Man, this was so impressive. I'm amazed by the sources and stories Ulrich found to pull from, given the difficulty of preserving and finding records/letters/diaries kept by average women. She does such a great job of helping us see what life was like for these pioneer women and how much they sacrificed and accomplished, often on their own (with husbands away on missions or spread between plural families). One thing that stood out to me was how often families lost babies and children to illness and accident. And it was really interesting to read about how women fought publicly for their right to worship (which especially included polygamy) while feeling personal pain over the practice. (Also, this was in no way Ulrich's stated thesis but reading this book makes me even more convinced that polygamy sucks. There are some heartbreaking stories in here.)