PROPHET OF BLOOD: The Untold Story of Ervil LeBaron and the Lambs of God

by ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 6, 1981

Execrable. Reporters Bradlee and Van Atta have unearthed piles of information on the grisly career of LeBaron (1925-81), a malevolent religious maniac in the Jim Jones mold; but they simply dump it all in one chaotic bundle--leaving their promising story still, as the subtitle says, untold. LeBaron grew up in a pioneer community of heretical Mormon polygamists in Chihuahua, Mexico (he ultimately acquired 14 wives and an undetermined number of children). Crazy ideas--and violence--were in the air: LeBaron's elder brother Joel (seven wives, 44 children) founded the Church of the Firstborn of the Fulness (sic) of Time, appointing three of his brothers, including Ervil, as the sect's ""trinity."" But Ervil and Joel quarreled over Ervil's sanguinary plans to stamp out all the church's enemies, so in 1971 Ervil had Joel assassinated. (In 1977 he did the same thing to his pregnant daughter Rebecca.) For the next eight years LeBaron divided his time between Mexico and the US--herding his flock of (rather wolfish) Lambs of God, writing long incoherent political-theological tracts, expanding his harem and bank account, dodging the law, doing time, and directing the murders of perhaps eight people, most spectacularly that of a rival polygamist, Rulon Allred. Finally captured and convicted, LeBaron died of a heart attack in Utah State Prison. Mailer or Capote might have turned LeBaron's life into a seamy epic; a competent freelancer might have turned it into gripping reportage; Bradlee and Van Atta don't even manage a readable summary of the facts.

Pub Date: Jan. 6, 1981

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Putnam

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 1981

Categories: NONFICTION