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56th out of 163 books
—
187 voters
In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith
by
Todd Compton
Beginning in the 1830s, at least thirty-three women married Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism. These were passionate relationships which also had some longevity, except in cases such as that of two young sisters, one of whom was discovered by Joseph’s first wife, Emma, in a locked bedroom with the prophet. Emma remained a steadfast opponent of polygamy throughout her...more
Hardcover, 824 pages
Published
December 15th 1997
by Signature Books
(first published December 1st 1997)
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Jul 28, 2008
Lori
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
anyone interested in Joseph Smith's wives
Recommended to Lori by:
FARMS/FAIR
This book is about the life history of Joseph Smith's plural wives and their journals.
It is long because it details each of his 33 mortal wives, from their birth to their death. In church we only hear about Emma, but these women made amazing sacrifices for Mormonism and are often overlooked. This book is a tribute to them. You will also learn the history of Celestial marriage, and it is the best book for learning about Joseph Smith's wives from a pro LDS viewpoint. Here is Todd Compton's respon...more
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This is a book that I have been looking forward to reading. Polygamy is an interesting subject to study, and since Joseph Smith's polygamy has not been widely discussed I have wanted to study his in particular. There are plenty of books written on the prophet Joseph Smith, but I wanted one that was fair and based on well researched truths. This book was sold at Deseret Books up until about last year, and it's author is LDS.
What a powerful read. I loved this book. The history of Joseph Smith as told by his wives and their journalized views. You will have a solid foundation of the early Mormon church and its charismatic leader, Joseph Smith, after reading this book. Todd Compton could not be criticized for his accurate sources from the time, from Joseph Smith's many wives, because he tells all sides and points out any questionable material but the over all story is compelling. A must read for anyone who wants to und...more
It is a documented fact that Joseph Smith enjoyed a total of 33 wives, including his first wife, Emma. What is generally overlooked are the details about each wife's life - their backgrounds, private journals, and legacy. This book is not critical of JS or his teachings. Rather, each chapter is devoted to each woman to whom he was married, with as much historical information as is available. The book essentially lets the women tell their side of the story.
Of particular interest to me were the ch...more
Of particular interest to me were the ch...more
This is a great book. Todd Compton, an active Mormon, chronicles the lives of 33 polygamous wives of Joseph Smith, largely through their own words in thier journals and letters. If you have an interest in expanding your knowledge of early Mormon history and understanding what the 'new and everlasting covenant' was like for these often overlooked women, you need to get this book. It is the best book out there dealing with the origins of polygamy in the church.
Compton has done amazing and unique work by telling the story of polygamy through the eyes of each one of the 33 women who were married to Joseph while he was alive. He follows their lives from birth to death, including their conversion to the church, their marriage with Joseph, and their lives after Joseph's death. Compton's tone is unapologetic and it is clear he laments the pain these women went through, but he is also a believing Mormon; he deals with the contradiction in an honest and frank...more
Oct 21, 2008
Melanie
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
mormon history nerds, those curious about the lives of the wives of Joseph Smith
This is an exhaustive compendium of the biographies and stories of the wives of Joseph Smith. It's quite good and I enjoyed learning about their lives. Compton tells it like it is, which I appreciate, as well as appreciating the time and scholarship involved in creating such a book. As far as I can tell, this book is known among serious LDS scholars as being an accurate and respectable source regarding this aspect of Mormon history.
I liked this book for two reasons: the first was that it was a very well documented historical account. As a genealogist, I was impressed with the amount of documentation that was in this book. Second, as someone who is not a member of the LDS church, I found the descriptions of plural marriage and the doctrines from the beginning of the church's history to be informative.
Because of my research project on an early Utah Pioneer family, I found the development of the LDS religion to have great bea...more
Because of my research project on an early Utah Pioneer family, I found the development of the LDS religion to have great bea...more
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You think that Texas Polygamist Cult is way out? The author documents a grand total of 33 wives for the founder of Mormonism, Joseph Smith, of which 33% were 14 to 22 years old when they married him! Just read about how Joe Smith convinced husbands to give their wives to him "for eternity" as a test of their faith! Contains charts.
2 likes · like · see review
Don't read this book if you want to keep your blinders on. It presents many questions and obstacles for the LDS Church.
