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The Witness Wore Red: The 19th Wife Who Brought Polygamous Cult Leaders to Justice
Unavailable
The Witness Wore Red: The 19th Wife Who Brought Polygamous Cult Leaders to Justice
Unavailable
The Witness Wore Red: The 19th Wife Who Brought Polygamous Cult Leaders to Justice
Audiobook14 hours

The Witness Wore Red: The 19th Wife Who Brought Polygamous Cult Leaders to Justice

Written by M. Bridget Cook

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

4/5

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Currently unavailable

About this audiobook

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.
LanguageEnglish
Release dateSep 10, 2013
ISBN9781619696037
Unavailable
The Witness Wore Red: The 19th Wife Who Brought Polygamous Cult Leaders to Justice

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Reviews for The Witness Wore Red

Rating: 4.205264736842105 out of 5 stars
4/5

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  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Wow, this was a hard and emotionally taxing book to read.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This was an amazing deep story about her escape and recovery from the FLDS church! It was wonderfully written book and told ever so nicely! It was awesome to get the full background on the case from a very creditable individual and not just news outlets! I especially liked this book just moving from a very strong LDS population where I didn't know many of the differences between the FLDS and LDS individuals. This was a very eye opening and emotional roller coaster of a book! So glad I found it and stuck with it as many of the topics discussed within the book were pretty hard to stomach! I found myself dumbfounded, wanting to scream, cry, and celebrate all at different times during this book! Oh so glad she found her inner voice and courage to share all that she did. Very inspirational story!
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This book was very clearly written & I couldn’t put it down. It made you feel like you were standing next to her.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Fascinating, and often disgusting and heart-wrenching, look into the FLDS life and in particular for the women of the FLDS. Narrator for the audiobook was EXCELLENT and kept me wrapped up in amazement the entire time. Overall this book was fabulous, along with "Stolen Innocence" and ... oh darn, there's another one... I'll have to find that again.A closer critique: Many times thru the book I felt like the author was either covering her ass, or making up stories about how naive she was - I felt there was just no way that any person could be so innocent and "sweet"! - but towards the end of the book I was convinced that the author really did behave as sweetly as she described. It's unusual, and unique, but between brainwashing and incest, I suppose it's possible. Some minor items...I was really bummed that the author didn't add a few more epilogue stories. She did provide outcomes in general, and a few specific cases (her mother and some sisters were still in FLDS) but she referenced some people in generic terms who deserved a little more. For instance, what happened with Cole? Did I miss something ... did he get better and survive his sickness? and her dad... the author mentions he was interviewed for the book but doesn't say whether he was still full force FLDS or had broken away a little. There were several people she'd covered thoroughly during the book and yet dropped at the end. But, honestly, it's a minor quibble. Another item I found a little more disturbing: after reading Stolen Innocence, I'm really unclear as to which woman did what part of the lawsuits and legal challenges. After this book, I'd swear Rebecca did all the legal stuff but I recall thinking similarly after Stolen Innocence. I wish she had integrated a bit of Elissa's actions with her own so that the legal proceedings were clearer. Again, minor quibble since that wasn't the main point of the book.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Rebecca Musser grew up as the daughter of a second wife in a polygamous marriage. Isolated in Salt Lake City, where they lived in a basement, rearranging sleeping arrangements whenever another baby is born, she grew up in quasi-hiding, never allowed to run around much outside for fear of the neighbors. The first wife was abusive toward Rebecca and her siblings and some of her own children joined in. Rebecca only felt free at the school run by Rulon Jeffs, the prophet of the FLDS, the prophet and leader of the polygamous mormon sect she belonged to, and in Short Creek, an area isolated between Arizona and Utah where polygamous groups live openly. While she is naturally curious and questioning, she is also integrated into the sect and works hard to both "keep sweet" and avoid all contact with boys in general and Warren Jeffs, Rulon's son, in particular. When she turns eighteen, she is called into Rulon Jeffs' study to be told that it's time she marries. While she asks for more time, this is denied and she is quickly married to Rulon Jeffs, the prophet himself, as his nineteenth wife. Jeffs is elderly and while she has been taught to revere him, she does not enjoy her nights with him. He quickly marries many more women, but when he has a stroke, his son takes over the group. Quickly marrying off more and more girls to a small group of men, the younger men are declared apostates and sent away and the girls being married off become younger and younger. After being told she was to be remarried to Warren Jeffs, Musser runs away and struggles to build a life without an education or any usable life skills. After Warren Jeffs is arrested, along with many of the men in his inner circle, Musser testifies against them, as well as helping law enforcement to understand the customs and beliefs of the FLDS. Musser is an interesting person, leaving the sect and yet still being sympathetic to their beliefs and way of life. She was careful in how she portrayed the members of the FLDS which, I think, made her into a somewhat opaque character in her own memoir. Since most of her family are still part of that world, I can see how she didn't want to burn any bridges, although the reactions of her family members to her testimony indicates that she may never be welcomed by any of them. Musser is a determined individual, and she had to be, to have the courage to run away, but it's also clear that she is lonely and doesn't entirely feel comfortable in the world outside of FLDS.I'm not sure I learned anything new from this book, having previously read David Ebershoff's The Nineteenth Wife, Jon Krakauer's Under the Banner of Heaven and having watched Big Love. Despite Musser's reticence, I felt a little voyeuristic while reading the parts of the book set in the world of the FLDS. It's so alien, and they clearly do not want outsiders to know what goes on. On the other hand, it's also clear that this is not a healthy way to live, with women reduced to a number and required to "keep sweet" and never indicate any opinion of their own and men focussed unduly on sexual matters. The lack of education for the children and the dishonest and sometimes criminal activities engaged in by the sect are also worrisome.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Excellently written, very interesting read and a real heart breaker and almost unbelievable that this is still going on in the USA. A must read.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Yes, it another book about polygamy – I just can’t get enough! Rebecca was in the FLDS like Carolyn Jessop (who wrote Escape and Triumph. In fact, Rebecca knew Carolyn before Carolyn escaped from the FLDS a few years before Rebecca did. However, Rebecca was more of an FLDS insider since she was the 19th wife of FDLS prophet Rulon Jeffs, which made her one of Warren Jeff’s mothers, even though he’s at least twenty years older than her. She also taught at the FLDS school where Warren was the principal so she knew him pretty well.Since Rebecca was one of the key witnesses for the prosecution in several trials of FLDS members, including Warren Jeffs, she learned even more details about Warren’s horrible crimes than what she already knew from living in the FLDS community. I remember when the compound was raided, the country was divided in opinion on whether or not all of the children should have been removed. I myself had mixed feelings about it. Had I known what I know after reading this book, I would have been much more on the side of removing the poor things. Although there was plenty of media coverage about the raid, I don’t recall a lot of coverage of the trials, which is unfortunate.It’s been a couple of years since I’ve read Carolyn Jessop’s book – now I’d like to go back and re-read it since her FLDS husband was a major player in this book, although it was after she left. I found it interesting that while Carolyn Jessop has pretty much rejected and distains anything connected with the FLDS, Rebecca still seems a bit more sympathetic towards the people affected by the raids that weren’t directly connected to Warren Jeffs. She is also still very connected to God, although it’s certainly a different interpretation of God than the one she grew up with.If you are intrigued by polygamy, like me, then this is a book you need to add to your reading list. But even if you aren’t particularly and you just like memoirs and/or true crime, then this is a good book for you.