Irving Wallace has written several books with recognizable titles, among which are The Prize and The Chap-man Report. Many of his writings deal with the subject of sex, and we would not endorse them in any way. In a way, Wallace’s The Twenty-Seventh Wife also discusses this subject, but mostly its relationship to polygamy is at issue, and the subject is never approached in lurid fashion.
Wallace says he has tried to remain objective in writing this book; the reader will be impressed by the difficulty of such a task since the existence of two (or more) separate versions of what happened is more frequently the rule than the exception. The author (from our acquaintance with the facts) succeeds in his attempt at being impartial. The book includes seven pages of acknowledgments and over six pages of bibliography. This surely indicates the author’s intention of being factual and accurate.
The 400-page book is divided into nine chapters. The subject of the book is introduced in chapter one: “The Fugitive.” She is Ann Eliza Webb Young, and she will soon become the foremost enemy of polygamy, “a slavery which debases and degrades womanhood and the family,” as Harriet Beecher Stowe described it (14).
Wallace begins by describing Ann Eliza’s dramatic decision to flee the Mormons and trust in “Gentile” friends for safety. The reason she needed guarantees of safety are also examined. Wallace explains on page 27 who the Danites (alias Destroying Angels) were and how they got their name.
Chapter two, “The Prophet,” returns to Ann Eliza’s birth and beyond. Wallace relates what he can about Ann Eliza’s parents, but he also gives an account of Joseph Smith. The so-called plates (which he allegedly translated), along with the Urim and Thummim, are mentioned as well as the Spaulding manuscript.
The author outlines the Mormons’ move from Kirtland, Ohio to Far West, Missouri to Nauvoo, Illinois, where Joseph and his brother Hyrum were shot to death. Mormons had been “run out” of Missouri after considerable friction with its inhabitants. Their activities in Nauvoo soon stirred up community sentiment against them.
Wallace gives some insight into Smith’s character. “Combining the delicate and handsome features of a matinee idol with the physique of an athlete, he wrestled, gambled, swore. . .drank, and whored” (35). And those were just his good points. While the fighting was going on in Missouri, Smith addressed his flock, “Do all you can to harass the enemy. I never felt more of the spirit of God at any time than since we commenced this stealing and house-burningÓ (40).
Joseph Smith first introduced polygamy (Celestial marriage) at Nauvoo. Smith’s wife took the “revelation” and threw it into the fire. Ann Eliza’s mother “was horrified” by it, but she submitted to it (52). This chapter ends with Brigham Young in control of the Mormon religion and in Salt Lake City.
Chapter three, “The Five Mrs. Webbs,” not only discusses Ann Eliza’s home life and her parents but the subject of polygamy in general. In 1852, Brigham Young made it clear to the whole world that the “doctrine of plural marriage was an official tenet of the Mormon Church” (68). Some of the problems of plural marriages began to surface. Among them were favoritism, jealousy, a sense of worthlessness, loneliness, apathy, and a loss of love.
Some time later Mrs. T. B. H. Stenhouse, A Mormon defector, would aptly write: “A man may have a dozen wives; but from the whole of them combined he will not receive as much real love and devotion as he might from one alone, if he had made her feel that she had his undivided affection and confidence. How terribly these men deceive themselves!” (213). The practice of polygamy has never been about love.
Chapter four might more appropriately be titled “Brigham’s theater” since the first twenty pages talk about it and Ann Eliza’s short career there. She does, however, become “The First Mrs. Dee,” but that turned out to be an equally short career. She claimed her husband was violent towards her and divorced him after two and one-half years.
Chapter five follows Ann Eliza as she becomes “The Twenty-Seventh Mrs. Young.” How that event occurred makes for interesting reading, as does the description of life among his several wives. Chapter six continues to follow Ann Eliza as she continues to grow dissatisfied and becomes “The Rebel of the Harem.” Wallace recounts what led up to Mrs. Young’s decision and describes her new Gentile friends. Ann Eliza also slapped a divorce suit on her husband and leader of the Mormon church, Brigham Young. The chapter closes with her decision to lecture against the evils of Mormonism and her escape from Utah.
“The Adulteress” is the title of chapter seven. Ann Eliza begins lecturing across the Midwest, and though she begins with great fear and feelings of uneasiness, she finds a receptive audience. Her first two lectures are: “My Life in Bondage” and “Polygamy As It Is.” Soon she makes enough money to support herself, which is fortunate because her divorce suit filed in 1873 will not be resolved until 1877. She lectured in Peoria in January of 1874.
Ann Eliza met with James Redpath at his Lyceum Bureau in Boston; he scheduled her lectures, and she made a good salary. Just before her first lecture in Boston, theChicago Times printed an untrue story, alleging that she was having an affair with Major Pond, one of her Gentile friends. To make matters worse, Victoria Woodhull, who traveled the country lecturing on the virtues of “free love,” also confirmed the story (283). Eventually the so-called “witnesses” denied that the story was true. The whole, unfair concoction was the work of a Mormon lawyer and a $20,000 bribe (290).
Ann Eliza eventually spoke to several Congressmen and the President of the United States, Ulysses S. Grant. She convinced many influential people of the evils of polygamy and was instrumental in getting legislation passed against the practice.
In chapter eight Ann Eliza comes home to lecture in (of all places) Salt Lake City. This chapter outlines the outcome of her divorce, her correspondence with President and Mrs. Rutherford B. Hayes, her ten-year lecture career, and her marriage to Moses R. Denning. The final chapter briefly sketches her remaining years and the ultimate fate of polygamy. Irving Wallace includes this interesting sentence on page 382: “In 1959 a high official of the Mormon Church admitted to this writer that there were 2,000 polygamists in Salt Lake City.” [Now the estimate is much higher.]
Wallace unfolds the story of Ann Eliza Webb Young against its historical background. Mark Twain, Horace Greeley, Thomas Nast, Susan B. Anthony, Jenny Lind, P. T. Barnum, Josh Billings, and Artemus Ward are only a few of the notable people mentioned throughout the course of the book.
Since it reads like a novel, it is hard to put down. It contains outstanding insights into both Mormonism and polygamy. This book was published in 1962 and may not currently be in print. A person might try the public library or contact the New American Library, Inc., 1301 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10019. [This review was originally published in the Southside Mirror in Peoria, Illinois on June 3, 1984.]