Publisher's Synopsis
Many of us have had the experience of finding two nice young people with white shirts knocking on their door and finding out they are Mormon missionaries. The Mormon faith is uniquely noted for sending such missionaries all over the world. The founder of Mormonism was Joseph Smith and the study of his life, though complex, is most interesting at the same time. To his followers, Joseph Smith is considered to be second in importance only to Jesus Christ in all of Church history. How Smith came to lead this movement is a captivating story on its own, and how he came to die is a sordid tale in American history. The Mormon faith started out as just a small inner circle of Joseph Smith's relatives and it has grown to be a very large movement of multiple millions of adherents. Most of the early leaders of Mormonism were very controversial because they practiced polygamy which they called celestial marriage. Joseph Smith himself had at least thirty-seven wives. Brigham Young, the second leader of the Church, had over fifty wives. The main Mormon body with its headquarters in Salt Lake City, Utah, has long since abandoned polygamous practice. Splinter groups, however, separated from the main Utah Church and continue even today the practice of polygamy. One of those main splinter churches is centred in Colorado City, Arizona. This Fundamentalist group asserts that polygamy is a deep spiritual duty ordered by God Himself that is required to reach the highest heaven. Warren Jeffs is the leader of this group, and some estimate that he has around eighty-seven wives. He however is no longer with any of his wives because he is now serving multiple years in jail for sex crimes connected to minors. This book covers all of the foregoing matters in refined detail and provides new insight and research into all of the issues connected to the history, the theology and the politics of the Mormon faith.
