An investigation into the November, 2019 killings of nine women and children in Northern Mexico―an event that drew international attention―The Colony examines the strange, little-understood world of a polygamist Mormon outpost.
... meticulously researched ... The author couldn’t have found a more bizarro clan to profile than the LeBarons, whose history of murdering family members, mental illness and incest rivals that of the Hapsburgs ... I grew progressively angrier as I read this book. While Denton provides an excellent history of a polygamist subculture, she never fully explains why women choose to stay in a religion that treats them so shabbily ... Denton’s book is a testament to what happens when male power, under the guise of religious conviction, goes unchecked.
Through a wealth of interviews with members and ex-members of Colonia LeBaron and its sister community, La Mora, Denton respectfully portrays the experiences of its women, seeking to understand why they 'remain within a novel American religion based on male supremacy and female servitude.' The Colony is a riveting work of reportage, exploring the violent interplay of religion, colonization and power.
No stranger to uncovering intrigues and distantly related to the principals in this account, Denton tackles drug cartels, convoluted governments, and a dizzying array of family entanglements, beginning with an unflinching examination of LDS history from its inception by Joseph Smith through its migration westward to Utah and the defection of fundamentalist members to Chihuahua, Mexico, when the official church leadership rejected the practices of polygamy and blood atonement...This is exhaustively researched and riveting.
