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Books that examine and/or promote polygamy

PolyPride

PolyPride

Member
I found quite a few books on Amazon.com that surveys the cross-cultural practice and history of polygamy and in some cases consider/promote it as an option. These books are not from a religious perspective but mainly written from a scholarly or research perspective from well-credentialed authors. I figured that some here may still be interested in knowing about the background, history, and practices that relate to polygamy, in general. So I'll list some of the books I've found:


1. Polygamous Families in Contemporary Society by Irwin Altman and Joseph Ginat
According to the back cover of the book, Dr. Irwin Altman is a Professor of Psychology and Professor of Family and Consumer studies at the University of Utah. You can also look him up on Wikipedia.

According to the back cover, Dr. Joseph Ginat is a Professor of Social and Cultural Anthropology and Director of the Jewish Arab Center at the University of Haifa, Israel.
You can also read more on him here: http://israel-stu.haifa.ac.il/staff/ginat.htm

Edit (3-6-2010): I moved the review I posted about this book to another post.


2. Plural Marriage For Our Time; a Reinvented Option by Phillip L. Kilbride

Dr. Phillip Kilbride, is a professor of anthropology at Bryn Mawr College
http://www.brynmawr.edu/anthropology/faculty.html scroll down and he should be the second teacher that's listed.

I think Dr. Kilbride's book would be good for gaining some understanding of polygamy as it is practiced in different cultures. I'll quote one reviewer below:

“The title of this book summarizes its contents. After briefly surveying several kinds of polygamy (polygyny, polyandry, group marriage) in various cultures, historical epochs, and religions, Kilbride asks if some versions of plural marriage might be viable in our time. A short, well-balanced, thoughtful primer for readers of all levels.”–Choice

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/089789 ... oduct#noop



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The book below is not necessarily from a research perspective but more of a personal one, so I separated it from the others.


Voices in Harmony: Contemporary Women Celebrate Plural Marriage by Mary Batchelor

This book is comprised of essays from 95 polygamous wives living in modern day polygamy. It probably focuses on wives who are Mormon fundamentalist based on some of the reviews I've read regarding celestial marriage, but besides that it's probably one of the few books out there that offers the perspective of polygamous wives promoting polygamy in a positive light. The main review mentions,

"This book is a unique collection of original essays written by 95 contemporary plural wives and 5 other women who are supportive of plural marriage. Also included is a chapter presenting historical, legal and doctrinal overviews of Latter-day Saint plural marriage, as well as a chapter on why women choose this religious lifestyle. The last chapter records and analyzes the results of a two-page questionnaire completed by plural wives who contributed to this book. "

You can see more here:
http://www.amazon.com/Voices-Harmony-Co ... gy_b_img_b
 
Thanks for the list. I'll have to check those out.

I do have to put a plug for Don Milton, his books are what got me actively learning about plural-marriage.
http://www.amazon.com/Don-Milton/e/B002LOCX62/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1

Even though it's been recommend to me multiple times, I have yet to read through "Thelyphthora or A Treatise on Female Ruin"
 
I LOVED the Principle voices: contemporary women speak on plural marriage book. There are TOO many books out there (mostly aimed at women) that paint plural marriage in a negative light. Really enjoyed a positive look on plural marriage from women's points of view!
:) Kacy
 
kacylynn said:
I LOVED the Principle voices: contemporary women speak on plural marriage book. There are TOO many books out there (mostly aimed at women) that paint plural marriage in a negative light. Really enjoyed a positive look on plural marriage from women's points of view!
:) Kacy
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I could not find the book you're referring to but I think the book you are talking about is called, Voices in harmony: contemporary women celebrate plural marriage by Mary Batchelor. I listed it in my first post, as well There is a website called Principle Voices that's devoted to supporting and helping polygamous families and other issues - http://principlevoices.org/
 
diasōzō said:
Thanks for the list. I'll have to check those out.

I do have to put a plug for Don Milton, his books are what got me actively learning about plural-marriage.
http://www.amazon.com/Don-Milton/e/B002LOCX62/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1

Even though it's been recommend to me multiple times, I have yet to read through "Thelyphthora or A Treatise on Female Ruin"
Click to expand...

Diasozo,

Thanks for that reference. I'll have to check out some of his books, especially one that I saw called, Polygamy and Monogamy.

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Another book that I'll mention is mostly scientific and it's called, The Myth of Monogamy: Fidelity and Infidelity in Animals and People by Dr. David P. Barash and Dr. Judith Eve Lipton.

From a scientific perspective, this book examines non-monogamous behavior that's practiced by animals in nature and by people.
I didn't read all of this book but from what I read I didn't get a sense that it was all about polygamy, but through implications I think some arguments can be made for polygamy. I've heard plenty of people mentioning that there are animals that practice non-monogamous behavior, and I also remember seeing documentaries of male adult lions being accompanied by more than one female mate, so I think this book is part of the information that some are referencing.
 
Women Can Win the Marriage Lottery: Share Your Man With Another Wife : (The Case for Plural Marriage) (Paperback)
~ Adriana Blake

Available from Amazon. Was out of print for a while. Now back, apparently by popular demand. A secular and very pragmatic book on the topic. Written by a woman for women. Fairly light reading (not pompous nor ponderous), and interesting.

