Rating: 
Summary: Balanced and sympathetic
Review: Compton focuses on the devotion and inner lives of women involved directly with the development of polygamous marriage within Mormon theology.I found the stories of these women absolutely amazing. Regardless of where you stand in relation to the theology, their individual biographies reveal interesting, sincere women. Given the potential controversy of this book, the author is always careful to explain the available data. In areas of conflicting reports, he presents all available data, and leaves judgment to the reader. If you are interested in early Mormon polygamy, and the philosophy/theology behind it, this book is the mother lode.
Rating: 
Summary: This is not the book to find your answers on plural marriage
Review: Compton's book won the Best Book Award from the Mormon History Association and with good reason. The books greatest strength is its fairness and even handedness. Compton clearly has done his homework, a most difficult task given the secrecy around polygamy in Nauvoo. Writing about polygamy in Utah, when the Church openly practiced it is one thing, but researching the Nauvoo period when most people, including Emma Smith, didn't know about polygamy is something else. One reviewer, the only one to give this book a poor review so far, mentioned that the book has an agenda to prove polygamy was bad. This is simply not true. He also mentions that some "scholarly" reviews have covered the book. FARMS Review of Books is the only negative review I know of, and they are hardly a scholarly journal. FARMS is interested in nothing but polemics and their reviews of Compton's book are painfully off base. This is clear to anyone who reads the book and then reads the review. This book is about Joseph Smith's polygamous wives. Their strength and bravery shine through and the book is quite inspiring at times. However, there is also a lot of sadness and difficulty in these women's lives that Compton displays with compassion. Each chapter is on a different woman who was once a wife of Joseph Smith's. These women were sealed to Joseph during his lifetime, not posthumously like some Mormons will have you believe. I am a believing Mormon and found this book to be most informative and entirely inspiring.
Rating:
Summary: Truths we were not told.
Review: I am an active Latter Day Saint, and I ordered this book because despite being LDS, we have no understanding of polygamy, the practice, and the truth regarding it. It is not taught, and we are not encouraged (and perhaps dissuaded) to look. I purchased the book because of reviews saying it was an unbiased factual analysis. It was definately worth the money, and I got more than I paid for. The book is very objective and factual. The author goes to lengths to scruitinize sources, and stating whether there are multiple sources for information. The book is not for the weak of faith because it explains the problems that the women had because of polygamy (Emma's hostility, Joseph's denial that it was being practiced after a number of marriages, and the alienation of sharing a husband with numerous wives etc.), but truth is truth and should be pursued. The information in the book is detailed, documented, and usually from contemorary journals, or sources friendly to the church. Much of the information is from the women themselves. The only problem I have with the book is the difficult endnote system. With something this grand, footnotes on the same page would have been better. That being said, the book is wonderful if you want a biography of the wives of Joseph Smith, including the courtship, relationship, and the wives views on the marriage years later. I highly recommend the book.
Rating:
Summary: A Psychological Puzzler Worthy Of Attention
Review: I am not a Mormon, so I cannot speak of their theology. However, I found this book fascinating. Merely ask yourself such questions as:
1. Why does religion have this strong a grip on people, such as the woman who was basically abandoned by Brigham Young and yet she was a defender of polygamy?
2. What do these stories say about human psychology?
3. If Joseph Smith had 33 wives (plus his first wife, Emma), and they are sealed to him for all eternity, doesn't this mean 32 other men would be without companionship for all eternity? Why didn't this elemental math make the Sacred Principal (polygamy) seem problematic? And the questions will just keep on coming. A fascinating book.
Rating:
Summary: A Psychological Puzzler Worthy Of Attention
Review: I am not a Mormon, so I cannot speak of their theology. However, I found this book fascinating. Merely ask yourself such questions as:
1. Why does religion have this strong a grip on people, such as the woman who was basically abandoned by Brigham Young and yet she was a defender of polygamy?
2. What do these stories say about human psychology?
3. If Joseph Smith had 33 wives (plus his first wife, Emma), and they are sealed to him for all eternity, doesn't this mean 32 other men would be without companionship for all eternity? Why didn't this elemental math make the Sacred Principal (polygamy) seem problematic? And the questions will just keep on coming. A fascinating book.
Rating:
Summary: Simply a great read!
