It seems Sally Denton has it in for the Mormons. How did I not know this? She's written a book about her great-great grandmother, who got snookered by the church leaders back in the 1850s. Seems they neglected to tell Denton's ancestor (Jean Rio, who gave the church all her belongings and left her home in England to travel with the Saints to Zion) about a couple of teeny-tiny doctrinal matters. Like polygamy and blood atonement. This upset Ms. Rio (can you believe it!?) and she headed for California just as soon as a railroad was built to take her there.
Denton also wrote a book about the infamous Mountain Meadows Massacre a few years back. The massacre has been on people's minds more since Under the Banner of Heaven came out last year. It would seem that the One True Church has a history of some violence. And deceit. Surprise.
Both Carolyn See and Bookslut mention Denton's bias against the church. If you're writing about atrocities and misdeeds by a religious organization, should you remain neutral? I haven't read either book. And naturally, since Denton's bias is virtually identical to my bias, I'm not inclined to feel too troubled. That's the way biases work.
I have added Faith and Betrayal to my book list. Any enemy of woman-hating churches is a friend of mine.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
I came across this blog entry in a google of sally denton. I had just spent a few minutes on some LDS damage control site that whined about ms denton's unfairness but didn't address the jean rio/faith and betrayal stuff at all. You made me giggle. You'd like the book---not great literature, but really a rare glimpse of what those snookered women were in for in old Utah.
looking forward to browsing more of your entries...
julia
Post a Comment