The author presents the information in the form of Biographies of these women that are fairly well documented as having been the plural wives of Joseph Smith. He doesn't try to sway the reader to a positive or negative view of the events, he just presents them as historically documented in diaries and letters. If there are two different accounts of an event the author presents...more
The author presents the information in the form of Biographies of these women that are fairly well documented as having been the plural wives of Joseph Smith. He doesn't try to sway the reader to a positive or negative view of the events, he just presents them as historically documented in diaries and letters. If there are two different accounts of an event the author presents...more
Todd Compton is an absolute freak of nature when it comes to researching and compiling. He digs through countless libraries over the nation to find any scrap of information that might shed more light on the wives (his count is 33) of Joseph Smith and their lives. Phenomenally informative.
After years of ignoring the history of polygamy in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, I decided to learn about it. The more I learn, the more abhorrent I find it. As a friend of mine described it: "spiritual blackmail". Reading this book, discovering the details of the lives of the wives of Joseph Smith, the most apt descriptive word I can think of: nauseating.
The women were instructed that being a "spiritual wife" would bring themselves and their families salvation...and if not -...more
The women were instructed that being a "spiritual wife" would bring themselves and their families salvation...and if not -...more
Ohh, what to say about this book?! First, I suggest this book to anyone who is interested in American and Religious history. This book is about the 33 additional wives of Joseph Smith. The majority of this book is actual letters and journal entries from the women themselves. To some people who are LDS, polygamy is seen as taboo. I found it helpful to read about actual people who were involved, and to find out the "good times and bad times" of these women.
FARMS ripped into this book pretty stron...more
FARMS ripped into this book pretty stron...more
Very even treatment of polygamy, using primary sources.
After sweeping aside such melodramatic propaganda, one finds that in actuality Mormon polygamists, both female and male, were generally sincere, intensely religious, often intelligent and able, and men and women of goodwill. Nevertheless, my central thesis is that Mormon polygamy was characterized by a tragic ambiguity." p. xiii
"It is useless to judge 19th century Mormons by late 20th century standards. Both men and women were given an impo...more
After sweeping aside such melodramatic propaganda, one finds that in actuality Mormon polygamists, both female and male, were generally sincere, intensely religious, often intelligent and able, and men and women of goodwill. Nevertheless, my central thesis is that Mormon polygamy was characterized by a tragic ambiguity." p. xiii
"It is useless to judge 19th century Mormons by late 20th century standards. Both men and women were given an impo...more
Wow, I did it! A whopping 621 pages, this book was not a quick read. However, it was fascinating, and I continued to read as much as I could every day and made slow but steady progress. It was worth the journey.
This book is a compilation of biographies of all of Joseph Smith, Jr.'s fully-documented/proven wives, 33 of them. There are certainly more possible wives, but Tod Compton only focused on women who are widely accepted as Joseph's wives by historians and scholars alike.
Not only did In Sac...more
This book is a compilation of biographies of all of Joseph Smith, Jr.'s fully-documented/proven wives, 33 of them. There are certainly more possible wives, but Tod Compton only focused on women who are widely accepted as Joseph's wives by historians and scholars alike.
Not only did In Sac...more
Some of Joseph Smith's wives were truly amazing. It is ironic that what while I consider polygamy to be a throw back to Old Testament times, in some cases it allowed women to be more "liberated" than their monogamist sisters. As a husband to over 30 women, Joseph could not be very close to many of his wives, allowing them to create their own lives and careers almost on their own. The help of their sister wives make this possible. In Sacred Loneliness is a long, but interesting read for people in...more
This is an interesting tome dedicated to discovering the documented wives of the Prophet Joseph Smith. Brother Compton provides fascinating details about each wife's life before and after her marriage to the prophet. Unfortunately because there were 33 women, many details I'd hoped to remember about particular individuals have melded together; however, I feel I have quite a detailed portrait of that chapter in Mormon History -- a chapter that, I feel, perhaps less than 5% of the general membersh...more
Mormons currently trumpeting “traditional marriage” should shut their mouths and read this book. In American history, “traditional marriage” has been defied most boldly and prolifically by Joseph Smith and Brigham Young.
Okay, now that I have that off my chest, I’ll praise this book. This book, in its early chapters, offers a very informative perspective on the rationales and motivations of 19th Century Mormons who practiced polygamy. The practice’s historical context and theological underpinning...more
Okay, now that I have that off my chest, I’ll praise this book. This book, in its early chapters, offers a very informative perspective on the rationales and motivations of 19th Century Mormons who practiced polygamy. The practice’s historical context and theological underpinning...more
Jul 17, 2008
M. Bökel
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
everyone
Shelves:
good-mormon-literature
I am not sure where to begin on this book but I gave it five stars for content, not for the feelings in invoked.
