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Loading... The 4 O'Clock Murders (1993)by Scott Anderson
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. I did read it in 2005 but only 120 pages. Then i got a bit tired. Maybe because I'd already read 2 true crime books about mormoms. Might try again. Synopsis: An informative novel about the creation of the polygamist cults which developed into the LeBaron family's competition for power. When Ervil LeBaron tells his followers that the cult now believes in "blood atonement" - the sacrifice of a non-believer's blood in return for a place in heaven - they follow his orders with a result of mass killings in both Mexico and the United States. Due to the killers' well thought-out plans, many of the murderers have still not been convicted today. My Opinion: More of a factual, rather than emotional account of life in a polygamist cult. The precision of their murders and auto-theft business amazes me how, even today, they have not been brought down. Readable, but not stunningly well-written. Occasional minor details are a bit off -- for instance, at one point Anderson misnames one of Verlan's wives as "Rhea" when he means to reference "Irene". Also, since the book was published in 1993, it's out of date regarding the current status of the various members of the LeBaron clan. Still, it's a valuable resource in understanding the specifics of what happened in that group. If the subject is of interest it's probably worth reading some of the memoirs associated with the LeBarons -- two of Verlan's wives (Ervil's sisters-in-law) wrote relevant memoirs: Irene Spencer's Shattered Dreams covers her life with the cult; her Cult Insanity specifically deals with Ervil and his issues; Susan Ray Schmidt's His Favorite Wife: Trapped in Polygamy covers both life with the cult, and the beginning of Ervil's reign of terror. Note: One should compare The 4 O'Clock Murders / Scott Anderson (1993) with Cult Insanity / Irene Spencer (2009) and Prophet of Blood / Ben Bradlee & Dale Van Atta (1981), all of which cover the Lambs of God from their beginnings through their various murders in the 1970s. The 4 O'Clock Murders is largely derivative, and generally more superficial, with the material covered in Prophet of Blood -- that is, the beginnings of the cult through Ervil LeBaron's death. For the best journalistic coverage of that time (roughly through the end of the 1970s), it makes sense to read Prophet. Spencer fills in the exact same time period as Prophet of Blood, but with more personal detail and insight, and more of a sense of the role of polygamy in the Lambs of God and the Church of the Firstborn. To understand what happened with the cult after LeBaron's death, however, Anderson is important and is the only complete account. Spencer's book, written 16 years after Anderson's, unfortunately stops at the same time as Prophet of Blood -- with Ervil LeBaron's death. She updates Anderson only insofar as she updates the Ervil LeBaron offspring chart with updated suicides, murders, and imprisonments. (Grim.) The 4 O'clock murders is about a fundementalist Morman cult in the 1980's who lived in Texas and Mexico. They were known as the "Morman Mafia" as they stole vehicles to support their "mission". They believed in"blood atonement" and no one stood in their way. They killed their followers, their brothers, their wives, their children if they felt they threatened by them. (The first 23 people listed under Characters in Common Knowledge were all killed.) The book gives you background in their beliefs, religion and how they were finally brought to justice. no reviews | add a review
"Texas residents are shocked when, at 4 P.M. an a June day in 1988, four people are slain in precisely timed attacks at three different locations in the state. Police know who the killers are, but cannot convict them. They also know who is giving the execution orders: a man buried in a Texas grave twelve years ago." "Dubbed by the media as the "Mormon Manson," Ervil LeBaron believed he was a prophet chosen by God to purify the Mormon faith. Resurrecting the nineteenth-century Mormon tenets of polygamy and blood atonement, he formed a fanatic religious cult - still in existence - which has left bodies scattered throughout the American Southwest. So strong is LeBaron's hold that, even twelve years after his death, many of his thirteen wives and sixty children are still carrying out his orders. It is those orders that frighten law enforcement officials. Before he died, LeBaron penned a chilling last testament to his family, a death list called The Book of New Covenants. To date, five of those on the list have been murdered, and no one involved in the case believes the bloodshed is over yet." "Investigative writer Scott Anderson presents an astonishing portrait of America's most bizarre crime family. In a meticulously researched book, Anderson follows the bloody trail of the LeBaron cult over twenty years, and reveals how it has been served by the controversial and hidden history of the Mormon church." "As compelling as the best fiction, The 4 O'Clock Murders is all the more terrifying because it is true."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)364.1Social sciences Social problems and services; associations Criminology Crimes and OffensesLC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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