Craig L. Foster

Today's Fundamentalist Mormons in the American West resist assimilation like their forefathers. Centered on faith, they survive despite efforts to permanently end their cherished plural family arrangements. While some Fundamentalists like Warren Jeffs go

Today's Fundamentalist Mormons in the American West resist assimilation like their forefathers. Centered on faith, they survive despite efforts to permanently end their cherished plural family arrangements. While some Fundamentalists like Warren Jeffs go rogue and corrupt their beliefs in heinous crimes, most hold steadfastly to a religion they say is biblical and restored by the first Latter-day Saint prophet, Joseph Smith, in the early 1800s. Mormon historians Craig Foster and Marianne Watson present more than two hundred photos and exclusive insights to explain how an estimated thirty thousand Fundamentalist Mormons still venerate a much-debated legacy--despite its difficult challenges--and persist in living plural marriage.

Fundamentalist Mormon polygamy emerged from LDS Church President Wilford Woodruff's 1890 Manifesto, which ostensibly rescinded the practice of plural marriage among Mormons. This volume explores Mormon fundamentalism from several perspectives. Among the topics considered is the history of mainstream Latter-day Saint polygamy in Mexico, John Taylor's controversial 1886 revelation implying the irrevocability of polygamy, and the rise of fundamentalist Mormon polygamy in the early twentieth century. Other essays provide carefully crafted portraits of fundamentalist Mormon leaders such as Joseph White Musser, Rulon C. Allred, Rulon T. Jeffs, and Warren S. Jeffs. Also discussed is the 1980s schism between the FLDS church and Centennial Park Community, the 2008 Texas raid on the FLDS YFZ Ranch, and modern media stereotyping of Mormon polygamy. Three essays provide personal perspectives on present-day polygamy: a recollection of growing up within a fundamentalist Mormon community, a reading of D&C 132 from a fundamentalist perspective, and an examination of descendants of early Mormon polygamists who embraced fundamentalism. Other areas of research include the changing style of fundamentalist clothing and hair styles, fundamentalist attitudes and practices affecting African-Americans, and the plural wives of fundamentalist Mormon leaders. The volume concludes with a bibliographical evaluation of relevant literature. In this third volume of The Persistence of Polygamy, Newell G. Bringhurst and Craig L. Foster have assembled seventeen original essays that explore the fascinating history of plural marriage among fundamentalist Mormons-an enduring practice of The Principle.