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Dec 17, 2009

Len rated it:

I don't know where to start with this book -- I couldn't put it down. It was enthralling. A quick note about Krakauer: this was the first book I've read by him and I was duly impressed with his story telling ability and his writing style. I will definitely add his other books to my reading list.

Now for the book -- holy shit! Like most people I didn't know much about Mormons beyond the basics. And let it be known right off the bat that I am a devout athiest who thinks all religions ar More...

9 comments like (82 people liked it)

Dec 16, 2009

Colleen rated it:

I read this book for the book club at my local library. Afterwards, I felt indignant, confused, intrigued, and disgusted about all forms of faith. So, I sincerely hoped that a Saint or two would show up at the book club meeting, to nullify my extremely negative view of the church. Alas, no LDS believers showed, so I am left to my own conclusions about the book and faith in general. Here are some of my conclusions and questions after reading this sprawling, fascinating account of the history o More...

31 comments like (41 people liked it)

May 12, 2011

Stephen rated it:

4.0 to 4.5 stars. For non-fiction, this book had me absolutely riveted from the very beginning. This true crime narative has three main themes, all of which I think Krakauer accomplishes extremely well. First, this is a true crime story of the brutal double murder of Brenda Lafferty and her 15 month old baby girl at the hands Ron and Dan Lafferty (the older brothers of Brenda’s husband). Second, is a survey of the origin and early history of Mormonism and the basic doctrines of the M More...

5 comments like (36 people liked it)

Oct 20, 2007

Mateo rated it:

You know, I probably shouldn't have read this directly after finishing In Cold Blood. I'm not saying the combination brought out the homicidal psychotic in me, but I did have to pay for stabbing the hell out of a turkey in the Albertson's meat section the other day.

Is there a stranger sect out there than the Mormons? I mean, golden plates ... lost tribes ... Nephites battling Lamanites ... Orrin Hatch.... Well, yes, I guess one look at Tom Cruise jumping up and down on Oprah's c More...

6 comments like (29 people liked it)

Jul 16, 2008

Karen rated it:

This book makes a lot of big promises, but it suffers from several serious flaws:

1. Lack of focus.
2. Too long.
3. Preposterous claim.
4. Boring

This is a true crime novel--maybe--set against the history of the Mormon Church--but not really--trying to tie in a couple of murders committed by a couple of sickos--all too common--into an historical and political climate of post-terrorist, millennial religious revival--unsuccessfully.

For true crime, i More...

16 comments like (25 people liked it)

Oct 11, 2011

Marissa rated it:

My father's family is obsessed with Mormons, I think it's fair to say. Well..not Mormons. Most of the Mormons I've known have been perfectly regular people. If you're Mormon, please forgive me if that sounds callous. We are, however, obsessed with Mormonism, and have been since my aunt and uncle took a trip to Salt Lake City many years ago and came back with something we call "The Mormon Movie".

"The Mormon Movie" is like the axis point of a fascination that's gone More...

0 comments like (11 people liked it)

Dec 17, 2009

Gwen rated it:

This book is fantastic. Krakauer looks at the history of violence in the Mormon religion (both against them and perpetrated by them) and how this violence, romanticized by modern fundamentalist Mormon polygamists, led two men to kill their sister-in-law and her baby because they said God told them to. These men felt, and continued to feel, no remorse because of their doctrine that "killing for the Lord" is entirely acceptable if it is necessary to do God's will.

Krakauer's More...

0 comments like (12 people liked it)

Apr 02, 2008

Cheryl rated it:

Hmmm...where do I start? First of all, I didn't finish reading this book. It was intriguing in the beginning to learn about the Fundamentalist Mormons and the interestingly odd things they believe and practice. It was also interesting to contemplate the power of faith. Faith in something or someone, regardless of what or whom they are, can make people do unbelievable things. This is true.

I can see how Krakauer would have been frustrated when access to historical documents and in More...

25 comments like (17 people liked it)

Feb 13, 2009

Beth F. rated it:

This book was intense. I’m a sucker for religious studies anyway, especially those different from my own, and this book has been on my radar for awhile now because Mormonism (in general) and fundamentalists (of all kinds) have always interested me, so when I found out this book was about Mormon fundamentalists, there was never any doubt that I’d read it eventually. But what I was expecting from this book and what I got were two totally different beasts. My expectation was to walk away thinkin More...

