Susan Ray Schmidt
Susan Ray Schmidt is an American author, activist and lecturer, notable for her memoir and anti-polygamy activism.
Schmidt's memoir, Favorite Wife: Escape from Polygamy, describes the abuses she suffered while practicing polygamy and adopts a firm anti-polygamy stance. It details leaving Mormon fundamentalism for mainstream Christianity and her beliefs on spirituality.
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Mitch Weiss
Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.
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Mitch Weiss is a New York Times best-selling author and Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist for The Associated Press covering subjects ranging from the Vietnam War to corrupt real estate appraisers to the British Petroleum oil spill disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. He is the coauthor of The Yankee Comandante: The Untold Story of Courage, Passion and One American’s Fight to Liberate Cuba, Hunting Ché: How a U.S. Special Forces Team Helped Capture the World’s Most Famous Revolutionary, No Way Out: A Story of Valor in the Mountains of Afghanistan, Tiger Force: A True Story of Men and War, Countdown Bin Laden. The Untold Story of the 247-Day Hunt to -
Vennie Kocsis
Author. Writer. Poet. Artist.
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Paranormal fangirl with a caffeine addiction and a soft spot for misfit cats. Probably hiding in the trees, whispering to the moss while plotting my next book.
📍 Pacific Northwest.
☕️ Bring coffee. Stay weird. -
Irene Spencer
Irene Spencer came from five generations of polygamy. As the second of ten wives, she was the mother of 14 of her husband's 58 children. Her captivating story provides an intimate look at the daily struggles Irene faced as a plural wife.
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Carolyn Jessop
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.
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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.
As of July 2010, Carolyn is engaged to Brian Moroney, who asked her to be his wife in front of her children who are very excited.
After accepting Brian's proposal Carolyn quoted on her Facebook page "Choice is a beautiful thing!" -
Elissa Wall
Elissa Wall detailing her childhood in the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS) and subsequent later life outside of the church. It was first published by William Morrow and Company in 2008.
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Wall was born into a polygamous family in Salt Lake City and grew up attending the FLDS-run Alta Academy. She describes her living situation as tense; familial relations were further complicated when her mother was reassigned to marry another man in Hildale, Utah.
FLDS leaders orchestrated a marriage between Wall, then 14, and her 19-year-old cousin, Allen Steed, an arrangement she claims to have vehemently opposed. During their four-year marriage, Steed allegedly abused her sexually and psychologically, and Wall eventually b -
Sam Brower
Brower is known as the man who cracked open the secretive world of the polygamous Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints (FLDS). His work led to the arrest and conviction of prophet Warren Jeffs, who is currently serving a life sentence plus 20 years in a Texas prison for child sexual assault.
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Brower details the investigation in his new book, Prophet's Prey: My Seven-Year Investigation into Warren Jeffs and the Fundamentalist Church of Latter-Day Saints. -
Mike Stone
Librarian Note: There are more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
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Brent W. Jeffs
Brent W. Jeffs is an author, advocate, and member of the influential Jeffs family in the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS Church).
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Jeffs wrote the memoir Lost Boy along with author Maia Szalavitz, which was released on May 19, 2009. The book is a depiction of life within the FLDS Church and his ostracism from the organization at a young age. The title of the book comes from the term "the lost boys", which refers to the many young men expelled from the FLDS Church. Jeffs is grandson to FLDS prophet Rulon Jeffs, nephew to FLDS prophet Warren Jeffs, and his mother is the daughter of another non-FLDS prophet as well. -
Misty Griffin
Misty Griffin is the author of her best selling memoir Tears of the Silenced. Misty wrote her memoir to raise awareness about child abuse and sexual assault cover up among the Amish and other strict religious groups.
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Misty Griffin’s inspiring story takes you through her ordeal as a severely abused child and then her experiences as a young woman in an Amish community- a place where pedophilia was never reported or punished - and finally her escape and efforts to save her sister and bring the perpetrators to justice, all while adapting to a modern life she had never known.
Now a Registered Nurse, happily married and with a child of her own, Misty has dedicated her life to making a difference.
Misty has also been to D.C, accompanied by her form -
Ben Bradlee Jr.
Ben Bradlee, Jr., spent 25 years at the Boston Globe as a reporter and editor, overseeing as deputy managing editor, among many critically acclaimed stories, the Globe's Pulitzer Prize-winning coverage of the sexual abuse scandal in the Catholic Church. Bradlee has three children. He and his wife Janice live outside Boston.
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Son of Ben Bradlee. -
Stephen Singular
Stephen Singular is the author or co-author of 22 non-fiction books, many of them about high-profile criminal cases. He’s also written sports and business biographies and social commentary. Two of the books have been “New York Times” bestsellers.