As a Mormon convert, I always understood polygamy to be a benevolent system of taking care of widows and older unmarried women. Although I came to realize that this was not the case, nothing could have prepared me for the bomb this book dropped on my soul. I was astonished to learn the details of polygamy, including the ways the women were initiated into the "Holy Order" as well as the...more
As a Mormon convert, I always understood polygamy to be a benevolent system of taking care of widows and older unmarried women. Although I came to realize that this was not the case, nothing could have prepared me for the bomb this book dropped on my soul. I was astonished to learn the details of polygamy, including the ways the women were initiated into the "Holy Order" as well as the...more
4 likes · like · see review
Teenagers as young as fourteen marrrying a thirty something year old prophet in order to be gain salvation? Women already married to other men doing the same while continuing to live with their Christian 'first husbands'? Is this Doctrine in the Bible, Book of Mormon or any of the standard works?
Comptom used hundreds of Diary entries, Personal Journals and letters written by many different individuals to write this book. Thus much of the book is told by the individuals that were there. Mispell...more
Comptom used hundreds of Diary entries, Personal Journals and letters written by many different individuals to write this book. Thus much of the book is told by the individuals that were there. Mispell...more
This book gets quite dry in places because the author tries to tell us everything there is to know about the wives of Joseph Smith and for many of them there is not much interesting to know. That said, it is quite moving to know about the lives of these women, many of whom have received no attention in other Mormon history. If you are interested in early Mormon polygamy this is required reading.
Todd Compton is to be commended for his research of these 33 women, who lived in a period where women's lives were not particularly well documented; however, the storytelling aspect of this book is underwhelming and can be even tedious at times.
Perhaps the controversy that surrounds this book is from the general LDS population at large, some of whom were not told or taught that Joseph Smith had plural wives "in deed", but for a non-LDS reader such as myself, this book is not much more than a sna...more
Perhaps the controversy that surrounds this book is from the general LDS population at large, some of whom were not told or taught that Joseph Smith had plural wives "in deed", but for a non-LDS reader such as myself, this book is not much more than a sna...more
I give it a 4 because it was obviously intensely researched and each woman's life was reviewed as best as possible with the given information. I also liked that the author was pretty clear when he was expressing opinion or conjecture.
Emotionally speaking it was difficult to read. More to come later
Emotionally speaking it was difficult to read. More to come later
A must-read if you are a serious mormon history student. Compton's research/references are clean, and his method of outlining the wives as well as his sensitivity to the information he is presenting makes for a fantastic read.
Jun 26, 2009
Heather
added it
I haven't read this yet, but have heard it was good. would love to hear from anyone who has read it- fascinating? Uplifting, or belittling? Leave you interested and understanding, or with a bad taste in your mouth?
The real 'golden nugget' of this book is tale of thirty-one 19th century women, their stories, their journals and their life-struggles both inside and outside of Polygamy & Polyandry. Diverse, revealing and sympathetic, these real life tales of women show faith, strength and sorrow in some of life's most difficult circumstances. Using well-documented records and journal accounts, the author chronicles many little-known and some well-known female figures of Mormon history.
Joseph Smith lived in a complicated time as far as religion was concerned. I tried to stay with the book as the author explained about Joseph's plural wives. As I read the stories I became confused as to what was truth, hearsay, or the author's view. It was interesting to skim over and catch the jest of the times, but not worth the time of reading each page.
Written by a current member of the LDS church, meticulously researched.
1 like · like · see review
It is very dry and academic but...
This book changed me.
I wish every LDS person would read this and consider the people who get swept under the rug to keep Joseph Smith on his pedestal. They are shadowy figures easily forgotten for the sake of a polished, shiny story that helps us sleep at night. Thank goodness Todd Compton has taken the time and consideration to write this book so their existence and their stories would be accessible to whomever cared to look. Because you certainly won't hear t...more
This book changed me.
I wish every LDS person would read this and consider the people who get swept under the rug to keep Joseph Smith on his pedestal. They are shadowy figures easily forgotten for the sake of a polished, shiny story that helps us sleep at night. Thank goodness Todd Compton has taken the time and consideration to write this book so their existence and their stories would be accessible to whomever cared to look. Because you certainly won't hear t...more
Just getting going but sad so far for the women.
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