In the introduction to her autobiography, Young wrote that her purpose in writing was neither self-aggrandizement nor simple revenge but rather She toured the nation speaking publicly about her experiences and was quickly induced to publish them as well. After a brief but deeply unhappy period as a plural wife, Young determined to leave Utah and expose what she saw as the hypocritical, anti-woman and anti-child doctrines of the Mormon faith.
Born in the Mormon community of Nauvoo, Illinois, Ann Eliza Young (1844–1919) was among the first generation of children raised in polygamy and, as a young adult, became the nineteenth wife of the religious community’s second leader, Brigham Young.
