When I was a Mormon, the first of Joseph Smith's dozens of wives, Emma, was portrayed as his only wife. Not only that, their relationship was always depicted as loyal and loving — though LDS scripture in the Doctrine and Covenants showed that Emma had difficulty with the doctrine of plural marriage. (Great understatement…) To this day LDS retail stores sell statuettes of the couple looking lovingly at each other.
The truth of the matter is very different:
“The simple fact is that Mormon historians have already shown the Emma Smith/Joseph Smith/Polygamy story to be very different than the LDS would like to have it. I mean, come on, you have to ask yourself why Brigham Young once (in public!) claimed Emma Smith tried to poison Joseph, but now Mormons only talk about what a great marriage the Smiths had.
“Read ‘Mormon Enigma: Emma Hale Smith' or ‘In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith' or ‘Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling' – three books written by Mormons.” — Sandra Tanner
For more information, see The Mormon Mirage 3rd Edition: A Former Member Looks at the Mormon Church Today(Zondervan, 2009). Also available as an audiobook and as an expanded-text E-book for Nook, Kindle and other reading devices.
