A Foreign Kingdom: Mormons and Polygamy in American Political Culture, 1852-1890
Christine Talbot
Abstract
The years from 1852 to 1890 marked a controversial period in Mormonism, when the church's official embrace of polygamy put it at odds with wider American culture. This book explores the controversial era, discussing how plural marriage generated decades of cultural and political conflict over competing definitions of legitimate marriage, family structure, and American identity. In particular, the book examines “the Mormon question” with attention to how it constructed ideas about American citizenship around the presumed separation of the public and private spheres. Contrary to the prevailing n ... More
Keywords: Mormonism, polygamy, American culture, plural marriage, legitimate marriage, family structure, American identity, American citizenship
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 2013 | Print ISBN-13: 9780252038082 |
| Published to Illinois Scholarship Online: April 2017 | DOI:10.5406/illinois/9780252038082.001.0001 |
