Jon Krakauer
Paperback | Pages: 400 pages Rating: 4 | 150024 Users | 10252 Reviews
Be Specific About Of Books Under the Banner of Heaven
| Title | : | Under the Banner of Heaven |
| Author | : | Jon Krakauer |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | First Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 400 pages |
| Published | : | 2004 by Pan MacMillan (first published July 10th 2003) |
| Categories | : | Nonfiction. Religion. History. Crime. True Crime. Mystery |
Description Toward Books Under the Banner of Heaven
A Story of Violent Faith A multilayered, bone-chilling narrative of messianic delusion, savage violence, polygamy, and unyielding faith. This is vintage Krakauer, an utterly compelling work of nonfiction that illuminates an otherwise confounding realm of human behavior. Jon Krakauer’s literary reputation rests on insightful chronicles of lives conducted at the outer limits. In Under The Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith, he shifts his focus from extremes of physical adventure to extremes of religious belief within our own borders. At the core of his book is an appalling double murder committed by two Mormon Fundamentalist brothers, Ron and Dan Lafferty, who insist they received a revelation from God commanding them to kill their blameless victims. Beginning with a meticulously researched account of this "divinely inspired" crime, Krakauer constructs a multilayered, bone-chilling narrative of messianic delusion, savage violence, polygamy, 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. Krakauer takes readers inside isolated communities in the American West, Canada, and Mexico, where some forty-thousand Mormon Fundamentalists believe the mainstream Mormon Church went unforgivably astray when it renounced polygamy. Defying both civil authorities and the Mormon establishment in Salt Lake City, the leaders of these outlaw sects are zealots who answer only to God. Marrying prodigiously and with virtual impunity (the leader of the largest fundamentalist church took seventy-five "plural wives," several of whom were wed to him when they were fourteen or fifteen and he was in his eighties), fundamentalist prophets exercise absolute control over the lives of their followers, and preach that any day now the world will be swept clean in a hurricane of fire, sparing only their most obedient adherents. Weaving the story of the Lafferty brothers and their fanatical brethren with a clear-eyed look at Mormonism’s violent past, Krakauer examines the underbelly of the most successful homegrown faith in the United States, and finds a distinctly American brand of religious extremism. The result is vintage Krakauer, an utterly compelling work of nonfiction that illuminates an otherwise confounding realm of human behavior.Point Books Supposing Under the Banner of Heaven
| Original Title: | Under the Banner of Heaven |
| ISBN: | 0330419129 (ISBN13: 9780330419123) |
| Edition Language: | English URL http://www.randomhouse.com/features/krakauer/response.html |
| Setting: | Utah(United States) |
| Literary Awards: | Colorado Book Award for General Nonfiction (2004) |
Rating Of Books Under the Banner of Heaven
Ratings: 4 From 150024 Users | 10252 ReviewsComment On Of Books Under the Banner of Heaven
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 greater point is toThis book was intense. Im 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 Id 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 thinking,
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 atheist who thinks all religions are a load of
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 of
Somewhere, there is a story aching to be told about Mormonism, the positive and negative effects of religious faith on thought and psychological development, the painting of an integrated mainstream with the tarred brush of extremist fringes, and the general place of religion in US culture. This book is oh, so totally not it.
Under the Banner of Heaven was a comprehensive look at fundamental belief that really got me thinking. I grew up LDS, so a lot of what this book covered resonated with me. Krakauer goes into a lot of detail about the history of the Mormon faith, so it was interesting to see the differences in the way people react to that history. In my case, it led me to Atheism; how could something that started with so much lying and dissembling be true? In the case of the Laffertys, whose heinous crimes are
The tragic story of extreme and untreated mental illness; a polygamous cult called the "School of Prophets" which was a fundamentalist group of the Mormon Church and the failure of society to stop the killing of two innocent people in 1984. It is also the history of the Mormon Church and its place in American religion and culture. The killers (one who just recently died in 2019) were a pair of brothers who decided that their sister-in-law and her 15 month old baby girl were responsible for the
No comments
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.