Kidnapped From That Land

The Government Raids on the Short Creek Polygamist

In the early morning hours of July 26, 1953, several hundred Arizona state officials and police officers moved into the polygamist community of Short Creek, Arizona, to serve warrants on thirty-six men and eighty-six women. Officials staging the raid believed they were rescuing the community’s 263 children from a life of bondage and immorality.

Kidnapped from that Land is the first book to bring together the story of the 1953 raid and two previous raids in 1935 and 1944. Martha Bradley tells the story with insight and compassion for the families that were fragmented by the arrests. She also deals with the complex legal issues that persist in both Arizona and Utah, where the practice of polygamy is a felony that is no longer prosecuted.

Kidnapped from that Land will appeal to those interested in the study of Mormon history, of polygamy, and of western regional and American social history.

Martha Bradley is assistant professor of history at Brigham Young University.

Table of Contents:

Table of Contents:
Contents

Preface
1. Mormon Polygamy: A Historical Overview, 1830-1890
2. The Roots of Modern-Day Fundamentalism, 1896-1935
3. Short Creek: First Settlements, 1860-1935
4. The Search for Refuge and the First Raid, 1935
5. The Boyden Raid and Prosecutions, 1944-1950
6. The Aftermath of the 1944 Raid
7. The Women of Fundamentalism
8. Howard Pyle and the Raid of 1953
Photograph Section
9. The "Capture" of Short Creek
10. The Legal Experience
11. Denouement: The Black Case, 1954
12. Short Creek in 1992
Appendix A. Fundamentalist Families Involved in the 1953 Raid
Appendix B. Statement by Arizona Governor Howard Pyle
Notes to Chapters
Bibliography
Index