National Geographic: Polygamy in America - One Man, Five Wives, 46 Children

New York: National Geographic Society, 2010. First edition. Paperback. Very Good. 150pp. Quarto [25.5cm]. Pictorial wraps. Light creasing and rubbing to wraps, with 7cm x 2cm loss to rear cover. Heavily illustrated feature on the FLDS church, following the 2008 raid of Yearning for Zion Ranch in Eldorado, Texas. Approximately 700 FLDS members relocated from the Short Creek region, under increasing scrutiny from Arizona and Utah law enforcement. President Warren Jeffs was facing a warrant for sexual assault allegations (of which he was soon convicted), and the church's practice of child marriage was becoming harder to ignore. Prior to his 2006 arrest, Jeffs was last seen in Eldorado - his proclamations were a major driving force in the relocation. It materialized that the raid was initiated by a prank call; a woman with a history of similar prank calls contacted authorities pretending to be a young FLDS girl experiencing abuse. In spite of the fraudulent nature of the instigating complaint, the raid found "a systematic process going on to groom these young girls to become brides." Gathered evidence led to the imprisonment of multiple members of church leadership.