Name: Jessica Kinlund's review of Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer
Item: Under the Banner of Heaven
Rating: 5
Author: Jessica Kinlund

Jon Krakauer

A Story of Violent Faith

Under the Banner of Heaven

Syrina

Jessica Kinlund

Traces the events that surrounded the 1984 murder of a woman and her child by fundamentalist Mormons Ron and Dan Lafferty, exploring the belief systems and traditions, including polygamy, that mark the faith's most extreme factions and what their practices reflect about the nature of religion in America. Reader's Guide available. Reprint. 300,000 first printing.

Very interesting story, both (all?) of the sories: the murder of Brenda and Erica Lafferty and the descriptions of Mormon history. A bit messy with jumping between timelines and stories and sometimes hard to follow the skips back and forth between a lot of people and places.

Tove Söderberg

Ryan Mateyk

FINALLY FINISHED. It was a very thorough look into the bloody history of Mormonism and the ideas and triggers behind modern fundamentalism.

This extraordinary work of investigative journalism 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. At the core of Krakauer’s book are brothers Ron and Dan Lafferty, who insist they received a commandment from God to kill a blameless woman and her baby girl. Beginning with a meticulously researched account of this appalling double murder, Krakauer constructs a multi-layered, bone-chilling narrative of messianic delusion, polygamy, savage violence, and unyielding faith. Along the way he uncovers a shadowy offshoot of America’s fastest growing religion, and raises provocative questions about the nature of religious belief.

Jenelle andersen

What a trip, *holy* hell. 
Not even exaggerating my jaw hit the floor multiple times during this book. Religion be crazy.

Taylor Rae Peterson

3.75
I think I would've enjoyed this much more had I not watched the TV show first. I've found that most times you gain a lot more from a book rather than the adaptation, but that wasn't necessarily the case this time. The show covered things to a T. So much so that I was dying of boredom towards the end of the book because I wasn't necessarily gaining anything I hadn't already known. With that being said, the writing was concise and I enjoyed the jumps to other events that all played a part in leading to the Lafferty case... A good read, but I might skip it if you've already seen the show

jiveen liew

** spoiler alert **
           “I don't know what God is, or what God had in mind when the universe was set in motion. In fact, I don't know if God even exists, although I confess that I sometimes find myself praying in times of great fear, or despair, or astonishment at a display of unexpected beauty. There are some ten thousand religious sects — each with its own cosmology, each with its own answer for the meaning of life and death. Most assert that the other 9,999 not only have it completely wrong but are instruments of evil, besides. None of the ten thousand has yet persuaded me to make the requisite leap of faith. In the absence of conviction, I've come to terms with the fact that uncertainty is an inescapable corollary of life. An abundance of mystery is simply part of the bargain — which doesn't strike me as something to lament. Accepting the essential inscrutability of existence, in any case, is surely preferable to its opposite: capitulating to the tyranny of intransigent belief. And if I remain in the dark about our purpose here, and the meaning of eternity, I have nevertheless arrived at an understanding of a few modest truths: Most of us fear death. Most of us yearn to comprehend how we got here, and why — which is to say, most of us ache to know the love of our creator. And we will no doubt feel that ache, most of us, for as long as we happen to be alive.”
Jon Krakauer (Jan, 2003)

Deep dive into the dark sides of fundamentalist Mormonism. Krakauer is a great storyteller that is incredibly thorough in his research. Even though religion, specifically Mormonism, can be polarizing, Krakauer manages to parse through the origins of beliefs that led to a horrific crime without bringing personal criticisms of religion or Mormon beliefs into it. The structure was odd at times, jumping between timelines quite often, which led to a little confusion. Overall, it is a fantastic read and provides great insight into the minds of fundamentalists. 

Nathan Davis

Lyric Hooey

A litttlee touch too gruesome sometimes for a before-bed read, but as always I appreciate Krakauer’s in depth, factual look at events. Mormonism is a tricky subject, but this gives some important background and real insight into the religion. Yikes.

Traces the 1984 murder of a woman and her child by fundamentalist Mormons, exploring the belief systems and traditions that mark the faith's most extreme factions and what their practices reflect about the nature of religion in America.