6 comments like (7 people liked it)

Mar 28, 2007

Joy rated it:

The book is really divided in two parts--Krakauer does a brilliant job retelling the story of the Lafferty's. I was in elementary school when all of that unfolded so my memories of that were fairly weak; and I didn't know all of the details. I just remember the murder of the baby and the wife.

The story of the fundamentalists and the chapters on the polygamist sect are really well written. I know he didn't embellish that stuff. The fundamentalists are really a piece of work.
More...

0 comments like (7 people liked it)

Dec 04, 2007

Lucy rated it:

Somehow, in Krakauer's and every other story of Christian fundamentalism and extremism that is exposed, those involved justification for doing evil and ignoring good is all founded on extreme and polarizing doctrines. Polygamy. Holy Wars. Visions. Revelation. Line of succession. All legitimate things to think and worry about, but they seem to completely ignore the important things that Christ taught while on earth. Say...something like....blessed are the peacemakers. And loving our neighbors. More...

4 comments like (10 people liked it)

Sep 15, 2010

Alex rated it:

UNDER THE BANNER OF HEAVEN: A STORY OF VIOLENT FAITH BY JON KRAKAUER: I finished Under the Banner of Heaven two days ago now, and I haven't written the review yet, waiting to see if anything would change in my mind about Mormons, and so far nothing has. I still think it's a horribly misogynistic religion that goes even further than all other religions I know to take away all responsibility, independent thought, and individualism, and literally sacrifice oneself to god and whoever is your presid More...

0 comments like (6 people liked it)

Dec 16, 2009

Sammy rated it:

I wouldn't be surprised if Krakauer's first books were fiction novels, which I don't think they are, but I wouldn't be surprised if they were. Why? This book reads like a novel, a very confusing novel, but a novel nonetheless.

First things first, there should have been some sort of family tree or timeline or some sort of organizational medium provided besides a map. By the end of the book you have so many people and so many families roaming around you no longer really know who's who e More...

0 comments like (7 people liked it)

Aug 27, 2008

Jonathan rated it:

Leave it to me to avoid a bandwagon (see: "Arrested Development") and finally opt to read this heralded book about Mormon killers while on vacation. Shew.

And by Mormon killers I do mean both people who kill Mormons and Mormons who kill (kill "Gentiles" [anyone not Mormon, including Jews] and kill their own). The book is timely in that Mormon fundamentalists recently sprang into the news again, though hardly by their own desire, with the Texas polygamist colony fia More...

2 comments like (8 people liked it)

Mar 12, 2008

Noah rated it:

I wrote this in January 2007:

In the appendix to the anchor addition of Jon Krakauer's fascinating
"Under the Banner of Heaven," the author warns against the dangers
inherent in the decision of the Mormon leadership to deliberately
control "how the Mormon past is interpreted and presented." Krakauer
loudly advocates for "a vigorous, unfettered examination of
Mormondom's rich and fascinating past." Such a call could be more
widely a More...

0 comments like (6 people liked it)

Jul 03, 2007

Rogelio rated it:

A slightly chilling, if unsympathetic, look at Mormon faith and the 1984 Lafferty murders in Provo, UT. This is Krakuer at his finest, combining the best of what I consider "journalistic story-telling" (that made him famous in books like "Into the Wild" and "Into Thin Air") with his stringent historical acumen that paints largely unsympathetic portraits of origins of the LDS faith.

As such the LDS community has found this book an aggressive attack on t More...

2 comments like (8 people liked it)

Dec 16, 2009

Renee rated it:

This is a book that needs to be read very carefully. When I first picked it up in the bookstore and even read the prologue, I believed it to be a history of Mormon politics and theology. While Krakauer does tell the events of the development of this American religion, he focuses more on the extremist Fundamentalist Mormons, a distinction that can be easy to miss or misstate if one is not careful. Being religious but not Mormon, I found Krakauer's tone to be one of continued scorn for all religio More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Feb 22, 2008

John rated it:

I really enjoyed Into Thin Air, but now I wonder if it is poorly done as this book was. As a Mormon I was amazed at Krakauer's complete naivete that he's trying to pass off as expertise and a well-researched book. I'd be scared of Mormonism too if I read this and didn't know better. The logic leaps he makes are simply massive. For a story about the Lafferty's, this is a nicely told yarn. For understanding its extrapolation into a story about Mormonism it is foolishness at its finest.

