The Sixth of Seven Wives: Escape from Modern Day Polygamy [Paperback]

Mary Mackert (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 19, 2001

This is the most unique story written about modern day polygamy and chronicles the teenage years and sixteen-year marriage of the author. Mary Mackert was born into a family with a history rich in the traditions of fundamental Mormonism. The author shares her private thoughts and feelings as a seventeen-year-old bride facing an arranged marriage to a forty-nine-year-old man that has five other wives. The forbidden love she has for a young man displeases her parents. Obedience and submission to her parents in all things is required for her to see heaven. While her young sweetheart is on a mission she succumbs to the pressures of her family and resigns herself to a marriage of religious duty to a man older than her father. She pressures her father to hurry the marriage arrangements for her true love will return and she cannot face him. She cannot look into his eyes and say that she does not love him. Witness the sorrow and grief of her wedding day. Experience the struggles of her sixteen-year marriage that spawned her courage to flee from this religious bondage. Two days after leaving her husband, she is abducted and locked in her bedroom. During the day-and-a-half she is a prisoner, her husband's attempts to persuade her to return include pleading, preaching, condemnation, and threats of blood atonement execution for her supposed indiscretions. The Sixth of Seven Wives is an inspiring account of one woman's courage to flee from the secret society of her birth and enter the world she'd been taught to fear to obtain a better life for her children.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A call to conscience..." Ms. Mackert "raises fundamental (and agonizing) questions about civil justice, freedom of choice, and religious freedom." -- Gerald Grimmett, author of The Ferry Woman, a novel of John D. Lee and the Mountain Meadows Massacre

"An eye opener...to the bondage, hurts and hopelessness resting deep in the heart of this age old Mormon practice." -- Rick E. Korsmo, former pastor of Mountain Side Baptist Church in Sandy, Utah

From the Publisher

The author opens the preface of The Sixth of Seven Wives with the statement that not all Mormons are polygamists and not all polygamists are Mormons. This book begins with a brief history of the fundamental LDS Church and explains the animosity the Fundamental LDS Church holds toward the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints over the treatment polygamists received when polygamy was abandoned over 100 years ago. From the short history lesson the author moves into a compelling story of a young girl born into a family that has for generations lived by the laws and traditions of Mormon pioneer polygamy. Within her lifetime she has experienced significant changes to the governing doctrines of a religious organization that claims to live Mormonism as originally established by its founder, Joseph Smith. The telling of her story reveals the inconsistencies and the blind obedience required of its members. The author stirs the conscience of the reader and questions the cries for religious freedom by those that hide criminal child abuse and social injustices behind the mask of religious beliefs.

Meet this seventeen-year-old girl and enter her private thoughts and feelings as she faces an arranged marriage to a man old enough to be her father. Denied the love of her youth, she is compelled to submit to the direction of her parents. Love and passion did not bring this couple together, but religious duty dictated this union. Witness her struggles with the sister wives and her efforts to win her husband's affections. Experience the betrayal of her love. Relive the circumstances that compel her to leave and emotions that bind her to the children, her husband and the "religious" teachings. Escape with her and witness the blood atonement threats, the fearful "wrath of God" preaching, and emotional pressures designed to persuade her to stay. Rejoice in her courage to choose freedom while risking the loss of life's sweetest gift.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 376 pages
• Publisher: xpolygamist.com (November 19, 2001)
• ISBN-10: 0970726309
• ISBN-13: 978-0970726308
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #253,060 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Picture of Polygamy from the Inside, January 12, 2002

By 

Steven Vaughn (Salt Lake City, Utah) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Sixth of Seven Wives: Escape from Modern Day Polygamy (Paperback)

Mary Mackert tells a poignant and powerful story about her life in Mormon polygamy. The story is presented as a reflection of her life- she was born and raised in a polygamous family and she married into one. The reflection takes place during a time when she had been abducted and held captive in a bedroom after she had first attempted to leave the group. The story gives the reader a view of polygamy from the inside, and it describes a closed society that few Amercans would imagine exists in our midst. It does,and has deep roots in Mormonism and its history. Her story is important reading, especially at a time when another oppressive polygamous culture on the other side of the world (radical fundamentalist Islam) has wreaked such havoc and caused such suffering. Her story is true, and her book is also very readable. It gets a "thumbs up" from me.

18 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars EDITING, SORELY NEEDED, May 19, 2004

By 

C. Bedell "bioluv98" (Bakersfield, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Sixth of Seven Wives: Escape from Modern Day Polygamy (Paperback)

Mary Mackert weaves an interesting tale of life as a young, polygamist bride. This book is enlightening, from the perspective of a girl who actually chooses to marry an older man and "poof".

I gave this book two stars because the lack of editing makes the book excruitiatingly painful to read! The grammatical errors and out-and-out typos are distracting and make it difficult to escape into the novel. This book would've been far more entertaining had it been PROOF READ before publishing. Because of the errors, and the large type-face, I felt like the book was over-priced and not worth the read.

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars The worst written book I've ever attempted to read., March 4, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: The Sixth of Seven Wives: Escape from Modern Day Polygamy (Paperback)

This would probably be a good story but it was so poorly written it was impossible to concentrate on it. It was written with a "See Spot run" mentality. I'm surprised a publisher would allow a book to be published without it being proofread. Sentences such as "No on with influence would defend them." , "Missing the physical intimacy my marriage relationship" , "Thinking of something very sad helped my control my silly outbursts" , "The offer was had the children excited" and on and on. There was just no end to the mistakes. When I pay $20 for a paperback I expect it to be readable without having to stop periodically and try to figure out what the author is trying to say.