An EXCELLENT response to the question, "Is PM good for women, and why?

I liked it so well, back when it first came out (circa 2000), that I tried to buy a case to give out but was never able to make the right connection.

Got single lady friends that you'd like to plant a seed of thought with, without making a big deal about it? Unobtrusively pass them a copy of this book, and see what happens!

Maybe write inside the cover, "I read this book, found it fascinating, and thought of YOU! Love you, your friend, Mary JoEllen" (or whatever ...) ;)
 
PolyPride said:
This book (Polygamous Families in Contemporary Society) basically examines how polygamists in America practice polygamy in our modern day. The book mainly focuses on Mormon fundamentalists who practice polygamy in America because not surprisingly, they account for the highest number of polygamy practitioners in America. It covers topics such as deciding to add a new wife to the family, honeymoons, living arrangements, the social and emotional relationships of the husbands and wives, the rotation process between the husband and each of his wives when it comes to intimacy, and much more. There was one person who posted a negative review about the book saying that it lacked the point-of-view of the wives in polygamy, and that the data that came from interviews were of mostly men. If this person's critique is true then I think not including enough perspective from the wives in polygamy could lead to an incomplete picture of polygamy in some aspects. I still think this book is definitely a good start and a great chance to get an in-depth look at how plural families practice their lifestyle today.

You can view the book, it's table of contents, and more reviews here:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/052156 ... ss_product
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My quoted post is from the original review I left for the book I listed in the first post that's called, Polygamous Families in Contemporary Society by Dr. Irwin Altman and Dr. Joseph Ginat. I mainly wanted to respond to the text in red font, because I found that reviewers criticism of the book to be partly false and misleading. I left a review about the book since I have the book myself, and here's my response that I left:

In response to one reviewer who mentioned that the interview subjects were men, to that I will say that is in part FALSE and misleading. The interview configuration SOMETIMES involved the husbands alone, but other times the interviews involved the husband and one or more wife, other times the children, the relatives, and yes sometimes the wife or wives alone, etc. Now the authors do specify that they rarely met with a wife (or wives) ALONE, but my point in bringing this up is that that is far different than saying that the subjects of the interviews were only MEN, when you factor in that the wives, relatives, children, were involved and sometimes without the husband. This is clearly stated on pg. 451, the section titled "participants in meetings".

Another important point to make is that the authors obtained their information not from just interviews but also OBSERVATIONS even going as far as living with some of the families and participating in their social events for some periods of time (Pg. 447, 1st paragraph, 5th sentence; pg. 450-451, the section titled, “interviews and observations”; pg. 454-455, section titled, “Locations of meetings”). So even if the interview process was not enough, the authors also lived among these polygamists at times and observed their interactions with each other, especially the wives. The jealousies that some of these wives went through are clearly documented like on pgs. 353-357, and also "jealousy" is listed in the index with page numbers to show where some of the information on jealousy are covered in this book.
 
Hello, I am in chapter 2 re-reading Eros Made Sacred. I think this will be my third or fourth time through it. It has been a number of years, but the book has so much more good information than just polygyny. Really, Stivers could put out a non-poly related version and it could be a best seller. I can't tell you how much that book has helped me with so many other aspects of our faith.

Here is a page of poly positive book reviews. http://www.christianpoly.org/bookreview.php

Tim
 
I must admit that, personally, I am not a fan of "Eros made sacred" - the basic argument is solid but I found too many errors in it, it is the one book I have that I have chosen not to lend out to people for this reason. It's certainly a beneficial book overall, but not one I would recommend given there are better ones out there.
The best introductory book, in my opinion, is "The Great Omission" by Clyde Pilkington, followed by "'Why do you believe that?" and "The History and Philosophy of Marriage". Links to all are on our "books" page.
 
There is also Polygamy in the Pews. It is very short, but makes the main points in an interesting way. The author wrote it as though arguing against it, but the arguments presented could actually be viewed another way.
 
does anyone know of ANY fictional books that include a polygynous dynamic, not necessarily in the forefront of the storyline?
i'm picturing something along the lines of 'inspirational fiction', as it is referred to in public libraries.
 
I found this, from the aforementioned review of Eros Made Sacred, quite beautiful and insightful...

It has affected my understanding of the family and headship, women were made to love one man and man to love one God, while God loves all of those who are his, man loves all of the women who are his and women love all of the children that are hers.
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Prince of Sumba: Husband of Many Wives

I had to look it up, haven't read it, this is not an endorsement, just posting as a public service.
 
ZecAustin said:
There used to be some Prince of something book floating around.
Click to expand...
I read it; a couple years ago i think. It was interesting and enjoyable until the bizarre, kind of awkward, end-times ending. I made the unwise choice to exchange sleep for reading and so my memory isn't acute on any details - may have missed something that would have made more sense.
 
All of these books have single digit reviews on Amazon. A HUGE way to help promote polygamy is to go review these books there. Review volume, review results and book sales all affect on buying choices and rankings on Amazon.

Just be sure to give an honest review and only review books you actually read.
 
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