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By Agreka Books Press Release
New Book Looks at Modern Polygamy from Teenage Perspective
SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH -- Media attention has focused on the January
2001 tragic death of a polygamist toddler, when medical attention
allegedly was not sought until too late. And that occurred on the
heels of the prosecution of Utah polygamist Tom Green, alleging Rape
of a Child and bigamy.
What is the truth of Utah polygamy? Should it be legalized? Do women
and children risk death because they are afraid of seeking urgent
medical care? Are child brides marketed to old men? Are there good
and bad polygamists? Author John Llewellyn, both a former law
enforcement investigator of sex crimes and a former polygamist, tells
all sides of the story. Why? Because a growing number of people enter
polygamy each year.
So travel that fascinating world through A Teenager's Tears, the
fact-based story of a modern day family that leaves traditional
Mormonism and enters polygamy, the father excited, the mother and
teenagers deeply troubled. Meet the adult and teenage cliques of the
governing "elite" families, the "second-class" families, the
"obedient" women who believe they must be subservient in every way,
and finally the strong-willed women who use their intrinsic powers to
develop a life of freedom and choice within the group. Meet the men
and their different uses of religious power over the women whose
lives they control-and those they only think they control. In the end
will these teenagers and their mother give up the "good life" they
have created-and their very freedom.
To understand contemporary polygamy, one needs to see into the minds
of these women and their deep desire to obey what they believe is
God's commandment. To understand the men in polygamy, one needs to
study their need of power, dominance, and the male sex drive. To
understand the polygamous sects, one must study their leadership, a
theocracy more political than religious. Includes info on the new law
protecting polygamous children from being pressured into marriage,
passed by the Utah legislature in 2001.
"Llewellyn accomplishes the incredible task of exposing the many
diverse dynamics of Utah polygamist groups and their members in A
Teenager's Tears. The characters of the women, children, men and
self-proclaimed apostles are both astounding and precise. The display
of male privilege, abuse of power in leadership, and struggles within
families, is triumphantly accurate. The "feminists" within the
groups, however, are still captured in the basic belief that without
a man there is no heavenly glory in the hereafter." says Laura
Chapman, who grew up in the Colorado City Polygamist Group as the
25th child of 31 children. She has been featured on CBS/48Hours, ABC
20/20, and in The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and in London
newspapers. Believing education critical to understanding life and
with double degrees in Sociology and Human Development, and a minor
in Psychology, Mrs! Chapman is deeply concerned with the Colorado
City group forcing all their children to withdraw from public schools.
"Mr. Llewellyn has effectively presented the fears of a young girl
entering a lifestyle she does not understand. An excellent
representation of what women face in sharing their husband with other
women. Hats off to Mr. LLewellyn for courageously presenting the
issue of pedophile behavior so rampant in these cults, and the lack
of action taken against the perpetrators by polygamist leaders." says
Rena Mackert, formerly of the Colorado City Polygamist Group, who
appeared on A &E's "Inside Polygamy" documentary.
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