Daughter of polygamist writes of LDS women

As number 28 of 48 children fathered by polygamist and fundamentalist-sect

leader Rulon Allred, Dorothy Allred Solomon has polygamy down cold.

In fact, she has written two books on the subject: "In My Father's House"

(1984) and "Predators, Prey and Other Kinfolk: Growing Up in Polygamy" (2005).

Solomon's father was a homeopathic physician and chiropractor in Salt Lake

City before becoming leader of the Apostolic United Brethren, a breakaway sect

of so-called Mormon Fundamentalists in Utah, Colorado and Arizona. In 1977, he

was murdered under orders of Ervil LeBaron, the head of a rival polygamous

group.

However, Solomon left fundamentalism many years ago and lives a monogamous

life as an active member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She

has a bachelor's degree in theater and a master's in literature and creative

writing from the University of Utah.

At the invitation of Amanda Johnson Moon, an editor at Palgrave Macmillan in

New York City, Solomon has written a new book with a much wider scope, "The

Sisterhood: Inside the Lives of Mormon Women."

Because present-day Mormonism is often mistakenly associated with polygamy,

which LDS Church President Wilford Woodruff renounced in 1890, Moon thought a

book examining the lives of Mormon women today might clear up misconceptions and

be of interest to the general public.

During an interview in her Layton home, Solomon expressed satisfaction in the

research that led to her new book. She had no way of reconciling the problems of

her childhood with the history of the mainstream LDS Church. "I discovered how

empowered women in early Mormonism were — to heal, speak and make decisions.