A House Full of Females

Plural Marriage and Women's Rights in Early Mormonism, 1835-1870

By: Laurel Thatcher Ulrich

Narrated by: Susan Ericksen

A stunning and sure to be controversial book that pieces together, through more than two dozen 19th-century diaries, letters, albums, minute books, and quilts left by first-generation Latter-day Saints, or Mormons, the never before told story of the earliest days of the women of Mormon "plural marriage", whose right to vote in the state of Utah was given to them by a Mormon-dominated legislature as an outgrowth of polygamy in 1870, 50 years ahead of the vote nationally ratified by Congress, and who became political actors in spite of, or because of, their marital arrangements. Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, writing of this small group of Mormon women who've previously been seen as mere names and dates, has brilliantly reconstructed these textured, complex lives to gives us a fulsome portrait of who these women were and of their "sex radicalism" - the idea that a woman should choose when and with whom to bear children.

©2017 Laurel Thatcher Ulrich (P)2017 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books

Pronunciation Counts

Interesting, however reader mispronounced the Book of Mormon names throughout the reading. Nephi is not Neff - ee.

Well written! Objective and interesting

Beautiful
Honest
Not anti Mormon

Favorite line :
Mormonism has always been a religion of second chances.

Great Research, Good History

Laurel Thatcher Ulrich has done another amazing job. her research and prose are great, the reading was great, but there could have been a little research done by Erickson to pronounce names from the BoM correctly (i.e. nephi, Moroni, Abinadi, etc.)
great read.

Interesting!

Already knew most of this but learned some new things. Susan Ericksen would have been better if she had learned how to say some of the names correctly. That was quite a frustration. Also, wondering if it was just the way she sounds, I often felt her reading taking on some condescending tones.

Great History

This was a cool book, no question. While I disagree with some of the author's interpretations, most often as they relate to the feelings, motivations, or intelligence of various historical figures, her research, compilation and synergy of documents is outstanding. I walk away with a broader, deeper, more nuanced view of Mormon polygamy and the political/social/religious environment where it took place. As far as the recording, I'd have appreciated more effort going into the cultural/correct pronunciation of Mormon nouns. Over all, a great read! Great buy!

Long, but well put together

This was an insightful book, had I not already been married for six years, I would have never truly believed some of the nonsense of humanity, and the realities of being human ~ and believing in something more. Definitely would recommend.

Mispronunciations.

I thought this book had some very interesting information in it— somewhat one sided, but interesting, and compelling, nonetheless. However, the narrator’s mispronunciations of several words, over and over again was very distracting. I was surprised at this, as all the other Audible books I’ve listened to have had very high quality narrations.

Readers should learn proper pronunciations... she butchers several words and names..

The reader does not pronounce several names of people and places, both historical and current correctly...

Great content - poor reading

The book has some great historical insight into the women's perspectives during the polygamy period. However, the book is repleat with names out of the Book of Mormon. The reader mis-annunciates literally every Book of Mormon name other than "mormon". She needed to do even 10 minutes of research before annunciating the names.

Well-behaved women seldom write in diaries

"Well-behaved women seldom make history"
- Laurel Thatcher Ulrich

My wife and I named our only daughter Emmeline after Emmeline B. Wells, the 5th president of the Mormon Church's relief society. The reason we felt strongly about using that name was Emmeline B. Wells was both a strong Mormon, a writer, and an early feminist and suffragette. She advocated for a woman's right to vote and edited the Women's Exponent in 1872. She was also the 7th wife of Daniel H. Wells, a Mormon apostle and later mayor of Salt Lake City.

That conflict, or apparent conflict, between early Mormon feminism and polygamy is a rich and fascinating territory. It is complex, fluid, and sometimes appears contradictory. However, in the hands of Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, this absorbing aspect of women, faith, family, suffrage, and the early Mormon church becomes a tapestry sewn together by various voices through Ulrich's well-honed skill at analyzing early diaries, notes, letters, poems, etc., of members of the LDS faith (primarily women) from the beginning of the LDS church through 1870 (the year women's suffrage passed in the territory of Utah*).

For those who are unfamiliar with Ulrich, she was the one who penned the phrase: "well-behaved women seldom make history". She also wrote the landmark book, A Midwife's Tale: The Life of Martha Ballard, Based on Her Diary, 1785-1812. This landmark book was (and is) very influential for subverting many ideas of pre-industrial labor, gender roles, and HIStory. She is Harvard's 300th Anniversary University Professor, winner of the Pulitzer Prize and Bancroft Prize, former President of the American Historical Association, and is a Guggenheim and MacArthur fellow. She is just a bad ass. If we ever have another daughter, we might just name her Laurel.

* It was later repealed under the Edmunds–Tucker Act and was eventual returned in 1896 when Utah became a state, but that will probably need to wait until Professor Ulrich writes A House Full of Females, Part 2: 1870 to present.