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Holistic Guidance - God's Brothel: The Extortion of Sex for Salvation in Contemporary Mormon and Christian Fundamentalist Polygamy and the Stories of 18 Women Who Escaped
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List Price: $16.95
Our Price: $11.53
Your Save: $ 5.42 ( 32% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Pince-Nez Press
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 289
EAN: 9781930074132
ISBN: 1930074131
Label: Pince-Nez Press
Manufacturer: Pince-Nez Press
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 240
Publication Date: 2004-06-01
Publisher: Pince-Nez Press
Studio: Pince-Nez Press
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Editorial Reviews:
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"I know girls as young as 12 years old who have been forced to marry their stepfathers," Laura Chapman states in God’s Brothel. For the first time, the stories of Laura and 17 other former polygamist wives are being told in book form. Unique among books on this topic, God’s Brothel presents accounts from 10 of the 11 major Mormon polygamist sects and several independent families. This thorough coverage reveals patterns of physical, sexual and emotional abuse common to these groups. In addition to the women’s stories, God’s Brothel presents a fascinating discussion of polygamy’s history in America. Moore-Emmett recounts the prosecution of polygamists and current freedom of religion arguments used to justify its practice. She also provides a coherent breakdown of the major contemporary polygamist groups and places U.S. polygamy in a world context. This background information greatly clarifies much of the confusion surrounding this complex issue. Far from affecting only Utah, Mormon and Christian fundamentalist polygamist groups are found in 30 U.S. states, Mexico, and Canada. Conservative estimates place those living in polygamy in North America at 50,000 to 100,000 and growing. Recently, members of Utah’s Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (FLDS) moved to Texas to escape prosecution after first telling local officials that they were opening a hunting lodge. This event represents just one instance of polygamy’s spread across the country, a spread that could bring God’s Brothel to a neighborhood near you.
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: DON'T BOTHER - POORLY WRITTEN, WASTE OF TIME
Comment: While not many would argue that abuses happen in SOME polygamous families, most would also readily agree that the same alleged abuses occur in "normal" families (whether one parent or two). It seems that the writer has an agenda, and lets this color every sentence contained in this book. Unfortunately, she begins with an unconvincing legal analysis which can be likened to the decades of arguments supporting slavery, prohibitions on interracial marriage, and those forbidding same-sex marriage. Like it or not, some people may CHOOSE to live lives we don't all agree with. Fortunately, most of us take a live and let live attitude, and respect the right of the individual to be self-determinative - this is the essence of being an American. This is not true of Ms. Moore-Emmett who apparently knows best how each of us should live, after all she tells us throughout this book how things SHOULD be, and how we should and shouldn't be allowed to live - she's not exactly capable of an unbiased look at the subject. Furthermore, I was offended by the fact that she wrote about the experiences of the women as she interpreted them (complete with unnecessary commentary), rather than allowing these women to have and use their own voices. I would have enjoined hearing the storytellers' voices rather than the author's interpretation of what their stories meant as she heard them. This is particularly true because Ms. Moore-Emmett is NOT a great writer.
In addition to the poor writing, the muffling of the womens' voices, and the extraordinary bias, are the errors. For example, early in the book she tells us that Joel LeBaron continues as the prophet of the LeBaron group, but approximately half way through the book she quite correctly tells us Joel was executed at the command of one of his brothers. On pages 102-103 she tells a story of one man losing his job for stealing arms from a military base to prepare the Utah group for Armageddon, then on the very next page, she tells us they were stolen the arms to sell to Iran. Well which is it? Does the compound need to defend against the imminent Armageddon, or is the man aligned with terrorists? It seems the author will stretch the truth of the story to make it more interesting. This point brings to mind the confusing nature of the writing - several times I reread portions in an attempt to understand who had performed certain acts, or who was involved in certain transactions, and even with several reads it was sometimes impossible to be certain.
Overall, this book is a simplistic, conclusory, and biased look at a complex issue. There are many much better books on the market that allow the women of polygamy to speak for themselves, and these tend to represent a much more balanced look at the subject. While I have no interest in living polygamy or polygyny, I cannot confidently say we should have the right to interfere with the choices individuals make, except to the extent that they ask us to support it through various forms of public assistance. Perhaps the answer is not prosecuting polygamy since we have seen this fail several times, but to place restrictions or conditions on aid. I'm sure this action would also be met with arguments of privacy violations, but at the end of the day, I think most taxpayers would agree that some sacrifice for a handout that can be refused is fair.
Customer Rating:
Summary: GREAT TRANSACTION!
Comment:
The book arrived in only a few days and was in good condition.
Would do business with this seller again!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Great Overview
Comment: Having read many books on the problem of polygomy this was a great overview of all the different groups practicing this lifestyle and stories of women who had escaped from this way of life.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Interesting subject but poorly written
Comment: This book was hard to follow because the author is not a good writer. It's too bad because this subject fascinates me and I have read quite a lot about it. I don't recommend this book.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Good Insight, Not A Lot of Detail
Comment: It was a good introduction to a lot of different polygamist sects but I craved more detail for each situation.
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