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Escape

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80% Recommended by our customers.
Publisher: Broadway
Catalog: Book
Release date: 2007-10-16
Media: Hardcover
Number of pages: 432
Ean: 9780767927567
Book Isbn: 0767927567

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Authors:

Carolyn Jessop	see more Books by Carolyn Jessop
Laura Palmer	see more Books by Laura Palmer

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Professional Review:

The dramatic first-person account of life inside an ultra-fundamentalist American religious sect, and one woman’s courageous flight to freedom with her eight children.

When she was eighteen years old, Carolyn Jessop was coerced into an arranged marriage with a total stranger: a man thirty-two years her senior. Merril Jessop already had three wives. But arranged plural marriages were an integral part of Carolyn’s heritage: She was born into and raised in the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS), the radical offshoot of the Mormon Church that had settled in small communities along the Arizona-Utah border. Over the next fifteen years, Carolyn had eight children and withstood her husband’s psychological abuse and the watchful eyes of his other wives who were locked in a constant battle for supremacy.

Carolyn’s every move was dictated by her husband’s whims. He decided where she lived and how her children would be treated. He controlled the money she earned as a school teacher. He chose when they had sex; Carolyn could only refuse—at her peril. For in the FLDS, a wife’s compliance with her husband determined how much status both she and her children held in the family. Carolyn was miserable for years and wanted out, but she knew that if she tried to leave and got caught, her children would be taken away from her. No woman in the country had ever escaped from the FLDS and managed to get her children out, too. But in 2003, Carolyn chose freedom over fear and fled her home with her eight children. She had $20 to her name.

Escape exposes a world tantamount to a prison camp, created by religious fanatics who, in the name of God, deprive their followers the right to make choices, force women to be totally subservient to men, and brainwash children in church-run schools. Against this background, Carolyn Jessop’s flight takes on an extraordinary, inspiring power. Not only did she manage a daring escape from a brutal environment, she became the first woman ever granted full custody of her children in a contested suit involving the FLDS. And in 2006, her reports to the Utah attorney general on church abuses formed a crucial part of the case that led to the arrest of their notorious leader, Warren Jeffs.

User Reviews:

Written on September 21, 2008
Summary: Carolyn Jessop IS an "exceptional" woman
You can never know how hard it is to break free of fundamentalist conditioning unless you've had to do it yourself. I have (though not specifically as a Mormon, "just" as a fundamentalist Christian). Carolyn Jessop IS an extraordinary, exceptional woman and this story is a reminder that even in the so-called "land of the free," some people are prisoners--if "only" to the brainwashing they have received at the hands those who manipulate and steal from others and call it "god's will." Thank you, Carolyn Jessop, for your caring and your courage.

Written on September 21, 2008
Summary: Enthralling
Read the book. Couldn't put it down. Yes it drags in places, but what memoir doesn't? Yes the writing could have been better, but she isn't a literary author.

She is a woman who has been through hell on Earth and wanted to tell her story.

The amount of abuse and neglect in the FLDS is amazing, and more than once I wanted to slap some sense into Merril, Barbara and the rest of the brainwashed community. I'm sure if I had been in Carolyn's place, I would have killed someone. To know this stuff is taking place just draws to the fact that even in the United States we can't control everything.

Warren Jeffs is an idiot and should be imprisoned for the rest of his life. I don't wish death on him, because I'm sure he believes he's going directly to heaven - it would only make him happy. At certain points I wanted to walk away from the book due to the constant abuse and just blatant denial everyone experienced or took part in. A cult, yes, but a religion they are not. And the amount of hate Carolyn's children had for her when she escaped made me more surprised than anything else.

I certainly wouldn't be surprised if at one point there is a massive suicide. I hate to say it, but the world would be a better place without the likes of Merril Jessop.

Written on September 21, 2008
Summary: BUY THIS BOOK NEW
ESCAPE by CAROLYN JESSOP is a book that needs to bought new. One can only hope that Ms Jessop makes two kijillion dollars from this book (after all, taxes take the first kijillion).

Ms Jessop must have a heart like a lion! Taking her children, she left her husband with no money, no friends and no family. All she had was the hope that perhaps away from the FLDS sect, she might have a happier, better life. I can't imagine leaving my job, all my worldly possessions, and assuming full support for eight children (so you know she really needs that kijillion dollars) including one that was very desperately ill.

Not only this, but to even make this choice, Ms Jessop had to assume that what she had been taught about God and the nature of reality her entire life might be wrong. The risk was her immortal soul and that of her children. Her bravery is awe-inspiring.

