cover image Mormon Odyssey/Ida Hunt

Mormon Odyssey/Ida Hunt

Ida Hunt Udall. University of Illinois Press, $29.95 (296pp) ISBN 978-0-252-01875-6

Embellishing her maternal grandmother's journal with her own commentary and with the recollections of friends and relatives, freelance writer Ellsworth presents a portrait of Ida Hunt Udall (1858-1915) that approaches hagiography. Although Udall hid from U.S. marshals for months at a time and had to endure the jealousy of and favored treatment to her ``co-wife'' by their husband, a Mormon leader, she remained a loving wife and mother who was deeply committed to polygamy, a Mormon practice of the period. Unfortunately, Ellsworth does not provide enough background information about the Mormon religious commandment of ``celestial'' or plural marriage, about how widely plural marriage was practiced and why it was practiced, or about why the leadership eventually banned these unions. Udall's complaints against her husband seem to be given short shrift due to her own self-abnegation and perhaps to Ellsworth's censorship; the editor notes: ``I hope that nothing I have written here will detract from the harmony in the Udall family my grandmother worked so hard to achieve.'' While scholars may appreciate its insider's view of late-19th-century Mormon culture, this account has little appeal for the general reader. Photos not seen by PW. (Aug.)