The Witness Wore Red: The 19th Wife Who Brought Polygamous Cult Leaders to Justice by M. Bridget Cook, Rebecca Musser

4.0 AVERAGE

a_vro_'s review against another edition

4.0
4.5 stars.

Rebecca's story is incredible. She has such bravery for leaving her community and for speaking out against Warren Jeffs and certain aspects of her former religion. I appreciate that she separates the people from the tyrannical leaders that morphed her community into a new entity. I agree that not all sounds bad about her community, but it is the changes in behaviors that the more recent leaders implemented that really are appalling.

mlyn's review against another edition

3.0
I enjoyed her sister's book more, but this was interesting and showed a different perspective.
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hiimval's review against another edition

4.25
challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring sad medium-paced

christinemw's review against another edition

5.0
This story is haunting to say the least. I grew up in Utah and I can honestly say that I had only ever really heard whispers of the FLDS and didn't know what they were about until I read this book. It's terrifying to realize that someone like Warren Jeffs could obtain power over a group of people and then use that power to justify his own sick desires, meanwhile, those who could do something, stand by and do nothing because 'the prophet said'. I do aplaud the author's decision to let her mother go and choose her own path, that could not have been an easy choice to make. I'd recomend this book to anyone looking for a non-fiction page-turner, I couldn't put it down (with exception to the parts where I had to put it down so that my brain would process the info.)

kbella8's review against another edition

4.25
challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

diane_freehling's review against another edition

5.0
I rarely give a book 5 stars but the life lessons from Becky still pop into my mind several days after finishing the book. This is one I will keep on my shelves to reference and retread.
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kaelynreads's review against another edition

3.0
dark emotional sad medium-paced
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sara_beth_11's review against another edition

4.0
I read this book for the category "Nonfiction Book Dealing With Religion" for the Book Riot 2016 Read Harder Challenge. However, this book is very difficult to categorize! It also deals with topics of feminism and human rights through the unflinching perspective of one woman's lifelong struggle with the abuses in her insular childhood community.

I appreciated Musser's ability to frankly assess the conditions in her fundamentalist church that led to one corrupt man having unprecedented power over thousands of people, particularly women and children. I also admire that Musser's frankness and eye for details is tempered by her emotional plea that readers everywhere do what they can to promote human rights worldwide.

kalebd_2125's review against another edition

4.0
challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced
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grassandcitrus's review against another edition

4.0
Not sure if this is a true 4 or a 3.5 rounded up. I feel like this book didn't know how to end. It was very interesting in the first half but starts getting a little more repetitive and introspective at the end. Plus, her getting into MLMs had me screaming like I was watching a horror movie.

Note specific to the audiobook: be warned that she voices everyone from Texas with the most atrocious Texan accent you can imagine. Genuinely like nails on a chalkboard.