Growing up in rural Arkansas, I knew plenty of folks who believe that their wife and children were their personal property. Young boys would brag about how hard they were "whupped" by their dad for minor infractions. However, nothing I have seen or heard prepared me for the level of abuse that was described in this book. Most shocking was the "disposable" way that children were treated. Not only the lack of adequate medical care, but also the mass excommunication of teen age boys to keep the male/female ratio "right" for polygamy and to remove competition for young girls was disturbing. It shows that polygamy really only benefits those in power and harms both boys and girls.

This book is written in simple declaritive sentances that grow more complex each chapter. Perhaps the author did this to reflect how her understanding grew over time. The change in style from the start of the book to the end of the book can be a bit grating.

Likewise, parts of the book didn't ring true to me. Some of the events in this book did not reflect my understanding of how human beings really act. However, with one exception, I believe this book to as factually accurate as any memior can be.

Bottom line, this is an excellent story, well told by a very interesting, strong, brave and beautiful woman.

Written on September 17, 2008
Summary: A Very Resourceful Woman vs. A Very Difficult/Scary Situation!
"Escape" is the story of how a polygamy sect brainwashed children and controlled the minds and actions of its members, along with how one young woman (Carolyn) overcame these restraints to liberate both herself and her children. I found myself mentally cheering her on throughout as she persevered to overcome obstacle after obstacle.

Carolyn came from six generations of polygamists and was coerced into a marriage at age 18 with a fifty-year-old man as his 4th wife. In the next 15 years she had 8 children, including one who was severely disabled.

At the time of her escape, her husband had six other wives - all suspicious of Carolyn. Further, there was no successful precedent for her effort - no woman had obtained full custody of her children in a contested suit involving the FLDS. However, Carolyn did not let this stop her - Warren Jeffs (sect leader) had started talking about moving his followers to a place she feared was walled in, preventing escape.

Jeffs had previously ended the practice of sending the children to public schools and ordered them all into church-run schools. Carolyn, however, knew these schools were into hard-core brainwashing - teaching sect rules, denying the existence of dinosaurs or that man had been to the moon.

Most women in the sect had less than a 7th-grade education and no life skills. Fortunately, Carolyn had been a public school teacher. One of her hobbies was collecting children's books - 300+. Jeffs decreed that all such worldly material (including radio, TV) had to be destroyed.

The "last straw" for Carolyn was learning that her 12-year-old daughter had been invited to Jeff's for a sleepover; Jeffs was marrying off younger and younger girls.

Carolyn's brother agreed to come pick up Carolyn and her children. The local police were FLDS members and known to stop those attempting to escape.

The State of Arizona had previously tried to break up the polygamy practice in its remote areas. Unfortunately, the 1953 "Short Creek" (now Colorado City) raid brought the wives and children to Phoenix for a trial. Legal maneuvering foiled the effort; the then sect leader's successful role in defeating the government, combined with the temporary separation of mothers and children, reinforced the sect's suspicion of outsiders and the sect leader's power.

Dictated marriages arose because, left to choose, young women chose young men, leaving out the powerful older men in the sect seeking more wives to enhance their favor with God.

Two of Carolyn's children (Betty and Arthur) actively resisted the escape effort - further complicating the effort. Carolyn's position vs. her husband was strengthened with a temporary restraining order against him. Doing so went against the direction of her father.

With help from former sect leaders, volunteers, and the Utah Attorney General, Carolyn was able to get her children past the difficult initial adjustment to "outside" life and into school. Her proudest moments came when Arthur and Betty graduated from high school. (Arthur refused his father's direction to return to the sect; Betty complied.)

Written on September 17, 2008
Summary: WOW!!
The only thing I can say, is you have to read this book for yourself.

Comparison map

Wondering how the book "Escape" relates to similar books? Find out at a glance here:

Price comparison	Escape	His Favorite Wife: Trapped in Polygamy	Stolen Innocence: My Story of Growing Up in a...	Shattered Dreams: My Life as a Polygamist's Wife	Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent...	God's Brothel: The Extortion of Sex for Salvation...
Our price	$16.47	$13.57	$17.13	$11.19	$10.17	$11.53
List price	$24.95	$19.95	$25.95	$13.99	$14.95	$16.95
Lowest used price	$4.00	$11.56	$9.49	$7.94	$1.75	$6.65
Lowest new price	$8.99	$13.57	$12.00	$7.79	$7.94	$10.32
Collectible price	$24.95	$20.00	$25.95	-	$14.95	-
Catalog	Book	Book	Book	Book	Book	Book
Release date	2007-10-16	2006-06-15	2008-05-13	2008-09-02	2004-06-08	2004-06-01
Media	Hardcover	Paperback	Hardcover	Paperback	Paperback	Paperback
Number of pages	432	445	448	432	432	240
Ean	9780767927567	9780977973002	9780739496343	9781599951584	9781400032808	9781930074132
Book Isbn	0767927567	097797300X	0061628018	1599951584	1400032806	1930074131
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