The Colony

Faith and Blood in a Promised Land

By: Sally Denton

Narrated by: Ann Richardson

Length: 9 hrs and 21 mins

Publisher's summary

On the morning of November 4, 2019, a caravan of women and children was ambushed by masked gunmen on a desolate stretch of road in northern Mexico controlled by the Sinaloa drug cartel. Firing semi-automatic weapons, the attackers killed nine people and gravely injured five more. The victims were members of the LeBaron and La Mora communities-fundamentalist Mormons whose forebears broke from the LDS Church and settled in Mexico when their religion outlawed polygamy in the late nineteenth century. The massacre produced international headlines for weeks, and prompted President Donald Trump to threaten to send in the US Army.

In The Colony, Sally Denton delves into the complex story of the LeBaron clan. Their homestead—Colonia LeBaron—is a portal into the past, a place that offers a glimpse of life within a polygamous community on an arid and dangerous frontier in the mid-1800s, though with smartphones and machine guns. Rooting her narrative in written sources as well as interviews with anonymous women from LeBaron itself, Denton unfolds an epic, disturbing tale that spans the first polygamist emigrations to Mexico through the LeBarons' internal blood feud in the 1970s and up to the family's recent alliance with the NXIVM sex cult, whose now-imprisoned leader, Keith Raniere, may have based his practices on the society he witnessed in Colonia LeBaron.

©2022 Sally Denton (P)2022 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books

Great story, tolerable narrator

Having read Jon Krakauer's *Under the Banner of Heaven,* I was highly motivated to listen to this well reviewed book. Terrific content! However, the narrator's slow, light voice lacked all authority, even when sped up to 1.10 rate. Her voice is much better suited to children's literature.

Excellent blend of Mormon history and true crime

Seamlessly blends Mormon history with lesser-known aspects of polygamous clans in Mexico and their connections to Mexican politics, El Chapo Guzman, and the famous NEXVIUM cult. A must for fans of Under the Banner of Heaven.

Fascinating story...terrible narration

This well-researched story of why several Mormon women and children were murdered on a road in Mexico is engrossing, going back to the founding of the LDS church and its historical splinterings and internal debates over polygamy and other doctrinal issues. The intersections of this history with Mexican politics, American society, and international drug cartels are grim. The quality of Sally Denton's writing and research kept me listening to the end. HOWEVER...this narrator did not seem to care about this story at all. Her flat narration, bored tone, and frequent mispronunciation of Spanish words made me grit my teeth all the way through the book.

Great story, terrible narrator

The headline says it all. Narrator vacillates between computer voice and stumbling through sentences. This book deserves better. Proceed at your own risk.

Crisp woven and bizarre facts

At first I thought the narration was too passive, but I was wrong. This book is so well written and researched that a more forceful performance would be a distraction.
Fascinating.

perfect for fans of Under the Banner of Heaven

Great book about a recent event that was covered entirely without nuance at the time. What happened when a Mormon family was slaughtered in Mexico is still not known but there is a lot more to the story than we will ever know.

fascinating and gruesome true story of Mormons

An interesting story about a Mormon group who live in Mexico and have various fraught relationships with cartels and locals. I found the most interesting part to be the history of Mormonism, which I knew nothing about. The modern history is pretty gruesome and I couldn't always follow why things happened, but it is eye-opening .

If You Ever Wondered Why the Nixvm Guy Attracted the Attention of the Feds

Sometimes you encounter world events that confuse you. You take the time to notice that something out of the ordinary is happening, but you don’t really dig too deeply into why that thing is happening. Such is the case with so-called cult leader Keith Raniere, an infamous, 1980s-early-90s multilevel marketing scammer who somehow remained essentially ignored by the feds while he bilked Canadian billionaire heiresses out of 100 million dollars. The feds weren’t even interested in him as he brought third-rate Hollywood actresses into his organization. Yet, when he gets involved with a bunch of Mormons down in Mexico who are calling attention to the fact that United States policies created an unstable, war-like state of affairs, just south of the border, and the US government jumps into action.

The man is convicted, and likely will spend the rest of his life in jail, so commenting on his activities is useless. What is interesting is that the only reason why he’s in jail appears to be the fact that he was intimately involved in calling attention (flamboyantly) to the dangerous state of affairs in Chihuahua, Mexico. One assumes that he would still be bilking Canadian billionaire heiresses out of their money, getting loopy Hollywood actresses to do things most people wouldn’t think about doing, and otherwise living the life of Riley, had he not convinced Mexican Mormons to protest the hell-scape US policy created in their neighborhood.

Everything else about the book is boring.

More surface level than I would have expected

It’s a good oral history of Mormonism, but I was expecting a deeper dive into the experience of those who have left, plural wives without legal rights, children from these families, etc. The book left me wanting to hear more from the women who have actually been there.

Interesting story, well told

I learnt a lot. It was very interesting and kept me engaged. I recommend it for true crime or documentary fans.