Under The Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith - Hardcover

Krakauer, Jon

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1405032804 ISBN 13: 9781405032803

Publisher: Macmillan, 2003

Synopsis

Here, Krakauer shifts his focus from extremes of physical adventure to extremes of religious belief within the USA. At the core of his book is an appalling double murder committed by a pair of brothers, Ron and Dan Lafferty, who insist they were commanded to kill by God. Beginning with a meticulously researched account of this "divinely inspired" crime, Krakauer constructs a multi-layered, bone-chilling narrative of 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. Weaving the story of the Lafferty brothers and their fanatical brethren witha clear-eyed look at Mormonism's violent past, Krakauer examines the underbelly of the United States' most successful home-grown faith, and findsa distinctly American brand of religious extremism. The result is vintage Krakauer, an utterly compelling work of non-fiction that illuminates anotherwise confounding realm of human behaviour.

About this title

Review:

Under the Banner of Heaven is a riveting read. The Lafferty boys were brought up in a squeaky clean All-American family. So what made two of them follow revelations from God to slit the throat of their ex-beauty queen sister-in-law and her infant daughter? The problem was that they got involved in the fundamentalist, survivalist wing of the Mormon Church.

Author Jon Krakauer expertly jumps from the immediate horror of the Lafferty boys to the context of Mormonism and the wider questions of religious violence. In the process we are taken on a house of horrors ride through the badlands of fundamentalist Mormon religion. Krakauer introduces us to red necks with more than 30 "wives"--many who were "married" in their early teens. It's a story of fraud, child abuse, incest, physical violence and spiritual and emotional rape at a deep level.

The contemporary story is lurid and shocking, but as Krakauer relates the picaresque story of Joseph Smith--the founder of the Mormon religion--you realise that present day fundamentalist Mormons are far closer to their founder in spirit and behaviour than the more squeaky clean manifestations of modern Mormonism. This well researched and tightly written account gives a great potted history of Mormonism and illuminates the psychotic fringes of religious mentality. In doing so it reveals the wild dangers of spiritual free wheeling and the need for caution and restraint in religion. --Dwight Longenecker

Review:

...a lucid, judicious, even sympathetic account not just of Mormon Fundamentalism but of the seductive power of fanaticism in general... -- Daily Telegraph, October 2003

A powerful portrait of how two seemingly ordinary Americans became murderers. -- Economist, July 2003

Krakauer writes exceptionally well: as thrilling as Capote in true crime, as devastating as Nietsche on religious fundamentalism. -- Scotland on Sunday, October 2003

About this edition

• Publisher: Macmillan
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 1405032804
• ISBN 13: 9781405032803
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 400