Okay, buckle up for weirdness....
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So.. the other day I freaked out. It was a day when emotions just knocked me out. I won't go into them all, but I was a crying mess, Ed was working and couldn't get off and I just had a very rare break down.
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I don't usually freak out about death and all, but this was just odd - ps I am fine now.
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Anyway, I had to get out so I took the subway to a book store, picked up the first interesting book I saw and sat in Central Park to read and get lost in something else.
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Now comes the weirdness, I picked up the 19th Wife. The 19th Wife is a new book I hadn't heard of before. It is -partially- about the 19th wife of Brigham Young, Ann Eliza Young, a relative of mine on the Mormon side. (Yes, I am from a line of Mormons, my Mother's Mother left the church.)
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The book follows two stories. One, a contemporary murder mystery in Polygamous Utah (purportedly done by the 19th wife) and the second the story of Ann Eliza Young (also purportedly the 19th wife).
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The Ann Eliza Young sections, start by liberally copying the text of her own book (probably due to public domain laws), but the author does a beautiful job of edited and expanding her work - as well as interspursing it with the contemporary story. I say this with knowledge, because I have the original work by Ann Eliza Young and found it an impossible slog to get through.
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By expanding it, he tells the story of the Mormon exodus that landed them in Utah and most of the early history of the church.
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The contemporary story is both a mystery and a cautionary tale of what might have happened had the Mormons ultimately not disavowed polygamy.
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Historically the story of how Mormons got to Utah was news to me (although probably not to Mormons) and brought to life admirably.
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The Temple to the left is in Nauvoo Illinois. The first major home of the Mormons and for a brief time, the second largest city in Illinois. Before the Mormons were attack and Joseph Smith killed by a mob - as he was being held in a US Jail.
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The Temple (and the city) were raized and only recently excavated like an ancient site. The Temple was rebuilt by the Mormons only in 2002. Hell, I didn't even know there WAS a Nauvoo before.
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So the historical story was cool. The mystery was well done also.
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But the book was so much more. There are a million points the book makes subtly, including the conclusion that Ann Eliza Young, but publicly railing against polygamy, ultimately saved the Mormon church. The path they were on would have lead to the marginalization that has occurred to the current outlaw faiths.
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Moreover, both the author and Ann Eliza describe the horrible effects of polygamy on children in particular and women in general. Ann Eliza's as a reason to oppose polygamy and the author's description as part of the story. A sad part of our current situation.
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It was a fascinating read.
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It was NOT anti-Mormon, although it was very anti-polygamy Mormon offshoot. The Mormons come off as people, some good, some bad, some inept.
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Having said that, I find Mormons interesting. Partly because I feel familiar with them, although not a part of them at all. And the whole tithing to the church to prevent my marriage is weird.
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It is just an odd relationship I have with that church. Having said that, I don't find it any harder to believe that Joseph Smith found gold plates with instructions from God in upstate New York in the 1900s .... than Moses found two rock tablets with instructions from God in the Sinai a few thousand years ago.
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Moses carted them around in a box that killed the enemies of Israel, and Brigham Young carted them around in a box that lead him to the Holy City of Salt Lake. Both of them had multiple wives and tons of kids.
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And both, ultimately, wanted people to be better to each other, which is a good idea ... plates of gold or not.