Jeannette Ordas

Mormon's are wacky with their beliefs (magic glasses, gold plates, spiritual wives, etc.) and while this book tackles mainly Mormonism (and their fundamentalist bretheren), it also has a lot to say about religion. Mormonism is a new and growing American religion and it doesn't have that nice buffer of time and history that other old school religions have. So one of the most frightening things about Mormons is that shiny newness and this book takes on all this fear with the grit of a true crime novel. 

This book gives a very in-depth history of the Mormon church and it's various splinter groups. Joseph Smith to Brigham Young to Warren Jeffs...all of these leaders are profiled and not one comes away clean. Any religion that gives men power (and I say men because women in the LDS/FLDS church have no power) to "talk" to god, is a very frightening concept. Blood atonement, plural wives, rape, pedophilia, welfare fraud...pretty much anything can be excused if it's done in the name of god. 

This book is engrossing and a must-read for anyone curious about any religion. A story of violent faith, indeed.

Cindy Lieberman

A horrifying, fascinating, and occasionally dry and overly detailed account of the Mormon faith including a look into some fundamentalist spin-offs, particularly those responsible for the continued practice of polygamy, sanctioned rapes and incest, and a case of brothers killing one of their nieces and sisters-in-law because they received instructions from God. 
Well researched and yet more of a 3.5 rounded up.

Belle

I read most of this book once before and remembered it as a history of the Mormon church. I was surprised when it was adapted for TV and they called it a true crime book so I reread it and I still wouldn’t call it a true crime book. It’s bookended with a true crime but the majority of the book is about the history of the Mormon church and the different sects that have split off from the main church, and how all of that history lead to bring some influence on the perpetrators of this crime. Anyway, it’s interesting and eye-opening and horrifying and depressing but also drags a bit at some points with too much detail.

Elissa Bowe LeBeau

I really enjoyed the documentary style of this book. It introduced a story, then gave a thorough - very thorough - history of every event that could have led up to it, briefly checking in on our original journey of the murders every now and then. 
It is by no means a bad read, and I am happy I finished it to get the complete picture. However, it was just too involved and detailed for me. Everything got jumbled in my brain and with hundreds of dates and thousands of characters to remember, I think the confusion clouded my enjoyment and understanding. 
Would recommend.

After watching the first few episodes of the Hulu show based on this book, I knew I wanted to know more. However, I don’t believe that I would’ve liked this book nearly as much, if I didn’t have the humanization and dramatization of the show to reflect back on when the storyline was interrupted by historical and educational chapters. This is not a true crime book, but more a basic background of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. The flow of the book did not make any sense to me, and I truly cannot say that this book felt to be about the murder of Erica and her child. This was a history and journalistic compilation of the Mormon religion and the fundamentalist groups that exist and inspired the murder. A lot of the people and the groups and timelines were convoluted and difficult to piece apart due to the book’s structure. It was not an easy ready, but I do feel like I came out of reading this as a more informed person. 

Kathleen Mullins

I thought this was really interesting to see how religious belief and religious fanaticism grows, especially with charismatic personalities. I appreciated that it was built around one story but did feel like it jumped from different stories and histories in a random/confusing way sometimes.

Barry Hess

Stevie Blundell

a disturbing yet honest portrayal of a religion, as he says 'warts and all'. I would recommend it to anyone interested, but don't expect a nice fairy tale. This is real and brutal at times, but so is religion and those who most of all define themselves by it.

Not an easy read, but it is an interesting, informative and thoroughly enjoyable book. It took me two tries to read this one, but I found it a lot easier after having visited Salt Lake City and having a general idea of the lay of the land.

Laura

Sam White

Kevin Owens

Marisa clarke

From the bestselling author of "Into the Wild" and "Into Thin Air", a riveting account of Taliban-like theocracies in the American heartland controlled by renegade Mormon prophets. Brothers Ron and Dan Lafferty insist they were commanded to kill by God. Krakauer's investigation is a meticulously researched, bone-chilling narrative of polygamy, savage violence and unyielding faith: an incisive, gripping work of non-fiction that illuminates an otherwise confounding realm of human behaviour. 'Excellent... A lucid, judicious, even sympathetic account not just of Mormon Fundamentalism but of the seductive power of fanaticism in general' - DAILY TELEGRAPH

Jessica Kinlund &
Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer

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Jessica Kinlund &Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer

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Jessica Kinlund &
Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer