Told in blunt pragmatic prose, Denton examines the tragic killing of 3 women and 6 children in Mexico. They were members of the polygamist group Colonia LeBaron. The author relates the history of Mormonism and polygamy in very general terms, but doesn’t hesitate to illustrate the megalomaniac personality of Joseph Smith and the lies and deception of Brigham Young.
It’s an eye opening read for anyone unfamiliar with the subject.

Someone I know was cousins with the victims of this gruesome attack and it's weird how it all seemed to be just brushed over in light of other news so quickly. I appreciate Sally Denton for really doing research and shedding some light on this tragic event.

The Colony is a well researched and thorough look not only at the 2019 cartel killing, but of the LDS Church and its rise to prominence. By providing this historical backdrop, Sally Denton enhances her solid investigative narrative and gives readers a clear look at the lives forever changed in the process.

**I was given a copy of this book by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. My thanks to W. W. Norton & Company and Netgalley**

In investigative journalist Sally Denton’s new book, The Colony: Faith and Blood in a Promised Land (W.W. Norton & Company 2022), she explores the long and complex history of the Mormon church, women’s place within that history, and what factors led to the violent deaths of nine women and children on a fateful day in 2019.

Denton’s book opens on 4 November 2019, when three mothers and their children set off in a caravan of vehicles to make a six-hour trek across a desolate road in Mexico, a known route for drug cartels. Nevertheless, the women had made the drive safely countless times before and had no reason to suspect that this time would be any different. Sadly, on the morning of the 4th, the three cars were ambushed by masked men armed with semi-automatic weapons who proceeded to riddle both the cars and the women and children inside them with bullets. In the case of thirty-year-old Rhonita LeBaron Miller, who was travelling with four of her seven children, including eight-month-old twins, and her ten- and twelve-year-old daughter and son, the gunmen shot all five of them and then set the car ablaze. The two other women, Christina Langford Johnson and Dawna Ray Langford, would suffer a similar fate, although some of their children would survive despite grave injuries. All three of the women were killed attempting to protect their children, and the crime at first seemed like a case of mistaken identity—with cartel members assuming that the vehicles and their occupants were associated with another cartel. However, as Denton goes on to suggest, the explanation behind these truly brutal killings may not be so simple.

All of the victims were members of the LeBaron and the La Mora communities—fundamentalist Mormon groups who originally broke from the more commonly known Latter Day Saints Church in the US to settle in Mexico after their religion outlawed polygamy. Denton’s book begins in 2019, but rewinds all the way back to the nineteenth century to explore the history of Colonia LeBaron—or The Colony, as its residents call their homestead—and what this history means in relation to the 2019 massacre. As Denton writes

this book is an attempt to answer a seemingly straightforward question: Who are the LeBarons, and what drove them first to settle in Utah in the 1840s, and then to colonize a region in Mexico in the 1880s as members of an embittered offshoot of a uniquely American sect? Put another way, why were Rhonita, Dawna, Christina, and their children on that road in the first place? (29)

The premise of The Colony is an interesting one. Focusing on such a recent crime that was widely covered by the US media, Denton showcases a careful journalistic voice and an eye for meticulous research, especially considering the welter of news media and social media material available to her. The opening chapter is a harrowing account of the day of the massacre, and Denton does an excellent job of leading with what is most important here: the lives of the victims. The book also required Denton to delve into the archives in search of material around the history of the colony and its members, a history that is not without its own significant amount of bloodshed. What Denton goes on to reveal about the colony, Mormonism, and the history of many of the people and relatives involved in this case, is truly shocking and well-paced on Denton’s part.

Personally, I have very little interest in Mormonism or religious history more widely. The opening chapter sets up a very compelling case, and one that feels so senseless and terrifying that I was desperate for any kind of answer for such violence. Denton does her best to provide such an answer through an exploration of the history of the colony and its members, but there were times where the subject lost my interest. Although the historical work in this book is necessary for foregrounding what will be revealed later, I would warn readers that the middle sections of this book do take some work to get through if religious history is not of great interest. For me, the case surrounding this book felt less like a mystery that needed to be solved, and more like an exploration of the social, political, and religious circumstances that led to the three women and their children being on that road. This is not necessarily a bad thing, and certainly I think that the middle sections of the book are worth moving through in order to come to the violent, criminal, and literally cultish aspects of the events that occur in the text’s final third.

Overall, Denton does expertly bring together a number of narrative threads—both historical and contemporary—and conflicting perspectives to craft an excellently written book. The Colony strikes a balance between an investigative voice and deeply emotional imagery that can be difficult to find in this kind of writing. About The Colony, Denton writes

I instinctively sensed that the story would illustrate the many conflicts raging in the borderlands of the American West, where I was born and raised, and where I live: drug addiction, cartel violence, exploited women, and waters wars. Set against the backdrop of a long and controversial history of polygamy and religious extremism, the massacre was certain also to expose the contemporary world of Mormonism in Mexico. (275)

Indeed, Denton’s book brings all of these separate issues to bear on one shocking violent act in her book. Overall, this was an excellent read that highlighted some of the most shocking facts about a very recent true crime case. I highly recommend.

Please add The Colony to your Goodreads shelf.
Don’t forget to follow True Crime Index on Twitter and please visit our Goodreads for updates on what we’re reading! You can find Rachel on her personal @RachelMFriars or on Goodreads @Rachel Friars.
About the Writer:
Rachel M. Friars (she/her) is a PhD student in the Department of English Language and Literature at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario. She holds a BA and an MA in English Literature with a focus on neo-Victorianism and adaptations of Jane Eyre. Her current work centers on neo-Victorianism and nineteenth-century lesbian literature and history, with secondary research interests in life writing, historical fiction, true crime, popular culture, and the Gothic. Her academic writing has been published with Palgrave Macmillan and in The Journal of Neo-Victorian Studies. She is a reviewer for The Lesbrary, the co-creator of True Crime Index, and an Associate Editor and Social Media Coordinator for PopMeC Research Collective. Rachel is co-editor-in-chief of the international literary journal, The Lamp, and regularly publishes her own short fiction and poetry. Find her on Twitter and Goodreads

I got much more than I bargained for with this book. I was thinking it would be a true crime book but I also includes a very detailed history on the LDS church and how The Colony branched off. I learned a lot of new things but found it overall to be very wordy and sometimes repetitive. That being said, it’s obvious the author did some very extensive work and this issue is a very big deal for those involved. Definitely worth a read if this is a new subject matter for you.

This was an interesting book, the author included an extensive list of resources she used to write the book, it takes up the last hour or so of the book. The book starts with the massacre of 3 women and 6 children in Mexico who were on their way from Colonia LeBaron to a neighboring town, they are traveling in a convoy of SUV's. They are attacked, the SUV's riddled with bullets, the lead SUV and the people in it burnt, some of the children escaped and took shelter, one young boy walked many miles to get help. Who actually attacked them is not discussed until near the end of the book. Most of the book details the history of Mormons and polygamy, the roots in the south of USA, the move to, at the time, the Mexican territory of Utah that was out of reach of the USA authorities and allowed polygamy among the settlers to flourish, the move to Mexico and the establishment of Colonia LeBaron. This portion of the book is quite detailed and includes the Meadow Massacre where Mormons attacked a group of gentile travelers killing all, the worst, at the time, white on white attack in history. The Mormons were also not kind to each other, with one brother killing another, siblings taking out other siblings (all the families are very large with numerous children). Then there's the NXIVM that made a film about one of the members of the Colonia LeBaron, the found of NXIVM was found guilty of sex trafficking and a number of other charges, some of the people he attempted to engage were from Colonia LeBaron. In the end who actually did the deed is not clearly determined, Mexican authorities were slow to investigate, not arriving at the scene for a day or more after the event, then blaming it on rival cartels. There were a number of people arrested, but to date no one has been held accountable. A tragic read that I would recommend. Thank you to #Netgalley and #Liveright for the ARC.

This one was a tough one for me. I was interested in the facts surrounding the modern-day murders, and the part of the book that described those was interesting to me. The problem for me is that the author torched my trust in her in the historical part of the book tracing the rise of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I do not know if it is personal animus or poor research that led to the many factually incorrect statements, but it made it quite difficult for me to evaluate the truthfulness of the rest of the book. I realize the author has written other books on this history, including one on the Mountain Meadows massacre. So I think she should know, and was disappointed with her assertions that John D Lee was "Brigham Young's favorite apostle" as he was not, as far as I could discover, an apostle at all, and there was no evidence provided that he was a "favorite" anything. Also simple statements that five minutes with the Book of Mormon could refute, such as the assertion that Mormon, father of Moroni, led the migration to the Americas. ??? There were many more in my notebook for me to check up on further, but I was disappointed in this.
Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

This book gives so much background information about the FLDS and the LDS. Full disclosure, I have read many many memoirs from individuals who managed to escape the FLDS so my repertoire of knowledge around this is quite high. This book starts off with the murders of FLDS members in Mexico in 2019, but quickly deviates to the history of Mormonism and the split between the FLDS and the LDS communities. The background and the history going back to Joseph Smith can get a bit dry and overly wordy, but Denton lays out the ground work for readers to understand the turmoil and violence this community was subject to, and what they inflicted upon others.
Denton then returns to a more modern time and goes through the LaBaron communities relationship with NXIVM and Raniere, which offers some unique insight to two cults working in unison. These chapters are a bit long, and for any readers with more background in this area may struggle with the quotes from other memoirs and the history, there is heavy use of Irene Spencer's material (another great read).
This didn't hit the mark for me as a true crime book or what I expected, it does read more as a generalized history of the LaBaron group but the read was worth the time nevertheless.

Thank you NetGalley and Sally Denton for the free eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I had expected to be more insight into the aftermath of the LeBaron cult, and there was some of that but the book felt lacking.

The Colony
by Sally Denton
Pub Date: June 28, 2022
Liveright
Thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the ARC of this book. An investigation into the 2019 killings of nine Mormons in Northern Mexico, which drew international attention, The Colony takes readers into the strange, little-understood world of a fundamentalist Mormon outpost.
* True Crime *History * Religion
I enjoyed this book, increasing my knowledge of the Mormon religion, polygamy, and the difficult circumstances for all those living in northern Mexico. For anyone who wishes to go beyond the headlines and better understand the massacres of November 2019, I highly recommend this book.
Best of luck to all those involved in writing this important book.
4 stars

This book was interesting both in its history of fundamentalist Mormon groups and it's information on this specific event. I would read another book by this author as this one was informative and engaging.

Wow. This was a great look at the history of this particular group. The author wrote it in a way that kept me interested.

I am grateful to NetGalley for providing an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Late in 2019, a group of local women and children were travelling on a remote road in northern Mexico, when they were attacked by multiple gunmen. The adults and several children died, their bodies and vehicles were set alight and the remaining children, many severely injured, were left to fend for themselves.

This book provides the background and history of these people, whose Mormon ancestors arrived in Mexico over one hundred years ago following the outlawing of polygamy in the United States. Since that time, communities or colonies, comprised of many dual American-Mexican citizens, have expanded, making a success of farming in a harsh, largely underdeveloped area. In more recent years the uneasy alliance the polygamist colonies have had with the various competing Mexican drug cartels has shifted, and the mutual tolerance has ebbed.

Intertwined with the polygamist colonies and the drug cartels are various other groups and institutions: indigenous neighbours, local and national politicians, peace campaigners, gun-rights advocates, American Mormon communities and US politicians. Strong views and tensions ebb and flow over the years, and various violent episodes from past times are still vividly remembered. Tensions also exist within and between the Mexican polygamist communities over multiple issues including church leadership, and the political, cultural, commercial aspects of their lifestyles.

The books opens with a description of the November 2019 massacre of the women and children. The polygamist communities, the cartels, and other groups including politicians, neighbouring indigenous communities and towns are introduced.

The following chapters provide a brief but concise history of the American Church of Latter Day Saints, also known as the Mormon Church; a relatively new and uniquely American religion, with polygamy central to its beliefs. When polygamy became illegal in the US at the end of the 19th century, communities of Mormons left the US, including some who traveled and settled in northern Mexico. The colonies thrived in Mexico where polygamy, whilst not legal, was tolerated to some extent. They drifted from mainstream Mormonism in many ways, but polygamy, patriarchy and segregation remained integral to their lifestyle.

The book explains the evolution, expansion, divergence and success of the Mexican polygamist colonies. Despite conflicts within the colonies, as well as external pressures such as the Mexican Revolution in the early 20th century, these communities have survived to the present day. There is an uneasy relationship with the political system and in particular with the drug cartels that have come to dominate the political, cultural and economic landscape of significant areas throughout Mexico. Always in the background are the violent tendencies of those who wish to ‘lead’ these communities in certain directions, either economic, spiritual or towards challenging the dominance of the cartels. Interestingly, an American cult called NXIVM engaged with the Mexican colonies and their struggle with the drug cartels, seeking to solve the issues they were having through mindfulness, dialogue and peaceful methods. Predictably, this failed, perhaps making the situation even worse. NIXVM later had legal problems of their own with leaders brought to justice for various crimes in the US.

The book discusses multiple groups, situations and events leading up to the November 2019 massacre. Both the US and Mexican political landscapes evolve, and the influence of the drug cartels increases, along with conflict and competition. By the 21st century, the Mexican polygamist colonies have become powerful commercial and political enterprises, damaging the uneasy truce that had been enjoyed with the cartels. Privilege, resentment, threats and violence increase, leading up to the horrible events of November of 2019.

Speculation as to who was responsible and why this massacre occurred is covered in the closing chapters. Various charges have been made and several individuals have been arrested. Despite this, justice remains elusive for the families of this episode as it does for so many other victims of violence in Mexico and the United States.

I enjoyed this book, increasing my knowledge of the Mormon religion, polygamy, and the difficult circumstances for all those living in northern Mexico. For anyone who wishes to go beyond the headlines and better understand the massacres of November 2019, I highly recommend this book.

I wish the author and publishers all the very best with this important book.

I received an ARC of, The Colony by Sally Denton. This book is interesting but sad. It gives a history of the Mormon religion, off shoot. The people who died needlessly in Mexico was horrible.

The Colony by Sally Denton
4 stars
There is a great deal of FLDS & LDS backstory in this book. The author starts with the telling of the massacre in Mexico in 2019 that killed FLDS mothers and their children as they traveled down the road. The book backtracks to the very beginning of Mormon history, polygamy and the fracture of those mormons who continued to believe in polygamy and those who did abandoned the practice.
This book is for anyone interested in the history of the Mormons and the hardships they faced from early on up until a faction of them moved to Mexico. I have read many of the memoirs of women who were born into and trapped into this life before escaping; but this book brings a unique look at the background of Joseph Smith and the rest of the leaders within this group. At times, this book is overly wordy and intense but it was a interesting read that I believe many readers will appreciate and enjoy.
One caveat, The Colony is more of a history book than it is a true crime book.



I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher and Netgalley.

At first glance, this book seems to be about the brutal killing of three Mormon women and six of their children on a desolate road in Mexico in 2019, but that incident is just the starting point for Denton’s analysis of the many splinter groups of the fundamentalist LDS church that settled south of the border when polygamy was banned. This investigation includes religious extremism, family feuds, politics, sex scandals, and drug cartels and a large assortment of men grappling for dominance. It’s complicated, bloody, and ultimately futile, and I couldn’t look away.
Recommended

I found the case detailed in this book so interesting. I wish that the book had just focused on that rather then being an almost 50/50 split with the history of the Mormon church.