So begins this astonishing memoir of life in the family of Utah fundamentalist leader and naturopathic physician Rulon C. Allred. Since polygamy was abolished by manifesto in 1890, this is a story of secrecy and lies, of poverty and imprisonment and government raids. When raids threatened, the families were forced to scatter from their pastoral compound in Salt Lake City to the deserts of Mexico or the wilds of Montana. To follow the Lord's plan as dictated by the Principle, the human cost was huge. Eventually murder in its cruelest form entered when members of a rival fundamentalist group assassinated the author's father.

Dorothy Solomon, monogamous herself, broke from the fundamentalist group because she yearned for equality and could not reconcile the laws of God (as practiced by polygamists) with the vastly different laws of the state. This poignant account chronicles her brave quest for personal identity.

Amazon.com Review
The abduction of teenager Elizabeth Smart by a fundamentalist Mormon preacher placed a renewed focus on renegade offshoots of the Church of Latter Day Saints and the culture surrounding the religion in the state of Utah (which, like the church, formally opposes polygamous marriage, though state and religious leaders both seem well aware that the practice continues, and they often turn a blind eye toward it). Like Natalie R. Collins's 2003 novel SisterWife, Dorothy Allred Solomon's Predators, Prey, and Other Kinfolk couldn't seem more topical, but it is an even more powerful book because it has the weight of truth behind it. "I am the daughter of my father's fourth plural wife, twenty-eight of forty-eight children—a middle kid, you might say," her frank memoir begins, and Solomon (a freelance writer who now lives in a happily monogamous marriage in Park City, Utah) maintains a similarly gripping and poignant tone through the book. Her family's story is a fascinating one: Her father, the physician Rulon Allred, was also a fundamentalist preacher and a closet polygamist who went to great lengths to keep his plural marriages and sprawling family a secret from society at large. In 1977, he was shot to death by assassins from a rival fundamentalist sect, the bloody end to a misguided lifestyle that had already taken a severe emotional toll on many around him. His daughter does not hesitate to expose the violent and sexist behavior that permeates many of these cultish offshoots of the Mormon Church, but she does not reduce the believers to one-dimensional caricatures, either, and in the process of sharing a very personal tale, she often steps back to place it all in the much broader context of religion and society, charting the history of the Mormons and the contradictions between ideals and actions on the part of both church and state. --Jim DeRogatis

CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 3.5 based on 22 reviews)

Not as expected

This is just "more of the same" from her other book. As a matter of fact, it's almost an exact repeat. Save your money - don't bother.
July 29, 2008

Same book as "Daughter of the Saints"

The book is worth reading to further expand your exposure to a person's first-hand experience with Polygamy in America. (By the way, this book is the very same as one by the same author entitled "Daughter of the Saints: Growing Up in Polygamy". I didn't know that, and bought them both.) For me there are two main issues, in general, with the book(s).

I thought the narrative at times bogs down and becomes boring and tedious as I try to keep track of all the great-great, vs great, vs grand, vs. half-sisters, etc. members of the cast. I would have appreciated some kind of easy-access family tree to help keep track of everyone as I read. But it is her story and she is free to tell it the way she wants.

The other issue is that having to face a story about polygamy caused me to have to face the underpinnings of Mormonism in particular, and religious beliefs around the globe in general. I believe this kind of inquiry is healthy. You might be surprised to read what Mormonism's founder said about polygamy, and how the church handled federal and state pressure over polygamy decades later. Are the fundamentalists/polygamists really the TRUE Mormons, or not? If this kind of thing interests you, I strongly suggest you do this reading on your own, and come to your own conclusions.
May 08, 2008

a difficult subject written in a honorable manner

The book is not a sitting by the ocean summer read. However, if you are interested in this subject, it is a wonderful book that enlightens you to another side of the story.

Dorothy Solomen tells the story of growing up in a polygamous family in an honest but compassionate way. The book brings the reader into the homes of each of the wives, how they had to move about while being hunted down by police, and how they leaned on one another for support.

Unlike many books on this subject, the wives of of Allred made a conscious decision to enter into polygamy, with the sister-wives being supportive of one another. If this were possible, this family seems to have been as functional as any family except for frequent moves in order to hide their lifestyle from the authorities, and the burden of caring for so many children. Life was not easy for this family, but it was not full of the abuse we read about in some of the modern groups. One of the sons was suspected of sexually abusing his sisters: however, this happens even in molygmous families.

After finishing this book, I found myself wondering if the family could have have had a more peaceful life if they had not had to hide their lifestyle. Since our country was founded on freedom of religion, one must ask if this is a violation of that given right. This family had a deep religious belief that their lifestyle was the only one that would guarantee being alowed to enter into celestrial heaven at death. They did not receive welfare, and for the most part were taken care of by the father, who was a Dr. Although the visits to each family were once a week, he devoted himself to each child during those visits.

At times the book is confusing as she intertwines stories, events, children and wives. However, in the end I felt like I had been there watching the stories unfold.

Solomom does touch on the story of a corrupt polygamy group who were responsible for multiple murders, including her own father, and how they were able to avoid prosecution. The fact that the crimes were happening to those practicing polygamy caused family members to be hesitant to bring forth evidence that could incriminate themselves.

I would recommend reading this to anyone interested in learning about this lifestyle.

March 09, 2008

Obscurity Brought to Light

What a scintillating assertion of a lifestyle so foreign to most people. People are often in awe of the idea that such practices are still observed. This book matches personalities to the unnamed faces so often seen in the media relating to polygamy. Losing the idea of "polygamy is good/polygamy is bad," Ms. Solomon does an excellent job of turning individuals into protagonists and antagonists, making these characters live for all readers.
August 25, 2007

Fascinating Account - Keep In Mind, it's an Autobiography

I recently discussed this book with a friend whose an avid reader and an active participant in a women's book club. She was afraid the younger women wouldn't care for the book because it lacks dialogue. Such a shame and yet I wonder if it's that glamor and glitz that so many autobiographers interject into today's books (such as James Frey's "A Million Little Pieces") that contemporary readers look for and are disappointed when it isn't provided.

I, on the other hand, found this a fascinating tale that really delved into the mindset of those involved, regardless of how they were involved, in polygamy. Dorothy Allred Solomon, the daughter of a polygamist, writes about her experiences and recollections of life on the compound that expands into a detailed historical account of the polygamist movement, the fight to disband and abolish polygamy, the covert movement in the polygamist following and the shame that the by-products of polygamy, which includes Dorothy, had to come to terms with as they began blending in with monogamist families to escape the persecution that ensued.

The author writes the majority from the viewpoint of when she was a child, so I felt there was a fair amount that may have been influenced by the age she was when these events occurred. As the author recounts events that occurred later in her life, I felt some important elements may have been left out as it became devoid of the detail, bereft with the emotion that pummelled the first portion of her life and the book.

Yet, it's still a moving book that while it's dry in dialogue, allows the reader to get a good sense of what the author's family and the author herself had to deal with whether it was raw emotions and confusion or the outward reproach of society.
April 28, 2006

SIMILAR PRODUCTS

His Favorite Wife: Trapped in Polygamy
by Susan Ray Schmidt

God's Brothel: The Extortion of Sex for Salvation in Contemporary Mormon and Christian Fundamentalist Polygamy and the Stories of 18 Women Who Escaped
by Andrea Moore-Emmett

Daughter of the Saints: Growing Up In Polygamy
by Dorothy Allred Solomon

Escape
by Carolyn Jessop, Laura Palmer

Shattered Dreams: My Life as a Polygamist's Wife
by Irene Spencer