3 comments like (18 people liked it)

Dec 19, 2007

Ellen rated it:

Wow. I'm slowly becoming more of a fan of non-fiction, and this book is great for that! Krakauer gives a well-researched (judging from the length of the bibliography) account of the history of the Mormon church, interwoven with an absolutely chilling look at Mormon Fundamentalist communities that practice polygamy in the desert wilds of Utah, Arizona, and Canada. These people are nuts, plain and simple. I can have a limited respect for a watered-down and spiritualist form of religion, but th More...

0 comments like (7 people liked it)

Jul 24, 2007

Bethany rated it:

Very informative and well researched. I already was a fan of Krakauer after reading "Into Thin Air" about the Everest disaster. He took a completely different topic and sparked a continuing interest for me in those wacky fundamentalist polygamists. No, seriously, the fundamentalist sects/beliefs he explores in this book are critical. Many young girls are forced into "marriage" with men old enough to be their grandfather, as well as young boys are kicked out to live on the More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Mar 02, 2008

Justin rated it:

This book is a wet dream for wiseass, arrogant agnostics like myself. It's ostensibly about (a) the history of Mormonism; and (b) the brutal murder of a mother and her 2-year-old daughter by a couple of Mormon Fundamentalists who strayed way too far from the flock in the early 1980's. However, the deeper subject is the uneasy coexistence of faith and reason, and how the two have trampled each other throughout history. Without reading this book, you're probably aware that Mormonism is one of t More...

2 comments like (5 people liked it)

Sep 12, 2007

Dave rated it:

This is a great, well-researched book on fundamentalist Mormons that will freak you out. Half the book is true-crime drama and the other half is an excellent history of LDS and the many fundamentalist sects that splintered off in order to practice Mormonism Joseph Smith-style (which included polygamy as a key principle).

I learned a lot about Mormonism from this book, however I initially felt that Krakauer was a little unfair to mainstream Mormons. In his discussion of the history More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Jul 27, 2009

Tom added it

I'm not going to finish this book. So far, he is recounting the history of the Mormon church without listing a single positive thing. He has taken every exaggerated idea, including some of his own making, and used those to support a warped idea of something that I hold pretty close to my heart. It's kind of the same problem I had with Mark Freiden's The World Is Flat. He only told one side of the story, to praise the ideals of capitalism. My analogy would be like sitting a three year old do More...

0 comments like (5 people liked it)

Dec 18, 2008

Evil_Dead_Junkie rated it:

For The Record; John Krakeur has thus written one book about a bunch of people climbing up Mount Everest and dying, one book about a young idealist going off to Alaska and dying, and finally one book in which a couple idiots from a Mormon splinter group, kill their sister in law and niece.

And people tell me that I need Zoloft.

All kidding aside Krakeur makes this a gripping read, exploring the fascinating grey area between faith and madness with a compassion and clarity More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Oct 11, 2008

Josh rated it:

Anyone picking this book up expecting a typical Krakauer novel will be surprised. I don't think there is a single mention of an ice-axe in the entire book.

Rather, Krakauer makes an even-handed exploration of Fundamentalist Mormonism and the history of Mormonism through the lens of the Lafferty murders.

1 comment like (3 people liked it)

Jul 22, 2008

Mary Beth rated it:

Very interesting look at the FLDS (the fundamentalist Mormon church) as well as other fundamentalist sects. The book also contains a great deal of history about the Mormon faith. I read it right before the raid on the FLDS community in Texas, and it gave me a whole new outlook on the situation.

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Aug 01, 2007

Jojo rated it:

Scary renegade Mormons. I love anything having to do with Mormon history and the non-mainstream Mormon groups. Compelling. There are religious nuts in every country.

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Dec 24, 2009

Leslie rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

2 comments like (1 person liked it)

Nov 17, 2008

Jen rated it:

The low rating isn't because the book is poorly written--it's not. At times the book is fascinating and at times horrifying (my husband just finished it too and found it riveting). The subject matter, however was pretty dark and gruesome for me personally to enjoy. Although well researched and even-handed at times, as he explored the "underbelly" of Mormonism, there was undercurrent of contempt from the author. It showed in the description of a man with a comb-over, liver spots and More...

1 comment like (6 people liked it)

Oct 09, 2008

Danceswithwords rated it:

Krakauer is, in my opinion, pretty careful to distinguish mainstream Mormonism from its fundamentalist offshoots, but he does draw a thread through his discussion of the church's history and theology that connects its emphasis on direct communication with god, prophecy, and charismatic leadership with the particular manifestations of those elements in fundamentalist Mormon communities. It is both depressing and unsurprising that many of the men who start on the outside and become attracted to Mo More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

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