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His first book, Talked to Death, set the tone for his journalistic career. Published in 1987, it chronicled the assassination of a Denver Jewish talk show host, Alan Berg, by a group of neo-Nazis known as The Order. The book was nominated for a national award — the Edgar for true crime — and became the basis for the 1989 Oliver Stone film, “Talk Radio.” Talked to Death was translated into several languages and explored the timeless American themes of racism, class, violence, and religious intoleranc -
Kyria Abrahams
Kyria Abrahams is the author of I'M PERFECT, YOU'RE DOOMED: Tales of a Jehovah's Witness Upbringing (Touchstone, 2009).
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Her humor has also been published in Not Quite What I Was Planning: Six-Word Memoirs by Writers Famous and Obscure (Harper Perennial, 2007) the THE BOOK OF ZINES: Reading From the Fringe. For two years, Kyria Abrahams was a regular columnist for Jest Magazine, where she was featured alongside performers and writers from The Daily Show and Chappelle's Show. She has been a past performer at alternative comedy shows like Eating It and Invite them Up, as well as literary readings like How to Kick People.
She lives in Queens with an abused cat that she just knows will start to love her some day. -
Jessica Willis Fisher
Jessica Willis Fisher is a singer/songwriter, performing artist, and author who believes that sharing our stories with one another will change the world. Growing up the eldest daughter in a toxic and abusive household, she performed with her family band The Willis Clan until her departure in 2016 at the age of 23. Her first book, Unspeakable, narrates her harrowing struggle to both articulate her childhood experiences and find her true voice on the other side of emotional, physical, and sexual abuse. A passionate advocate for survivors, Jessica lives in Nashville, TN with her husband, Sean Fisher.
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Anna LeBaron
One of more than fifty children of infamous, polygamist cult leader, Ervil LeBaron, Anna LeBaron endured abandonment, horrific living conditions, child labor, and sexual grooming. At age thirteen, she escaped the violent cult, gave her life to Christ, and sought healing. A gifted communicator and personal growth activist, she’s passionate about helping others walk in freedom. Anna lives in the DFW Metroplex and loves being Mom to her five grown children.
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Natacha Tormey
Natacha Tormey was born and raised within The Children of God, a religious cult that became infamous for its bizarre sexual practices and religious doctrines. After escaping the cult at the age of 18, she fought for a normal life in society and her struggle gave her the driving force to publish her memoir.
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Natacha is a HR Consultant and Writer who strives to raise awareness of the damage that cults impose on their victims and the psychological, physical and emotional aftermaths of a cultic experience. She has recently partnered with SHEARED organisation who work towards the same goals.
She lives in Buckinghamshire with her husband and two very mischievous cats. -
Rebecca Musser
Rebecca Musser is a highly sought-after motivational speaker and agent for social revolution. She empowers women around the world to escape from bondage in all its forms, because as she has said, “I was once owned, too.”
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Born into the FLDS, an extreme, isolated, polygamist sect of the Mormon faith, as a teenager she was forced in marriage to the 85-year-old prophet; destined to be his 19th wife of sixty-five. After enduring years of violation, upon her husband’s death she escaped from his son, Warren Jeffs, when he tried to force her to remarry. On behalf of her little sisters and other voiceless young girls trapped within that culture, Rebecca testified over 20 times against cult leaders to bring evidence to light, and freedom to her peopl -
Jenna Miscavige Hill
Jenna is the niece of David Miscavige, current leader of Scientology. She grew up as a member of the Sea Organization, and was disconnected from her parents at a young age. She left in 2005, and is now happily married, living a fulfilling life outside the church. Jenna has been an active opponent of Scientology abuses, and hopes that her work can help educate others about the dangers of Scientology and the Sea Org. Her grandfather is author Ron Miscavige.
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Sam Brower
Brower is known as the man who cracked open the secretive world of the polygamous Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints (FLDS). His work led to the arrest and conviction of prophet Warren Jeffs, who is currently serving a life sentence plus 20 years in a Texas prison for child sexual assault.
Buy books on Amazon
Brower details the investigation in his new book, Prophet's Prey: My Seven-Year Investigation into Warren Jeffs and the Fundamentalist Church of Latter-Day Saints. -
Flora Jessop
Flora Jessop was born and raised in Colorado City, Arizona. She was raised in a polygamous family, with two mothers and twenty-seven siblings, all members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS).
Buy books on Amazon
When she was sixteen years old, after years of abuse, including being impregnated by her own father and being forced to marry her first cousin, Phillip Jessop, she fled her family and faith. After many years as a vagabond in Middle and Southwest America, Jessop finally sought legal justice, and was awarded $10,000 in a lawsuit against the State Of Arizona for failing to protect her from the abuse she suffered.
Jessop finally settled in Galena, Kansas where she soon met a man named Tim and created a family unit with h -
Elissa Wall
Elissa Wall detailing her childhood in the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS) and subsequent later life outside of the church. It was first published by William Morrow and Company in 2008.
Buy books on Amazon
Wall was born into a polygamous family in Salt Lake City and grew up attending the FLDS-run Alta Academy. She describes her living situation as tense; familial relations were further complicated when her mother was reassigned to marry another man in Hildale, Utah.
