Predators, Prey and Other Kinfolk: Growing Up in Polygamy

by Dorothy Allred Solomon

Book Overview

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.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0393049469
• ISBN13: 9780393049466
• Release Date: July 2003
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Length: 400 Pages
• Weight: 1.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 6.5" x 9.6"

Customer Reviews

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.

Loved it!

I loved this book. I love that she spoke her truth. I love the inside look into this fringe community. I think her writing style is beautiful and I found myself writing down some lines written so well I wanted to remember them. The added stories at the end were my favorite. Bravo! This book inspires me to take that creative writing course I keep thinking about. I love reading and I love writing and this book is an example of someone else who feels the same way.

An empathetic journey into the world of the other Mormons

I thought this book was fantastic. In a very human way, it fills a huge gap in what I knew about Mormon History and present-namely, what happened to the tens of thousands of polygamous families when the church shifted from pro-polygamy to anti-polygamy, and who are the tens of thousands of modern-day polygamists and what is their relationship to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.The mainstream church teaches that Joseph Smith wrote down a revelation regarding polygamy in 1843, but that he had started practicing it well before then, but never recorded who his "wives" were, nor when they were "married." Then Brigham Young and the Saints in Utah had a whole bunch of wives and were honest and upfront about it. The federal government had a massive clampdown on the lifestyle, and in 1890 the church issued a "manifesto" stating that the church no longer taught nor encouraged the continuance of the doctrine. The way the church teaches it, the people who were in polygamous marriages simply ceased to exist as soon as the manifesto was decreed.We learn in the book that a few days before the manifesto was issued, the president of the Church, Wilford Woodruff, called Dorothy's grandfather into his office. He gave him a calling to move to Mexico and establish a colony there were Mormon Polygamists could legally live their religion. Her grandfather went, but between the lawlessness of the country and inhospitable climate, they could not survive and were forced to return to America. A few events transpired were his viewpoint collided with that of the mainstream church-in addition to having abandoned plural marriage, the Church had drifted away from the spirit of the United Order and Law of Consecration. You see how her grandfather changed from a leader in the mainstream church to a fringe member to an excommunicated Fundamentalist. Dorothy does a fantastic job of showing you the world through the eyes of a child born into fundamentalist sects of Mormonism. It shows her religious heritage and how it connects to the religious heritage of mainstream Mormons. And it shows the life of a child who loved her mommy and daddy, but obviously wasn't cut out to carry on the religious tradition that she was inheriting. The reader can clearly see the follies of Mormon polygamy and the flaws in the various adherents. But the focus isn't on the follies and flaws. Rather, the focus is on the humanity of the children, women, and men who find themselves indoctrinated in a religion of outcasts.

A bold account!

I was raised in SLC, with polygamy right under my nose, but never knew of the strife and agony these children suffered to live their religious beliefs. What a heart-wrenching account of a young woman, struggling to fight the lifestyle she was 'taught' and the life her heart yearned for. Her story is told with love and compassion, and is riveting to the last page.

A starkly revealing autobiographical "tell-all" expose

Predators, Prey, And Other Kinfolk: Growing Up In Polygamy is the startling and personal memoir of Dorothy Allred Solomon, who grew up in a fundamentalist compound that promoted polygamy. Ms. Solomon recounts the familial and social costs of her upbringing, including the inevitable poverty of being one of forty-eight children born to one father, the scattering of her family to hide from government raids, and even a murder when a rival fundamentalist group assassinated her father. Predators, Prey, And Other Kinfolk is a starkly revealing autobiographical "tell-all" expose of contemporary polygamy that also speaks of the author's dedicated striving to find God's path as a woman caught up in a patriarchal fringe society.