|
Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith | 
 enlarge | Author: Jon Krakauer
Publisher: Anchor
Category: Book
List Price: $14.95
Buy Used: $1.75
You Save: $13.20 (88%)
New (50) Used (59) Collectible (6) from $4.50
Avg. Customer Rating:  694 reviews
Sales Rank: 214
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 432
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 7.9 x 5.1 x 1.1
ISBN: 1400032806
Dewey Decimal Number: 289.33
EAN: 9781400032808
ASIN: 1400032806
Publication Date: June 8, 2004
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Cover wear and may contain some marks or writing. Keen Northwest ships in 2 business days or less. Refunds for any reason if item returned within 30 days of shipment.
|
| Also Available In:
|
| Similar Items:
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com
In 1984, Ron and Dan Lafferty murdered the wife and infant daughter of their younger brother Allen. The crimes were noteworthy not merely for their brutality but for the brothers' claim that they were acting on direct orders from God. In Under the Banner of Heaven, Jon Krakauer tells the story of the killers and their crime but also explores the shadowy world of Mormon fundamentalism from which the two emerged. The Mormon Church was founded, in part, on the idea that true believers could speak directly with God. But while the mainstream church attempted to be more palatable to the general public by rejecting the controversial tenet of polygamy, fundamentalist splinter groups saw this as apostasy and took to the hills to live what they believed to be a righteous life. When their beliefs are challenged or their patriarchal, cult-like order defied, these still-active groups, according to Krakauer, are capable of fighting back with tremendous violence. While Krakauer's research into the history of the church is admirably extensive, the real power of the book comes from present-day information, notably jailhouse interviews with Dan Lafferty. Far from being the brooding maniac one might expect, Lafferty is chillingly coherent, still insisting that his motive was merely to obey God's command. Krakauer's accounts of the actual murders are graphic and disturbing, but such detail makes the brothers' claim of divine instruction all the more horrifying. In an age where Westerners have trouble comprehending what drives Islamic fundamentalists to kill, Jon Krakauer advises us to look within America's own borders. --John Moe
Product Description
Jon Krakauer’s literary reputation rests on insightful chronicles of lives conducted at the outer limits. He now shifts his focus from extremes of physical adventure to extremes of religious belief within our own borders, taking readers inside isolated American communities where some 40,000 Mormon Fundamentalists 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.
Download Description
JON KRAKAUER is the author of Eiger Dreams, Into the Wild, and Into Thin Air, and is editor of the Modern Library Exploration series.
|
| Customer Reviews: Read 689 more reviews...
 Gripping story while you're getting a history lesson May 6, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I have read a lot of books on Mormonism that this is one of the best. That's because the author choose to wrap the story of Mormonism around some of it's best known and most gripping triumphs, tragedies, atrocities, and scandals.
I listened to the Audiobook and, frankly, I could hardly wait to drive to work so I could get through just another chapter. I can't recommend this book highly enough.
Other Audio Books on Mormonism that I have enjoyed include:
Leaving the Saints: How I Lost the Mormons and Found My Faith
Secret Ceremonies
Other books on Mormonism that I recommend include:
The Pattern of The Double-Bind in Mormonism
No Man Knows My History: The Life of Joseph Smith
The Mountain Meadows Massacre
Beyond Mormonism : An Elder's Story
Mormonism, Mama & Me
Who Really Wrote the Book of Mormon?: The Spalding Enigma
Mormonism 101: Examining the Religion of the Latter-day Saints
Mormonism Unveiled: The Life and Confession of John D. Lee, Including the Life of Brigham Young
Very timely, given TX events April 29, 2008
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
Although I am only 30 pages into this book, which takes place primarily in Arizona, the details of previous raids on FLDS compounds are shockingly similar to what is currently happening in Eldorado, TX--including how the press is presenting this group as being persecuted for their religion when in fact, the FDLS is guilty of heinous crimes against its female members, who are little more than breeding stock. What FLDS members present to the networks and media may not be at all what goes on behind those locked and closed doors. Read this book.
Mind-Boggling Historical Account April 28, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
This book is a must read for anyone interested in reading a non-biased historical account of the Latter Day Saints. The parallel of events which occurred in the development of Mormanism as compared to the development of Islam are of a striking similarity.
Jon Krakauer is truly an amazing author and story teller.
 Interesting history of the Mormon Church. Unfair to paint today's followers with the brush of the past. April 24, 2008
3 out of 5 found this review helpful
I am fascinated with different religious sects and I must admit that the Mormon Church has always seemed to be founded on bizarre circumstances by some questionable characters. This book kept my interest and the history of the founders was interesting and disturbing. I soon became confused with the geneology of the family members of the FLDS in Colorado and Utah. No wonder genealogy is so important to the Mormon's how else could the keep up with their blood lines.
I don't think that it is fair to paint todays LDS members with the same brush as the FLDS and the early "church" which I think the author is attempting to do. Unfortunately, the majority who are good citizens with a strong (admirable) sense of family are tainted by the few whackos who make all the news.
LDS church history is years of material for Saturday Night Live April 23, 2008
0 out of 7 found this review helpful
I am serious that the History of the Mormon church is years of material for Saturday Night Live.
Couple of ideas for skits:
Joseph Smith (founder of the LDS) is married and after a few years his eyes start wandering, so he tells his wife God has told him to take on more wives. The wife is mad and threatens to take on more husbands, Joe doesn't like that, so he tells his wife that God told him that if a wife takes on another man she will go to hell for ever ! Nice.
The locals don't like Joes unfaithfull ways, and drag him out of his bed, into the woods at night with the plan to castarate him - they even had a doctor along. Once Joe is stripped naked, and spread eagle the doctor can't go thru with it, and instead they beat Joe up badly and then tar and feather him.
Currently, various Fundemnetalist mormon church off shoots all have a leader that claim to be ' the mighty and strong one' - that is the guy who is immortal and will be present during the second coming ( or something like that) - well the followers all flip out when their annoited immortal leader dies.
The book covers a double homicide that took place in 1984. The two brothers that commited the crime are arrested, and after one beats the other one while in the same cell, they are put in adjacent cells. some days pass and one brother tells the other brother that God told him that he needs to kill him. So they discuss the best way to do the killing, and decide to have the one to die back up to the bars while the other one strangles him to death. They then proceed to follow thru the plan.
Mormons might feel picked on by this book, but I see it as a book about religion, and what it does to people. There are Mormons that are completely nuts, just like the 9/11 moslem bombers.
Krakauer writes this book in a similar style to Into the Wild. He mentions a couple other books about the LDS which I plan on reading.
|
|
|
Powered by Associate-O-Matic
| |
