88 International Journal of Cultic Studies ■ Vol. 10, 2019
a state of mind resulting from negative thoughts.
Ms. Israel describes a hepatitis outbreak, dubbed
“yellow fever” (p. 427), that ravaged the
community for months but went untreated
except for prayer and herbal remedies (it also
remained unknown to authorities). Later, Love
did make a few compromises, such as allowing a
member (conveniently, a dentist) to open a
dental clinic at the Family ranch, but other forms
of modern medicine remained off-limits, even as
members got older and more women were
getting pregnant.
The most interesting medical development was
the emergence of otherwise devoted women who
secretly violated both the prohibition against
medical care and the agreement not to use
artificial birth control. This was deviance at the
highest level, primarily among the elder ladies,
and it was abetted by some of the highest
ranking women, who had access to vehicles
required to get to a hospital. Their actions
signaled a growing gap between ideal and reality
that spread throughout the Family in the late
1970s and early 1980s.
The Family’s belief in living in the present left it
unprepared for the baby boom that began in the
mid-1970s. Shared parenting was the ideal, but
in reality, it didn’t work well. Though every
adult was expected to be a parent to every child,
parenting styles varied greatly. And in any case,
the burden fell on the women, particularly low-
ranking women and girls such as Ms. Israel and
her mother. But, as the author explains, the
diffusion of responsibility often meant no
responsibility, so children commonly went
unsupervised. Paradoxically, in this world where
having no self was paramount and individual
freedom was taboo, Ms. Israel was forced to
become self-reliant and highly adaptable. She,
like other kids, learned to work the system to her
advantage (and, as I found, many adults did so,
too). If she wanted to do something but was
afraid her elder lady might say no, she could
bypass her by going directly to Love. As I found
in my own research, the words “Love said” (p.
209) were perhaps the two most powerful words
in the Love Family. She also learned which
households to avoid, as the elders varied greatly
in the latitude they granted to kids and the
harshness of their punishments.
For a community based on total agreement, there
was a surprising lack of consensus on the
importance of education. The Family had its
own school staffed by dedicated teachers, but
Love put little value on formal education.
Whereas the teachers wanted to expose kids to
the world, Love and the Family conservatives
wanted to protect them from it. Love had to
approve all reading material and, at least once,
books deemed too worldly were burned. On my
first visit to the Family in 1980, I noticed
second-hand children’s readers in which all
references to conventional family roles and
worldly practices had been blacked out—not just
words, but sentences and whole paragraphs—
making the stories unreadable. Classes followed
no calendar or daily schedule and were
frequently moved from one location to another.
Science was “hit or miss” (p. 333). By
conventional standards, Ms. Israel’s education
was clearly inadequate after she left the Family,
she would struggle in the mainstream
educational system, as would her peers who also
left.
Another source of conflict was polygamy. Love
already had two wives, and he encouraged his
elders to take additional wives, as well.
Although the practice never caught on, it
became a source of tension when Rachel’s
mother, beautiful but with a low-ranking
Hebrew name, became a second wife. The first
wife, an elder lady, felt threatened but having
no choice except to submit, she took her anger
out on Ms. Israel’s mother’s by ruining her
reputation in the community. The result was
such extreme ostracism that her mother, then
pregnant with the elder’s child, had to give birth
alone. This was the ultimate insult in a
community in which every birth was a joyous
occasion attended by the whole Family.
The incident seems particularly vicious,
especially for a group called the Love Family,
but Ms. Israel sees it as just one of many signs
that the Family’s culture was breaking down. By
the end of the 1970s, constraints were loosening
and more and more people were breaking the
rules. Women and girls started wearing makeup
and Fresh Squeeze jeans, and the elder of Ms.
Israel’s household brought home a ham for
dinner newcomers weren’t being screened kids
a state of mind resulting from negative thoughts.
Ms. Israel describes a hepatitis outbreak, dubbed
“yellow fever” (p. 427), that ravaged the
community for months but went untreated
except for prayer and herbal remedies (it also
remained unknown to authorities). Later, Love
did make a few compromises, such as allowing a
member (conveniently, a dentist) to open a
dental clinic at the Family ranch, but other forms
of modern medicine remained off-limits, even as
members got older and more women were
getting pregnant.
The most interesting medical development was
the emergence of otherwise devoted women who
secretly violated both the prohibition against
medical care and the agreement not to use
artificial birth control. This was deviance at the
highest level, primarily among the elder ladies,
and it was abetted by some of the highest
ranking women, who had access to vehicles
required to get to a hospital. Their actions
signaled a growing gap between ideal and reality
that spread throughout the Family in the late
1970s and early 1980s.
The Family’s belief in living in the present left it
unprepared for the baby boom that began in the
mid-1970s. Shared parenting was the ideal, but
in reality, it didn’t work well. Though every
adult was expected to be a parent to every child,
parenting styles varied greatly. And in any case,
the burden fell on the women, particularly low-
ranking women and girls such as Ms. Israel and
her mother. But, as the author explains, the
diffusion of responsibility often meant no
responsibility, so children commonly went
unsupervised. Paradoxically, in this world where
having no self was paramount and individual
freedom was taboo, Ms. Israel was forced to
become self-reliant and highly adaptable. She,
like other kids, learned to work the system to her
advantage (and, as I found, many adults did so,
too). If she wanted to do something but was
afraid her elder lady might say no, she could
bypass her by going directly to Love. As I found
in my own research, the words “Love said” (p.
209) were perhaps the two most powerful words
in the Love Family. She also learned which
households to avoid, as the elders varied greatly
in the latitude they granted to kids and the
harshness of their punishments.
For a community based on total agreement, there
was a surprising lack of consensus on the
importance of education. The Family had its
own school staffed by dedicated teachers, but
Love put little value on formal education.
Whereas the teachers wanted to expose kids to
the world, Love and the Family conservatives
wanted to protect them from it. Love had to
approve all reading material and, at least once,
books deemed too worldly were burned. On my
first visit to the Family in 1980, I noticed
second-hand children’s readers in which all
references to conventional family roles and
worldly practices had been blacked out—not just
words, but sentences and whole paragraphs—
making the stories unreadable. Classes followed
no calendar or daily schedule and were
frequently moved from one location to another.
Science was “hit or miss” (p. 333). By
conventional standards, Ms. Israel’s education
was clearly inadequate after she left the Family,
she would struggle in the mainstream
educational system, as would her peers who also
left.
Another source of conflict was polygamy. Love
already had two wives, and he encouraged his
elders to take additional wives, as well.
Although the practice never caught on, it
became a source of tension when Rachel’s
mother, beautiful but with a low-ranking
Hebrew name, became a second wife. The first
wife, an elder lady, felt threatened but having
no choice except to submit, she took her anger
out on Ms. Israel’s mother’s by ruining her
reputation in the community. The result was
such extreme ostracism that her mother, then
pregnant with the elder’s child, had to give birth
alone. This was the ultimate insult in a
community in which every birth was a joyous
occasion attended by the whole Family.
The incident seems particularly vicious,
especially for a group called the Love Family,
but Ms. Israel sees it as just one of many signs
that the Family’s culture was breaking down. By
the end of the 1970s, constraints were loosening
and more and more people were breaking the
rules. Women and girls started wearing makeup
and Fresh Squeeze jeans, and the elder of Ms.
Israel’s household brought home a ham for
dinner newcomers weren’t being screened kids
