scholarly research, the author carefully outlines the philosophical underpinnings of the practice, the institutional administration of policies regulating polygamy, the opposition from within and without the church, and the personal trauma often associated with plural marriage.

What emerges is a portrait of polygamy that neither discounts nor exaggerates the historical evidence but presents it as sympathetically as possible in the context of the times. Van Wagoner offers neither condemnation nor apologetics. All relevant contemporary accounts are examined and interpreted , and no period of Mormon history emphasized over another. Even present-day polygamous splinter groups are examined. The result is a systematic view unavailable in studies of isolated periods or repetitions of folklore which disguised the ubiquitous and fascinating story of polygamy as it is really was.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 307 pages
• Publisher: Signature Books; First edition (1986)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0941214354
• ISBN-13: 978-0941214353
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (29 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #608,782 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

34 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Detailed information on the history of polygamy, August 23, 2002

By 

E. Johnson (El Cajon, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Mormon Polygamy: A History (Paperback)

I first read Van Wagoner's book a decade ago, but I dusted it off recently as I read through Richard Abanes' excellent tome "One Nation Under Gods." Although Van Wagoner is, as I far as I know and understand it, LDS, he is very fair with the facts, even though he shows the LDS Church leaders from the turn of the 20th century in a less-than-honest light. I find it amusing where several previous reviewers on Amazon claimed that this is an anti-LDS work. Why should something be considered "anti-LDS" just because it gives the documented facts with the sources included? A religion that struggles with only encouraging "faith-promoting" materials is one that should be highly scruntinized before one attempts to become invovled with it.

The book's type is small--I estimate it at 11 point--so be prepared to put on the reading glasses. I do like the fact, though, that Van Wagoner kept the endnotes to a minimum. I also appreciated that they were at the end of the chapters rather than in the back of the book. (I wish publishers of academic works would cease from the pointless practice of sticking the endnotes in the back of the book. In fact, what's wrong with footnotes?)

Since Van Wagoner has written the book, much has happened in Mormon polygamy, including the public arrest and trial of one Utah polygamist who, I believe, was prosecuted thanks to the Salt Lake Olympics. I have known some Utah polygamists who hold to the very ideas officially believed by Mormons before 1890 (or 1904). In fact, they believe that the LDS Church is apostate because its leaders changed a vital doctrine of Mormonism. I would almost have to side with them in their contention that their version is much more authentic and closer in origin to the pure Mormonism as explained by Joseph Smith and Brigham Young, among others. Polygamy is an ugly business, though, as I have seen firsthand some of the situations with which current polygamists have to deal. I recommend this book for anyone who wants to get a clearer picture of polygamy in America, especially as it was historically believed by the LDS Church.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Balanced, Well written, through., May 25, 2000

By 

L. Troy Beals (Las Vegas, NV USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Mormon Polygamy: A History (Paperback)

This book is an example of how good history is written. The book is balanced in its treatment of the Mormon religion in every way. The research is very thorough. Any student of Mormon polygamy or the History of Utah should read this book. It discusses every aspect of Mormon polygamy from its earliest days to the present, and perhaps the book's greatest highlight is that it does not shy away from controversial topics. A MUST read!

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A real page-turner of a history book, March 13, 2007

By 

N. W. Clayton (Sandy, UT United States) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Mormon Polygamy: A History (Paperback)

As a direct descendant of a prominent Mormon pioneer, I thought I knew most of the basic facts about Mormon polygamy. You know, the stuff they teach you in Sunday School and Seminary. Then, about a year ago, I talked to a relative who'd been doing some research on my pioneer ancestor and found that Brigham Young had sent him on a mission to England for the express purpose of preaching polygamy direcly to the Gentiles (non-Mormons) over there, on the assumption that this would be a great way to get Victorian Britons interested in joining the LDS Church. Needless to say, this approach flopped big-time from the get-go, and my ancestor quickly returned to Utah. This curious episode piqued my interest in the history of Mormon polygamy. Might there be some other stuff that wasn't being presented in the modern Mormon lesson manuals?

Well, yes, as a matter of fact. And boatloads of it. Van Wagoner's extensively footnoted book has filled in numerous and enormous gaps in my knowledge -- gaps I didn't even know existed. For example, I'd always thought that the history of Mormon polygamy could be cleanly divided into two periods: pre-Manifesto and post-Manifesto. Wrong. Van Waggoner walks us through half a dozen distinct phases that polygamy has gone through, up to and including the current phase. What's even more interesting is the vast difference in the Church's attitude toward polygamy during these different periods. For example, I had no idea how central polygamy was to Mormon theology during the second half of the 19th century. I didn't know that multiple LDS prophets had declared polygamy to be an absolute prerequisite for achieving the highest state of exaltation in the hereafter, or that polygamy was viewed as an eternal gospel principle that would never again be taken from the earth. Nor did I know anything about the somewhat shady goings-on between the first Manifesto and the second Manifesto. For that matter, I hadn't even heard of the second Manifesto. Nor did I know that most of the modern polygamist sects can trace their existence to the rumored events of a single 24-hour period in the 1880s (several years before the first Manifesto). Nor did I know just how big a political issue Mormon polygamy was at the national level during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. And I was quite surprised to learn that a form of polyandry was practiced in the early days of Mormonism, albeit on a very limited basis.

These are but a few of the tidbits that lie in store for the reader of Van Wagoner's book.