FLDS leaders orchestrated a marriage between Wall, then 14, and her 19-year-old cousin, Allen Steed, an arrangement she claims to have vehemently opposed. During their four-year marriage, Steed allegedly abused her sexually and psychologically, and Wall eventually b -
Carolyn Jessop
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.
Buy books on Amazon
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.
As of July 2010, Carolyn is engaged to Brian Moroney, who asked her to be his wife in front of her children who are very excited.
After accepting Brian's proposal Carolyn quoted on her Facebook page "Choice is a beautiful thing!" -
Irene Spencer
Irene Spencer came from five generations of polygamy. As the second of ten wives, she was the mother of 14 of her husband's 58 children. Her captivating story provides an intimate look at the daily struggles Irene faced as a plural wife.
Buy books on Amazon -
John Glatt
English-born John Glatt is the author of Golden Boy Lost and Found, Secrets in the Cellar, Playing with Fire, and many other bestselling books of true crime. He has more than 30 years of experience as an investigative journalist in England and America. Glatt left school at 16 and worked a variety of jobs—including tea boy and messenger—before joining a small weekly newspaper. He freelanced at several English newspapers, then in 1981 moved to New York, where he joined the staff for News Limited and freelanced for publications including Newsweek and the New York Post. His first book, a biography of Bill Graham, was published in 1981, and he published For I Have Sinned, his first book of true crime, in 1998. He has appeared on television and r
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Rebecca Musser
Rebecca Musser is a highly sought-after motivational speaker and agent for social revolution. She empowers women around the world to escape from bondage in all its forms, because as she has said, “I was once owned, too.”
Buy books on Amazon
Born into the FLDS, an extreme, isolated, polygamist sect of the Mormon faith, as a teenager she was forced in marriage to the 85-year-old prophet; destined to be his 19th wife of sixty-five. After enduring years of violation, upon her husband’s death she escaped from his son, Warren Jeffs, when he tried to force her to remarry. On behalf of her little sisters and other voiceless young girls trapped within that culture, Rebecca testified over 20 times against cult leaders to bring evidence to light, and freedom to her peopl -
Anna LeBaron
One of more than fifty children of infamous, polygamist cult leader, Ervil LeBaron, Anna LeBaron endured abandonment, horrific living conditions, child labor, and sexual grooming. At age thirteen, she escaped the violent cult, gave her life to Christ, and sought healing. A gifted communicator and personal growth activist, she’s passionate about helping others walk in freedom. Anna lives in the DFW Metroplex and loves being Mom to her five grown children.
Buy books on Amazon -
Kristyn Decker
With five kids still at home, Kristyn Decker began taking college courses and working as an assistant teacher in the Head Start program. After earning an associate's degree, she was a lead teacher for four years. Then Kristyn taught child development classes for Children First and volunteered with several projects relating to quality Child Care. In 2002, she received a bachelor's degree in elementary education and early childhood development from Southern Utah University. She ended her nearly thirty-three-year marriage in 2002.
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Seven years later, Kristyn married LeRoy Decker. She founded the Sound Choices Coalition in June 2012 after publishing her first book, Fifty Years in Polygamy: Big Secrets and Little White Lies.
Kristyn spends most o -
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Ruth Wariner
RUTH WARINER lives in Portland, Oregon. At the age of fifteen, Wariner left Colonia LeBaron, the polygamist Mormon colony where she grew up, and moved to California. She raised her three youngest sisters in California and Oregon. After earning her GED, she put herself through college and graduate school, eventually becoming a high school Spanish teacher. She remains close to her siblings and is happily married. THE SOUND OF GRAVEL is her first book.
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Flora Jessop
Flora Jessop was born and raised in Colorado City, Arizona. She was raised in a polygamous family, with two mothers and twenty-seven siblings, all members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS).
Buy books on Amazon
When she was sixteen years old, after years of abuse, including being impregnated by her own father and being forced to marry her first cousin, Phillip Jessop, she fled her family and faith. After many years as a vagabond in Middle and Southwest America, Jessop finally sought legal justice, and was awarded $10,000 in a lawsuit against the State Of Arizona for failing to protect her from the abuse she suffered.
Jessop finally settled in Galena, Kansas where she soon met a man named Tim and created a family unit with h -
Natacha Tormey
Natacha Tormey was born and raised within The Children of God, a religious cult that became infamous for its bizarre sexual practices and religious doctrines. After escaping the cult at the age of 18, she fought for a normal life in society and her struggle gave her the driving force to publish her memoir.
Buy books on Amazon
Natacha is a HR Consultant and Writer who strives to raise awareness of the damage that cults impose on their victims and the psychological, physical and emotional aftermaths of a cultic experience. She has recently partnered with SHEARED organisation who work towards the same goals.
She lives in Buckinghamshire with her husband and two very mischievous cats.