The Polygamy Question. Edited by Janet Bennion and Lisa Fishbayn Joffee.

Abstract

The Polygamy Question does not raise a question. And any answer is not apparent till the end of the volume. Even then the answer is not obvious, but it might be something such as the following: Marriage in liberal western countries may be headed toward greater acceptance of plural marriage. That suggestion arises in several of the chapters authored by lawyers at the end of the book. The chapters themselves differ in some important ways from previous books on polygamy. First, the collection includes contributions from lawyers, political scientists, and an economist in addition to the more standard treatments by an anthropologist and scholars of religion. The introduction by the editors provides a brief, but scattered history of polygamy in various parts of the world, but then returns primarily to issues related to Mormon polygamy in the United States where the first editor did her work. Second, several of the authors (e.g. Straussburg, Song, Bailey, Abrams) examine polygamy in countries other than just the United States (Africa, the Middle East, Canada, France, England). Other books have tended to focus on Mormon polygamy in the United States. The lawyers tend to raise the question of what marriage will be like in the future given the morphing practices of adoption, cohabitation, artificial insemination, immigration of polygamous families, etc. Several chapters also focus on the polygamy issues before the courts in British Columbia.