The Lonely Polygamist is the third novel written by Brady Udall. It was published in 2010 by W. W. Norton & Company. According to Udall, after writing a nonfiction piece in 1998 for Esquire called "Big Love," about modern day polygamy, "there was no question my next novel would about contemporary polygamy." [1]
The novel follows the Richards family, focusing mainly on Golden, who is a polygamist, and the husband to four wives and father of twenty-eight children.
The book was generally well received by critics. Entertainment Weekly named it the best book of 2010. [2] It was called "a serious contender for Great American Novel status" by Publishers Weekly. [3] The Chicago Tribune says "Udall's control over his complex plot, and his psychological insight into his characters, are admirable and impressive. But perhaps the most pleasing thing about 'The Lonely Polygamist' is the way it avoids giving in to the prurient interests that could easily have dominated a novel about polygamy." [4]
Polygamy is the practice of marrying multiple spouses. When a man is married to more than one wife at the same time, sociologists call this polygyny. When a woman is married to more than one husband at a time, it is called polyandry.
The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is one of the largest of the fundamentalist Mormon denominations and one of the largest organizations in the United States having members who practice polygamy. The fundamentalist Mormon movement emerged in the early 20th century, when its founding members were excommunicated from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, largely because of their refusal to abandon the practice of plural marriage after it was renounced in the "Second Manifesto" (1904).
Mormon fundamentalism is a belief in the validity of selected fundamental aspects of Mormonism as taught and practiced in the nineteenth century, particularly during the administrations of Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, and John Taylor, the first three presidents of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Mormon fundamentalists seek to uphold tenets and practices no longer held by mainstream Mormons. The principle most often associated with Mormon fundamentalism is plural marriage, a form of polygyny first taught in the Latter Day Saint movement by the movement's founder, Smith. A second and closely associated principle is that of the United Order, a form of egalitarian communalism. Mormon fundamentalists believe that these and other principles were wrongly abandoned or changed by the LDS Church in its efforts to become reconciled with mainstream American society. Today, the LDS Church excommunicates any of its members who practice plural marriage or who otherwise closely associate themselves with Mormon fundamentalist practices.
Wayne Alphonso Brady is an American actor, singer, comedian, game show host, and television personality. He is a regular on the American version of the improvisational comedy television series Whose Line Is It Anyway? He was the host of the daytime talk show The Wayne Brady Show, was the original host of Fox's Don't Forget the Lyrics!, and has hosted Let's Make a Deal since its 2009 revival. Brady also performed in the Tony Award–winning musical Kinky Boots on Broadway as Simon—who is also drag queen Lola—from November 2015 to March 2016, and as James Stinson on the American TV series How I Met Your Mother.
Warren Steed Jeffs is the president of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, a polygamous denomination. In 2011, he was convicted of two felony counts of child sexual assault, for which he is currently serving a life sentence plus twenty years.
David King Udall, Sr. was a representative to the Arizona Territorial Legislature and the founder of the Udall political family.
Big Love is an American television drama series that aired on HBO between March 2006 and March 2011. It stars Bill Paxton as the patriarch of a fundamentalist Mormon family in contemporary Utah that practices polygamy, with Jeanne Tripplehorn, Chloë Sevigny, and Ginnifer Goodwin portraying his wives. The series charts the family's life in and out of the public sphere in their Salt Lake City suburb, as well as their associations with a fundamentalist compound in the area. It features key supporting performances from Amanda Seyfried, Grace Zabriskie, Daveigh Chase, Matt Ross, Mary Kay Place, Bruce Dern, Melora Walters, and Harry Dean Stanton.
The YFZ Ranch, or Yearning for Zion Ranch, was a 1,700-acre (7 km2) Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS) community of as many as 700 people, located near Eldorado in Schleicher County, Texas, United States. As of April 2014, the State of Texas took physical and legal possession of the property.
Latter Day Saints and Mormons have been portrayed in popular media many times. These portrayals often emphasize controversy such as polygamy or myths about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and other Latter Day Saint movement religions.
Brady Udall is an American writer. In 2010, he was appointed Writer-in-Residence of Idaho, a position he held until 2013.
Gillian Schieber Flynn is an American writer. Flynn has published three novels, Sharp Objects, Dark Places, and Gone Girl, all three of which have been adapted for film or television. Flynn wrote the adaptations for the 2014 Gone Girl film and the HBO limited series Sharp Objects, and was co-screenwriter of the 2018 heist thriller film Widows. She was the show-runner of the 2020 science fiction drama series Utopia. She was formerly a television critic for Entertainment Weekly.
Carolyn Jessop is a former Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints member who wrote Escape, an autobiographical account of her upbringing in the polygamist sect and later flight from that community. She is the cousin, by marriage, of Flora Jessop, another former FLDS member and advocate for abused children. Carolyn Jessop now lives in the Salt Lake City area with her children.
Polygamy is the practice of having more than one spouse. Specifically, polygyny is the practice of one man taking more than one wife while polyandry is the practice of one woman taking more than one husband. Polygamy is a common marriage pattern in some parts of the world. In North America, polygamy has not been a culturally normative or legally recognized institution since the continent's colonization by Europeans.
Winston Blackmore is the leader of a polygamous Latter Day Saint religious group in Bountiful, British Columbia, Canada. He is described as "Canada's best-known avowed polygamist". He has 150 children with his 27 "spiritual" wives, some of whom he has admitted were underage.
Joseph Smith, the founder of the Latter Day Saint movement, privately taught and practiced polygamy. After Smith's death in 1844, the church he established splintered into several competing groups. Disagreement over Smith's doctrine of "plural marriage" has been among the primary reasons for multiple church schisms.
Ogden Wedlund Kraut was an American author who wrote about his independent Mormon fundamentalist beliefs. He was set apart as a "seventy" by Joseph W. Musser, a leader of the early Mormon fundamentalist movement. He also served as a missionary in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in southern California. He was one of the last missionaries to serve in the church "without purse or scrip", and wrote a book about his experiences. He wrote books, some self-published, on Mormon fundamentalist topics. His 95 Theses, named after a document by Martin Luther, includes specific charges against doctrinal changes in the LDS Church.
Sister Wives is an American reality television series broadcast on TLC that premiered on September 26, 2010. The show documents the life of a polygamist family, which includes father Kody Brown, his four wives and their 18 children. The family began the series living in Lehi, Utah but has since moved to Las Vegas, Nevada in 2011 and the unincorporated township of Baderville, Arizona in mid-2018.
Brown v. Buhman, No. 14-4117, is a legal case in the United States federal courts challenging the State of Utah's criminal polygamy law. The action was filed in 2011 by polygamous patriarch Kody Brown along with his wives Meri Brown, Janelle Brown, Christine Brown, and Robyn Sullivan. The Brown family belongs to the Apostolic United Brethren faith; they are best known in connection with a reality television series featuring them, Sister Wives.
Veronica Anne Roth is an American novelist and short story writer, known for her bestselling Divergent trilogy.
The Darger family is an independent fundamentalist Mormon polygamous family living in Utah, United States. They went public after years of being secretive about their polygamous lifestyle to promote the decriminalization of polygamy in the United States as well as to help reshape the perception of polygamy following the prosecution of Warren Jeffs. In 2013, the Darger family met with Utah legislators in an effort to persuade them to change the laws against polygamy in the state.