Review: I am sure many people will comment on this book for religious reasons, originally Mormon social history was the reason that I read In Sacred Loneliness, and religion seems to breed ridiculous arguments where no grounds for arguments really exist. I found the book particularly even - at different times in the book I thought he was shamelessly praising the church and other times too harsh, soon though the sway of the characters took over, and the emotional involvement with the lives of such powerful, pitiful and human women really pulls you in. Regardless of what you think about polygamy, this book gives you an appriciation for the dedication of the integrity of some of these people to follow it, and for some a deep respect for those who chose to leave it. I really had a hard time with this book as some of these character really are heroic, like Patty Sessions, and Zina Huntington. I think that Compton leaves the reader to decide about polygamy, or Mormonism - right or wrong the story of the women involved is needed, useful and inspirational. For those who want to argue about religion there is alot here to mull over, but I really think that you miss the point.
Rating:
Summary: Captivating - What the church has hidden
Review: I literally could not put this book down. The concept is amazing and while the church admits to its history of polygamy they usually skirt the issue but never really delve into the humanistic side of this horrible history. As a former member of the LDS church I had never even heard the information that was presented and that is because most of this information is shielded from public eye. I applaud the author for his writing and investigating. I think this book is a must for any American History scholar.
Rating:
Summary: An excellent book
Review: It is hard to find a book about early Mormonism that does not focus almost exclusively on Joseph Smith. As founder of the Mormon religion, this may not seem surprising, but it's refreshing just the same to read Todd Compton's book with its almost exclusive focus on Joseph's wives, and comparatively little focus on the Mormon prophet. Compton's book consists of 30 chapters; each written as a biography of the various women Joseph Smith married, with the conspicuous absence of Emma Smith. This highlights and emphasizes the fact that, though Joseph had many wives, they were all rejected by Emma who vigorously opposed polygamy and the intrusions it brought into her home. Studying Mormon history has become a mixed blessing. On one hand, historical scholarship of the subject has advanced greatly since Bodie's landmark "No man knows my History." On the other hand, excommunication of prominent historians (such as Quinn and Brodie) by the Mormon Church has resulted in much fear and distrust. For most Mormons, Todd Compton's book probably falls outside the designation of "faith promoting," and may be uncomfortable for many active members of the church. Growing up in the Mormon Church, I learned several myths about early Mormon polygamy such as: 1. A man's wife had to approve the marriage to plural wives. 2. Most plural wives were older women whose husbands had died, and for whom polygamy represented safe heaven from a brutal world. 3. Most of Joseph's plural wives were sealed to him, but had no sexual relationship with him. 4. Joseph's plural wives never became pregnant from him. 5. There was never any admission or even mention of polyandry. Through the biographies he has constructed, Compton exposes each of these myths. Chapter 1 discusses Fanny Alger, who married Joseph when she was only sixteen and he was twenty-seven. Emma didn't know about the marriage, and when she learned of it (by seeing Fanny and Joseph together, by one account, and noticing Fanny's pregnancy by another account - see pages 34-35) drove Fanny from their house. Oliver Cowdery (one of the Book-of-Mormon witnesses) described Joseph's relationship with Fanny as a sexual affair, and accused Joseph of adultery - resulting in Oliver's excommunication in 1838 (see pages 38-39). Compton spends considerable effort reconciling Cowdery's description of Fanny Alger as an affair, and others who clearly describe a marriage relationship (though without the approval or knowledge of Emma). As I read the book I kept expecting Compton to draw the obvious conclusion, that Joseph had an affair with Fanny and then invented polygamy (which he may have been contemplating anyway) to save his presidency and justify his actions. Compton, however, never draws this conclusion, and ends still contemplating the two possible scenarios as mutually exclusive. I found particular interest in this book because one of Joseph Smith's plural wives, Melissa Lott, was my great, great, great grandmother (see chapter 28). Like many of his other plural wives, Melissa was young (only 19) when she married Joseph Smith. Growing up Mormon, my parents taught me that Melissa had been a "spiritual" wife of Joseph Smith, having been sealed to Joseph only after his death (a common occurrence). During an interview with Joseph Smith's son, and President of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, however, Melissa stated that she had been a wife indeed, with full benefit of a sexual relationship with the prophet. Melissa married Joseph less than a year before he was murdered and later married my great, great, great grandfather. Both lived hard lives, and her second husband died (along with their young son) when the wagon he was driving turned over with its load of firewood and drowned them in a creek. It was a touching chapter for me, the more so because Melissa is my ancestor, and illustrates the central theme of all Joseph's plural wives: sacred loneliness and lives of hard work and toil. Passionately written through the eyes of those who knew him, loved him, followed him, and counted on him for salvation, Compton's book is a must for anyone interested in Mormon history and the personal lives that launched this twentieth-century American religion. Meticulously researched and well written, I highly recommend it. Duwayne Anderson
