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woo, i'm ready for book group!
i was pleasantly surprised by this. who knew mormons were really so crazy? i knew some things about them, but i had no real clue . . . i also didn't realize there were so many factions and it kind of cracks me up that you can have fundamentalists in such a "new" religion . . . it's also weird to think that it's such a fast-growing religion, and that there are more mormons than jews in america.
what was most interesting, i think, was the way the mormons used strategi ...more
i was pleasantly surprised by this. who knew mormons were really so crazy? i knew some things about them, but i had no real clue . . . i also didn't realize there were so many factions and it kind of cracks me up that you can have fundamentalists in such a "new" religion . . . it's also weird to think that it's such a fast-growing religion, and that there are more mormons than jews in america.
what was most interesting, i think, was the way the mormons used strategi ...more
A woman and her baby are viciously murdered by a couple of Mormon fundamentalists who assert that God instructed them to carry out blood atonement. Krakauer gives an in-depth history of the Mormon church and the development of fundamentalist polygamist sects in order to shed light on the theological background and psychology of the killers.
Really fascinating, but at times I thought maybe it's not fair to god-fearing law-abiding monogamous Latter Day Saints to put their history into this context ...more
Really fascinating, but at times I thought maybe it's not fair to god-fearing law-abiding monogamous Latter Day Saints to put their history into this context ...more
While I'm still not sure if I think this is a good book (I'm still not entirely sure what Krakauer was trying to do with it), it was worth reading for the fascinating/horrifying stuff about fundamentalist Mormons and the founding of the religion. Wow. I'm still not over it. I have not been so angry reading a book in, well, I can't recall.
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Incredibly informative while remaining interesting. The story of the Mormon faith, FLDS (known for polygamy) and LDS churches and how they were created. Parallels with any religion by showing how religion can be interpreted in such incredibly different ways and the power that faith can yield.
Krakauer should stick to writing about things other than religion and violence. I found this quite biased and inaccurate. That being said, it was still an interesing read.
A truly fascinating and terrifying story. A must read.
Apr 09, 2011
Morgan
marked it as to-read
Dec 19, 2011
Laura
marked it as to-read
Jul 03, 2012
Julianne Dunn
marked it as to-read
Jul 20, 2014
Alison
marked it as to-read
