What is your reaction to the title of this book? Some will be appalled -- how can there be such a thing as "God's Brothel"? Others will want an address and hours of operation.

In fact, "God's Brothel" is a movement, rather than a location. It describes both the Mormon and Christian polygamy movements. The Foreword puts the estimate of people practicing polygamy today at up to 100,000. An enormous number, and all living in violation of the law. How is this possible? Why haven't there been more prosecutions?

Moore-Emmett has an agenda here, and it isn't to present a fair look at plural marriage. That she detests the idea is made very plain in the first eight chapters of this book. She sees no side to the practice other than the destructive side, and this colors the rest of the book.

I give her high marks for laying out the landscape of polygamy, in particular the roots of Mormon polygamy, in a clear and understandable manner. She wastes no words; her writing style is compact and vivid.

The balance of the book consists of 18 accounts from women who escaped their polygamous surroundings. Perhaps I should call them horror stories -- truly disturbing accounts of what goes on beyond the locked doors of the polygamous camps. One can hardly read the stories of spousal and child abuse, the cheapening of life and the disregard of fundamental human rights, the robbing of women and children of both their freedom and their dignity, without cringing in disgust and horror.

What remains unsaid throughout the book is whether this constitutes the whole story. Are there polygamous relationships that actually work well, that don't engage in the horrific practices of those cited in this book? Apparently not, if you believe the author. In her view, polygamy is inherently abusive. The crimes and misdemeanors described in her book are, then, inevitable, and thus argue for stronger enforcement of anti-polygamy laws. Given this, it should come as no surprise that Moore-Emmett has had some involvement in Tapestry Against Polygamy, the Utah-based group formed to urge such enforcement.

Editing errors populate this volume. In referring to the third book of Mormon scripture, the text reads alternatively "Doctrine and Covenants" and "Doctrines and Covenants," an odd error for a person with a Mormon background to make. Ogden Kraut becomes "Ogden Krout." You get the idea. And in the introduction, where she introduces the reader to Tapestry, she twice gives the URL for the group, in paragraphs that follow each other. How did this happen?

I have to give this book a mixed review. If you're looking for a balanced view of polygamy, you'll have to look elsewhere. Although, for the record, I'm not clear where you'd find such an unbiased view. There is a big gap in the literature, in my opinion. Yes, some fiction, as with the recently-reviewed The Leah Shadow, tries to draw a more benign picture of the polygamous lifestyle. But there remains a book to be written -- one that brings us the story without an agenda.

However, in its favor, the book does give a fairly good overview, although brief and lacking detail, of how polygamy developed in Mormonism, and which groups exist today who still practice the Principle. I wish these chapters had been longer.

One should not be surprised by the book's bias, given the title. Images of harems and temple prostitutes come to mind. And, in Moore-Emmett's view, this is exactly the picture she wants to project. God's Brothel is not a substantial addition to the corpus of literature on the subject, but rather than evangelistic tract designed to stir up the passions and raise awareness of the problem.

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Jeff Needle
September 18, 2004