Girl on a Wire: Walking the Line Between Faith and Freedom in the Westboro Baptist Church

It wasn’t until Libby Phelps was an adult, a twenty-five-year-old, that she escaped the Westboro Baptist Church. She is the granddaughter of its founder, Fred Phelps, and when she left, the church and its values were all she’d known. She didn’t tell her family she was leaving. She ran into her house, grabbed a bag, and fled. No goodbyes.

Based in Topeka, Kansas, the Westboro Baptist Church community is one of the country’s most notorious evangelical groups. Its zealous members are known for...