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Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith | 
 enlarge | Author: Jon Krakauer
Publisher: Doubleday
Category: Book
List Price: $27.50
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Rating:  732 reviews
Sales Rank: 47430
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 372
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.5
Dimensions (in): 9.2 x 6.6 x 1.4
ISBN: 0385509510
Dewey Decimal Number: 289.33
EAN: 9780385509510
ASIN: 0385509510
Publication Date: July 15, 2003
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Amazon.com Review
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. In UNDER THE BANNER OF HEAVEN, 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.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 727 more reviews...
 My kingdom for a point... December 20, 2008
0 out of 3 found this review helpful
Much like the Mormon faith, Under the Banner of Heaven has an infrastructure of oatmeal. This book, at best, strengthens the resolve of those who love and those who loathe the LDS movement.
 A history of polygamy in the US December 12, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
John Krakauer's account of the history of polygamy in the US is both well researched and enthralling. He simultaneously spins two tales, one of modern day fundamentalists driven to horrifying actions by their faith, and the other of the founding of the Church of Latter-Day Saints. He begins at the beginning with Joseph Smith and tracks he new faith from it's roots. It is an adventure as only true history can provide and the elements of modern day true crime will keep you turning pages. To a resident of the Southwest it provides some local historical information of the area, especially the Arizona Strip and Colorado City, home to the now infamous Warren Jeffs, who is pointed out as an up and coming leader of the polygamists who reside there. This book provides a step by step explanation of major events that have shaped the mindsets of not only the Mormon Church, but also the breakaway fundamentalist sects that have formed and Krakauer makes a clear contrast between the two groups. This book will not disappoint.
 Way Too Much Background Information December 9, 2008
1 out of 5 found this review helpful
A horrific crime is put into the context of religious fanaticism. Fanatics are generally uninteresting characters, as they were in this book. A fundamentalist had a revelation that he should kill various people. He follows God's will.
The history of Mormonism is given in excruciating detail, providing no more insight into what happened than could be gleaned from understanding that in Mormonism, people are encouraged to communicate directly with God. And of course, those communications can't be empirically verified. And sometimes wacky people serve their own needs by claiming divine blessings.
Krakauer is a thorough researcher. However, his subject matter bored me. And his writing style is choppy. He has many footnotes that should have been incorporated into his text.
 Exeeded my expectations December 1, 2008
0 out of 6 found this review helpful
Before I read this book I had a number of friends tell me about it. Some loved it, some hated it, but they all agreed that it was a very negative portrayal of Mormons as a people and a religion.
Even with that knowledge going in I was very disappointed in this book.
After reading it I did a little research and found that almost all of Krakauer's cited sources are either ex-Mormons or members of polygamist sects. In other words: Not Mormons. How do you tell a people's history using only ex-members and fanatical splinter groups?
Would I go to a Ford dealer to get an objective opinion on buying a Toyota truck?
Would I get a fair depiction of Catholic history from a Protestant minister?
Not likely.
If you removed all the inaccuracies from this book you might have an interesting pamphlet about two brothers who commit a horrible, tragic murder.
The more I read the more I was led to one of two conclusions...
Either Krakauer's research was incredibly shoddy and one sided, Or he has revised and twisted information to support his own thin thesis as stated in the preface: "Any attempt to answer such questions [here he refers to why these two brothers would commit such a crime without remorse] must plumb those murky sectors of the heart and head that prompt most of us to believe in God-and compel an impassioned few, predictably, to carry that irrational belief to it's logical end."
So according to John, any belief in God is irrational and the logical conclusion of such a belief will lead to murder... ? Really guy?
The most truly objective history of Joseph Smith and the Mormons that I have read is Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling. If you want a more accurate portrayal of that church's history or it's founder, read that book. This one is yellow journalism at best.
Compelling November 8, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
While not as enjoyable as Krakauer's other works, UTBOH is a compelling read. Insightful, giving the outsider a view of the FLDS church that is seldom seen and even less understood. Some of the passages are disturbing and violent. The book sometimes has a feel of anti-religious propaganda, but give credit to Krakauer for being someone who attempts to deliver the facts as best he can. I am sure this was a very difficult book to research due to the "closed" nature of the society he was investigating. Great read for those interested in the topic. The casual reader, however, will be lost in the confusing morass that is the FLDS church.
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