Customer Reviews

The Secret Lives of Saints: Child Brides and Lost Boys in Canada's Polygamous Mormon Sect

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Vancouver Sun journalist, Daphne Bramham, has done a first-rate job in exposing the dark, dirty secrets of the Blackmore polygamist activities at Bountiful over the last half century. Based on her findings, this colony is anything but an innocent experiment in alternative living involving patriarchal leadeship that indulges in the innocent pursuits of love through a harem of vestal virgins. What Bramham describes about the FLDS(Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints)operations both in Bountiful and down in Colorado City is enough to make one wonder why big government has taken so long to intervene and lay charges against Warren Jeff, the present leader of the movement, and Winston Blackmore, its Canadian head. The list of reported sex offences by these two men, as covered of US and Canadian law, are so legion as to cause a public outcry, which is now only being acted on by Texas and Utah officials. Statutory rape, rape of a minor, polygamy, kidnapping and unlawful restraint are just a few charges that Warren Jeffs has just been convicted of while Blackmore continues to thumb his nose at the authorities this side of the border. The book elaborates on the founding 'principle' of the movement - the male calling to honor God's request to liberate the countless disembodied pre-existing spirits - and how it came to set up in both the US and Canada. As the Bountiful Community has expanded over the years, a number of serious problems have set in: rivalries between family lines that included the male patriarchs openly feuding, the enabling wives feeling jealous and oppressed, and whole generations of children invariably losing touch with parents. What is especially offensive about this whole social arrangement is that the method of forced procreation was meant solely to enrich the patriarchs by giving them cheap labour on which to build the economy of the community. Bramham points out in numerous places that the women and the children of this sect/cult have very few choices when it came to determine their future: comply or leave. Since many of them have received a limited education in BC provincially-funded school on the grounds of Bountiful, leaving is not an option. In the interviews that the author did with several of Blackmore's wives, a very strong picture of discontent, unhappiness and even anger emerges to contradict the Shangri-Lai existence he wants the press to believe. This is a colony that has been built to exclusively serve the selfish interests of sex-crazy ogres who need to be quickly taken down a peg or two before they destroy the lives of innocent people. The Canadian judicial system should not continue to allow Blackmore's religious practices to supercede the rights of women and children to enjoy their freedoms.

Well done, Daphne Bramham! Finally, a journalist who gives a damn enough to expose the disgustingly sexist and corrupt system that exists within the polygamous Mormon sect of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I couldn't agree more with Ms. Bramham's statement that while Canadian troops are currently in Afghanistan, in part to defend that country's women and children's rights, everyone seems to tolerate the tyranny imposed on women and children by the FLDS on North American soil. As a Canadian, I'm furious.

I had read several other books about the FLDS (Escape, Stolen Innocence)which are personal accounts of several women's experiences in this cult and was fascinated by their stories. This author is not part of the FLDS, so brings an unbiased perspective. She has been very thorough in her research and gives a detailed account of the practices that are happening in the name of religious beliefs. She has done an excellent job of portraying the leaders for what they are: power hungry, obsessed with sex, hypocrites. The treatment of wives, young girls and boys is horrific and it's time for law officers to enforce the laws of our land rather than turn a blind eye to what is going on in Bountiful and areas of the US. This is a very informative book and well written - certainly worth the read.

I can't even describe the feelings this book brought on. I had previously read Jon Krakauer's book on the FLDS called Under the Banner of Heaven and was told I should read this as it dealt with the FLDS in my own back yard. This is a must read if you want to know about what is going on within part of the FLDS community.

I have just finished reading "Escape", one of the most enlightening books I have read in some time. Before reading, I was aware of this cult, but believed that it was 'welcomed' by all and that everyone lived in harmony. What an eye-opener! My emotions stemmed from anger to pity to frustration as I was reading. Again, unbelievableand a must read!