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 | Stolen Innocence: My Story of Growing Up in a Polygamous Sect, Becoming a Teenage Bride, and Breaking Free of Warren Jeffs
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 2008-08-28 - Stolen Innocence
I've recently read three books on life in the polygamous sect, the FDLS, and this is by far the most readable of the three. Elissa Wall's story is contemporary. She recounts the mental and physical pain of living under the leadership of Warren Jeffs and the difficulty of breaking away from a religious community in which one has been raised. A fast read, this is a fascinating book that gives insight into the recent court cases concerning this fundamental group.
2008-08-26 - Courageous Story About Overcoming Abuse and Brainwashing
Elissa was forced to marry her 19-year-old first cousin at age 14 while living in a polygamous sect. Eventually a nearby stranger helped her break free at age 18, after which she provided crucial court testimony against sect leader Warren Jeffs.
Elissa remembers her father, a respected geologist, engineer and entrepreneur, obtained his third wife. Having three wives was required to achieve the highest level of heaven.
Two wives had already created a climate of suspicion and distrust involving issues such as parenting style, spending priorities, and the access to the lone husband. Sect fathers lived in fear of local prophets - if considered a threat to the faith they could be expelled from the colony and lose both their family and home. Not being able to bring peace to a home could also qualify for expulsion. (This happened to Elissa's father, who then spent much of his life attempting to regain them.) The sect prophet also had the power to compel wage-earners to quit their job and move closer, even to sell a business to designated buyers (eg. the prophet's relatives), with most of the proceeds going to the church.
Members were expected to dedicate Saturdays laboring on churchwork projects. Outside "non-worthy" books and TV were banned.
There were 22 children in the family at the time. Elissa went to private sect school in a converted 20+ bedroom home. Her mother was an herbalist, and as a consequence Elissa rarely saw a doctor. Her older sister was married to the 81-year-old prophet.
Women had no rights vs. a husband. Elissa eventually recognized that getting married and having children was a sect means of disciplining - she would then be under the threat of having her own children taken away. Regardless, by age 16 she had had 2 miscarriages and a stillbirth.
Eventually the people Jeffs had abused got together for revenge; they saw Elissa as a valuable tool to be used through the courts. Jeffs was arrested, tried and convicted of being an accomplice to rape of a minor, and sentenced to a minimum of ten years in prison, with another trial scheduled in Arizona. However, it was also disconcerting to read that some in the community then refused to work with her husband.
Elissa is to be commended for rebelling, taking a public stand against Jeffs and the sect, and helping end or at least curtail these practices. Additional "good news" is that rebellion ran in her family - her brothers and several sisters also escaped, despite their parents' strong opposition.
 2008-08-24 - A lesson in brainwashing
This is a riveting account of a childhood circumstance that should never have happened. And yet, as the author herself points out at the end, this sort of thing is still going on in the FLDS community. This book is a very uncomfortable read on many levels, and is made even more so thanks to the publisher's corner-cutting to save a few bucks - obviously, not even a proofreader, let alone a copyeditor, ever saw this book before it went to press. What a mess! I'll think twice before buying anything from this publisher again.
2008-08-24 - AWESOME. A must read!!!!!
This book was outstanding. The courage it took for Elissa Wall to write this book about her life. This was a book I couldnt put down. I would reading it, and then look up and it would be 2 or 3 in the morning. I brought the book everywhere with me, just so when i had a few minutes i could continue reading! I would recommand this book to any one that wants a good read!!!
2008-08-21 - Powerful indictment of the FLDS
Stolen Innocence by Elissa Wall is the book that tells the tale of the girl who put Warren Jeffs behind bars. Elissa was raised by the polygamous group known as the FLDS, and at the age of 14 was married to her first cousin by Warren Jeffs, despite her pleas and tears begging for more time or at least a different groom. She regularly faced rape and abuse by her husband Allen, until she found freedom and strength through her siblings who had left the group and eventually fell in love with another former FLDS member. They are now married with two small children. When authorities were looking for a way to bring Jeffs to justice, it was Elissa's case that they used and her testimony that convicted the cult leader and sent him to prison. Elissa's story is heartbreaking. The FLDS regularly manipulated families, pulling them apart and trying to fit wives and children into new families, even telling them that God changed their DNA to fit into the new "father's" genes. As a child raised within the group, she saw firsthand the damage done to her father and mother, both of whom remain in the religion. Elissa's rise to independence is a terrific story for all women, and she has a wonderful voice.
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