Rating: 
Summary: Myth Buster
Review: On the first level, this book is about the women who married Joseph Smith. Beyond that, though, this is a book about the early psychology of the Mormon Church, and the power of the prophetic and apostolic paradigm that the Mormon people lived under during those early, charismatic years. At first blush, the reader is amazed at the number of women Joseph Smith married. Traditional Mormon mythology teaches that J.S., Brigham Young, Heber Kimball, et al, mostly married elderly women and widows who needed to be taken care of in "the kingdom," or that most were sealed to them posthumously. Many Mormans will be surprised to find out that Joseph was polygamous at all, since Emma is the only wife we ever hear about in "authorized" church history. But to learn of the nature of those relationships, including the fact that most were wives in consumated relationships with the prophet while many had "first husbands" is truly a myth buster. These women, however, were not just starry-eyed groupies of the charismatic prophet. These were remarkable women of great charisma, leadership and personal power that they possessed of their own, not merely borrowed from their husbands. Their lives are tributes to the spirit of early Mormon faith and endurance. The second layer of this book is a psycho-social study of the early mormon community, particularly from the perspective of the female leadership. These were women who participated in priesthood administrations, healings, speaking in tongues, visions and the administration of temple ordinances. These were women who found a way to create a sisterhood of wives when their husbands were so largely removed from the day-to-day affairs of their enormous families. These were often self-sustaining frontierswomen who played a courageous and unsung role in settling the Great Basin region of the intermountain west. Lastly, I believe this book provides the necessary insight to understand why polygamy failed: it was too psychologically and physically taxing on its participants. Todd Compton does not make any judgement along these lines...the reader is free to come to this conclusion on their own. But to read of the sadness, the loneliness, and the heartache, such a conclusion is inevitable. Compton does the world of history a great favor by bringing together this collection of stories and insights about the leading ladies of early Mormondom. It is an essential counter-balance to the traditional patriarchal authorized history, and is often the history that later Church leaders must have deemed "unwelcome" or at least "unimportant," because you won't find this history in "church approved" manuscripts. It will, however, assist the seeker in determining for themselves the spirit, and culture, out of which sprung the church we know today.
Rating:
Summary: Myth Buster
Review: On the first level, this book is about the women who married Joseph Smith. Beyond that, though, this is a book about the early psychology of the Mormon Church, and the power of the prophetic and apostolic paradigm that the Mormon people lived under during those early, charismatic years. At first blush, the reader is amazed at the number of women Joseph Smith married. Traditional Mormon mythology teaches that J.S., Brigham Young, Heber Kimball, et al, mostly married elderly women and widows who needed to be taken care of in "the kingdom," or that most were sealed to them posthumously. Many Mormans will be surprised to find out that Joseph was polygamous at all, since Emma is the only wife we ever hear about in "authorized" church history. But to learn of the nature of those relationships, including the fact that most were wives in consumated relationships with the prophet while many had "first husbands" is truly a myth buster. These women, however, were not just starry-eyed groupies of the charismatic prophet. These were remarkable women of great charisma, leadership and personal power that they possessed of their own, not merely borrowed from their husbands. Their lives are tributes to the spirit of early Mormon faith and endurance. The second layer of this book is a psycho-social study of the early mormon community, particularly from the perspective of the female leadership. These were women who participated in priesthood administrations, healings, speaking in tongues, visions and the administration of temple ordinances. These were women who found a way to create a sisterhood of wives when their husbands were so largely removed from the day-to-day affairs of their enormous families. These were often self-sustaining frontierswomen who played a courageous and unsung role in settling the Great Basin region of the intermountain west. Lastly, I believe this book provides the necessary insight to understand why polygamy failed: it was too psychologically and physically taxing on its participants. Todd Compton does not make any judgement along these lines...the reader is free to come to this conclusion on their own. But to read of the sadness, the loneliness, and the heartache, such a conclusion is inevitable. Compton does the world of history a great favor by bringing together this collection of stories and insights about the leading ladies of early Mormondom. It is an essential counter-balance to the traditional patriarchal authorized history, and is often the history that later Church leaders must have deemed "unwelcome" or at least "unimportant," because you won't find this history in "church approved" manuscripts. It will, however, assist the seeker in determining for themselves the spirit, and culture, out of which sprung the church we know today.
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