Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith
This extraordinary work of investigative journalism by Jon Krakauer takes readers inside America’s isolated Mormon Fundamentalist communities, where some 40,000 people still practice polygamy. Defying both civil authorities and the Mormon establishment in Salt Lake City, the renegade leaders of these Taliban-like theocracies are zealots who answer only to God.
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Community Reviews
4/5 stars
I found this book very interesting. The author uses the crimes committed by the Lafferty brothers to examine mormon fundamentalism, all the way from the humble beginnings of the religion until present day. I was very much enthralled by the history itself, maybe because I'm a history nerd. The description of the crimes committed against and by the mormons during the foundation of their towns had me glued to my kindle.
Having said that I found the book a bit disjointed a couple of times. While I think the use of a shocking event as a starting point and a way to string together the different points the author wanted to make was a good idea, sometimes it took to long to get back to the main crime to the point that I had forgotten where we left off.
The author tried to include everything he had found, and I understand the inclination but in giving all the polygamous sects a little bit of spotlight he never really dug deep into them. This last observation didn't bother me so much since I have seen documentaries like Keep Sweet over on Netflix, but if you haven't you might find youself confused. I will also say that the author doesn't seem to care much for mormons (and even religion as a whole) and it shows, which may rub some people the wrong way.
I found this book very interesting. The author uses the crimes committed by the Lafferty brothers to examine mormon fundamentalism, all the way from the humble beginnings of the religion until present day. I was very much enthralled by the history itself, maybe because I'm a history nerd. The description of the crimes committed against and by the mormons during the foundation of their towns had me glued to my kindle.
Having said that I found the book a bit disjointed a couple of times. While I think the use of a shocking event as a starting point and a way to string together the different points the author wanted to make was a good idea, sometimes it took to long to get back to the main crime to the point that I had forgotten where we left off.
The author tried to include everything he had found, and I understand the inclination but in giving all the polygamous sects a little bit of spotlight he never really dug deep into them. This last observation didn't bother me so much since I have seen documentaries like Keep Sweet over on Netflix, but if you haven't you might find youself confused. I will also say that the author doesn't seem to care much for mormons (and even religion as a whole) and it shows, which may rub some people the wrong way.
Wow… this book was amazing and full of great information. I learned a lot not just about the murders of Brenda and Erica but also the Mormon faith.
I really wanted to give this book 4 stars. But, it was to one sided for me. Krakauer does a great job on interweaving the story of the Lafferty brothers and their Mormon Fundamentalist murders along with the back ground story of the entire Mormon Church. However, through the stories it seemed that Mormons were either a) killers b) anti government conservative nut jobs and/ or c) polygamists that only wanted to marry as many women as possible and beat their children.
The story begins with a brutal murder of a mother and child and takes the reader down the entire history of the Mormon Church. He did write a detailed history about Joseph Smith and how this religion has been persecuted over the years.
If I look back on this book one year from now I would only think of how twisted the Mormon faith is with their plural wives and strict religious beliefs that have kept them from trusting any one outside their faith. There has to be some good Mormons out there, and if there are, Krakauer decided to leave them out of the book. This is confusing to me, because in the Author’s Notes he said he grew up with Mormons and has Mormon friends. I wonder why he wouldn’t include them in the story at least to let the reader know that they aren’t all polygamist zealots.
The story begins with a brutal murder of a mother and child and takes the reader down the entire history of the Mormon Church. He did write a detailed history about Joseph Smith and how this religion has been persecuted over the years.
If I look back on this book one year from now I would only think of how twisted the Mormon faith is with their plural wives and strict religious beliefs that have kept them from trusting any one outside their faith. There has to be some good Mormons out there, and if there are, Krakauer decided to leave them out of the book. This is confusing to me, because in the Author’s Notes he said he grew up with Mormons and has Mormon friends. I wonder why he wouldn’t include them in the story at least to let the reader know that they aren’t all polygamist zealots.
Read May 2022
Obsessed! I love all things religion, cults, and true crime so this was perfect. Loved the style of writing and it led me to read more of his books as well.
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