Summary Of Susan Ray Schmidt S Favorite Wife

A riveting memoir of life inside one of North America's most notorious polygamous cults.

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Sample Book Insights: #1 I was 14 years old when I went to church with my family in 1968. I was so excited to see the flowers and trees in bloom, and the prosperity of the colony. I was beautiful as the desert blossoms around me. #2 I was six when my father moved my mother and five youngest siblings away from Utah and the traditional Mormon Church. We joined a group of fundamentalist pioneers who were not afraid to live the teachings of Joseph Smith to their fullest. #3 I was excited to see my sister Fara, but I was also dreading the fact that I would have to babysit Thelma during church. I was tired of being the built-in babysitter. #4 I was studying the church patriarch, Ervil LeBaron, as the congregation began singing the opening hymn. His cool, blue-gray eyes roamed the crowd, measuring people’s abilities and weaknesses. I was not sure what his job entailed, but I knew he was a master at preaching from the books that the church considered scripture.

His Favorite Wife is the heart-stopping, inspirational narrative of a courageous, fifteen year-old girl who becomes the sixth wife in a polygamous marriage and the infamous Ervil LeBaron became her brother-in-law. Cascading with rich, well-developed characters, this true story will capture your soul and imagination as the author reveals how a group of kind-hearted, sincere people are led to embrace this controversial lifestyle in their pursuit of the highest degree of glory. Laced with surprising brush-strokes of humor, this heart-rending saga will take its readers on a journey that outsiders whisper of and shudder about. It answers the question that a polygamist's wife is asked countless times: How can you tolerate sharing your husband?

Life for Irene Spencer was a series of devastating disappointments and hardships. Irene's first book, Shattered Dreams, is the staggering chronicle of her struggle to provide for her children in abject poverty and feelings of abandonment each time her husband left to be with one of his other wives. Irene was raised to believe polygamy was the way of life necessary for her ticket to heaven. The hard knocks of her environment were just the beginning of Irene's shocking tale. Insanity ran rampant in her husband's family and was the source of inconceivable events that unfolded throughout Irene's adult life. CULT INSANITY takes readers deeper into her story to uncover the outrageous behavior of her brother-in-law Ervil -- a self-proclaimed prophet who determined he was called to set the house of God in order -- and how he terrorized their colony. Claiming to be God's avenger and to have a license to kill in the name of God, Ervil ordered the murders of friends and family members, eliminating all those who challenged his authority. For those who were gripped by Shattered Dreams, the rest of the story will blow them away. CULT INSANITY is a riveting, terrifying memoir of polygamist life under the tyranny of a madman.

Irene Spencer did as she felt God commanded in marrying her brother-in-law Verlan LeBaron, becoming his second wife. When the government raided the fundamentalist, polygamous Mormon village of Short Creek, Arizona, Irene and her family fled to Verlan's brothers' Mexican ranch. They lived in squalor and desolate conditions in the Mexican desert with Verlan's six brothers, one sister, and numerous wives and children. Readers will be appalled and astonished, but most amazingly, greatly inspired. Irene's dramatic story reveals how far religion can be stretched and abused and how one woman and her children found their way out, into truth and redemption.

"Probably the best book ever written about polygamy. Neither an apologia nor an exposé."—Salt Lake City Tribune "I am the daughter of my father's fourth plural wife, twenty-eighth of forty-eight children—a middle kid, you might say." So begins this astonishing and poignant 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. Originally published in hardcover under the title Predators, Prey, and Other Kinfolk.

“Explains Pickford’s roles as not only a talented actress, but also as a philanthropist and industry leader who managed to end up her own producer.” —Time Out In the early days of cinema, when actors were unbilled and unmentioned in credits, audiences immediately noticed Mary Pickford. Moviegoers everywhere were riveted by her magnetic talent and appeal as she rose to become cinema’s first great star. In this engaging collection, co-published with the Library of Congress, an eminent group of film historians sheds new light on this icon’s incredible life and legacy. Pickford emerges from the pages in vivid detail, revealed as a gifted actress, a philanthropist, and a savvy industry leader who fought for creative control of her films and ultimately became her own producer. With extensive photos and illustrations, this book paints a fascinating portrait of a key figure in American cinematic history. Includes over 200 photos, illustrations, and stills from the collections of the Library of Congress and Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences