The Witness Wore Red: The 19th Wife Who Brought Polygamous Cult Leaders to Justice Author: | Language: English | ISBN:
B00EHMNQPI | Format: EPUB
The Witness Wore Red: The 19th Wife Who Brought Polygamous Cult Leaders to Justice Description
Rebecca Musser grew up in fear, concealing her family's polygamous lifestyle from the "dangerous" outside world. Covered head-to-toe in strict, modest clothing, she received a rigorous education at Alta Academy, the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints' school headed by Warren Jeffs.
Always seeking to be an obedient Priesthood girl, in her teens she became the nineteenth wife of her people's prophet: 85-year-old Rulon Jeffs, Warren's father. Finally sickened by the abuse she suffered and saw around her, she pulled off a daring escape and sought to build a new life and family. The church, however, had a way of pulling her back in - and by 2007, Rebecca had no choice but to take the witness stand against the new prophet of the FLDS in order to protect her little sisters and other young girls from being forced to marry at shockingly young ages. The following year, Rebecca and the rest of the world watched as a team of Texas Rangers raided the Yearning for Zion Ranch, a stronghold of the FLDS.
Rebecca's subsequent testimony would reveal the horrific secrets taking place behind closed doors of the temple, sending their leaders to prison for years, and Warren Jeffs for life.
The Witness Wore Red is a gripping account of one woman's struggle to escape the perverse embrace of religious fanaticism and sexual slavery, and a courageous story of hope and transformation.
- Audible Audio Edition
- Listening Length: 14 hours and 10 minutes
- Program Type: Audiobook
- Version: Unabridged
- Publisher: Hachette Audio
- Audible.com Release Date: September 10, 2013
- Language: English
- ASIN: B00EHMNQPI
***If you don't already know the story--then this review contains the basic plot spoilers. Also, as of November 22, one of Rebecca's brothers has made some mildly inflammatory comments about this book in a short ebook. Short story--it's sensationalism without any substance over minor details and reads like that of a jealous family member angry at the way he was portrayed. Don't bother purchasing it (for anyone interested--I wrote a detailed review of it)***
First things first. This book is not an attack against Mormons, God or even polygamy. And neither is this review. It makes clear distinctions about why the type of FLDS that Warren Jeffs was leading was in fact very different from both Mormonism as well as other forms of Christianity. If I recall--not once does Rebecca even use the word cult--but for the purposes of this review, I am going to. In my opinion, whether it's under the guise of religion or helter skelter--when you have a population of people who are both terrified of as well as essentially worship a singular leader, cut off from the rest of the world, indoctrinated from birth, driving out all those who dare to question, and most importantly creating a system of that greatly disadvantages and mentally stunts a portion of the population so that they are easier to control--that is in fact a cult.
I rarely read books like these (although I did greatly enjoy the Susan Atkins' autobiography), but every once in a while I come across a news story that just captures my imagination. I remember seeing news articles when Jeffs was arrested where there was just a lot of controversy about whether or not Jeffs and his congregation of FLDS members were just misunderstood or whether they were in fact criminals.
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