Abstract

The Persistence of Polygamy: Fundamentalist Mormon Polygamy from 1890 to the Present Newell G. Bringhurst and Craig L. Foster (Eds). Independence, Missouri. John Whitmer Books 2015, 629 pages.Polygamy is a fascinating topic for evolutionary anthropologists and psychologists alike because it is practiced by most primitive societies, meaning it was practiced in our own history. In these societies, females sexually select for the status of the males and thus the qualities that determine high status in such societies: physical health and, perhaps to a lesser extent, intelligence and certain personality traits. They do this because such a male provides them with healthier and more successful offspring and because the high status male will be able to invest in them and their offspring. In such societies, the headman might have 5 wives and many illegitimate children while around 40% of males will father no children at all. Indeed, Lynn (2011) has noted the persistence of polygyny among the British upper class right into Early Modern times, as it was effectively acceptable for them to father bastard children by mistresses.This volume is, therefore, significant because it explores, in painstaking detail, the only European-origin group which continues to practice polygamy in modern, Western society: the polygamous sects that have broken away from the mainline Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Mormons) in the USA. It is the third in a series of Persistence of Polygamy essay collections, with the same editors. The first looked at Joseph Smith and the origins of the practice (Bringhurst & Foster, 2010), while the second explored the practice in the early history of the church (Bringhurst & Foster, 2013).In the Introduction, the editors provide a readable history of the practice from 1890 onwards, when the official Mormon church banned it. It is appreciated that this is the third volume in a broader history of polygamy in the Mormon church, but it might have been useful to provide a little more background for the non-specialist on Mormon polygamy and the church in general. Joseph Smith, the first Mormon prophet, declared that all Mormons should be polygamous and himself had around 40 wives. The subject of intense persecution, the Mormons fled to Utah and established it as a state, but the persecution continued and the Mormon prophet in 1890 (a new prophet succeeds on the death of the last one, as with popes) banned polygamy. This led, eventually, to more fundamentalist Mormons deciding that the mainline church was disingenuous and establishing their own sects. One schism is known as the Apostolic United Brethren and is based in Utah. This split from the even more conservative, Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS) in the 1980s. This has established itself in Hildale-Colorado City on the Utah-Arizona border. It was in the news in 2008 as its dictatorial and puritanical prophet, Warren Jeffs, was jailed in Texas for child abuse. He remains in prison and is still regarded as the sect's prophet.Other chapters give various enlightening insights into the history of Mormon polygamy. Barbara Jones Brown explores how, in the 1880s, various Mormons fled to Mexico in order to avoid persecution by the US government and set up colonies there. …

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