Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith | Jon Krakauer

Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith | Jon Krakauer | Eye opening

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Under the Banner o...

	Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith Jon Krakauer Anchor, 2004 - 432 pages average customer review:based on 725 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

The perils of extreme faith

Recently, the Mormon faith has been spotlighted a bit in the media, the result of the ill-fated presidential campaign of Mitt Romney. Romney's run for high office was derailed for a number of reasons and certainly his faith didn't help. Mormonism is the most popular faith that is native to the United States, but it is regarded with suspicion, particularly by Christians. Despite being reasonably objective - and often praising the Mormon faith - Jon Krakauer's book Under the Banner of Heaven is not likely to win many converts to the Church of Latter Day Saints.

Superficially, this is a true crime book, focusing on the brutal murders of Brenda Lafferty and her baby daughter Erica at the hands of her brothers-in-law Ron and Dan. Followers of a fundamentalist branch of Mormonism, Ron and Dan felt they were on a mission from God when they killed the pair: Brenda had the gall to speak out against their beliefs in polygamy, the complete subjugation of their wives and daughters and their tolerance of domestic violence.

To understand the behavior of Ron and Dan Lafferty, Krakauer gives a history of Mormonism that understandably is not one the modern Mormon church likes. Joseph Smith - the religion's founder - is portrayed as a con man who seemed mostly interested in polygamy to justify his roving eye (and despite his many wives, he'd still patronize prostitutes). Brigham Young, Smith's successor, comes off even worse with his implicit involvement in the Mountain Meadow Massacre which resulted in the murders of over 120 people.

Despite his flaws, Smith was also brilliant and charismatic, and with his death, the Mormons would break into schisms (like in many dictatorships or oligarchies - which is how the faith is structured - chaos and civil wars can result when a leader dies). Although the bulk of the Mormons would follow Young, others wouldn't and other splits would occur at decisive times such as when the Mormons ended polygamy. The result would be deeply fundamentalist sects that would dwell in isolated communities and indulge in not only polygamy but the forcible marriage of girls in their early teens. Indeed, most of the women in this book seem to be victims, cowed into multiple marriages because they never have any alternatives (no real education and raised in a closed environment which allowed no non-Mormon media); on the other hand, the few heroes in this book are also all women, though some, like Brenda, would be killed or hurt for their resistance (even Brenda's husband, Allen, comes off as bad, both abusive and unwilling to warn his wife she could be a target for murder).

Though Krakauer makes a distinction between mainstream Mormons and the fundamentalists, even the mainstream comes off somewhat unfavorably. The book, however, is not really anti-Mormon; instead, it is anti-religious extremism. Although the Latter Day Saints are the center of this book, the extreme behavior can be found in other faiths: although Islam seems to get the most press (because of 9/11 in particular), Christianity and other faiths also bear the onus of their most fanatical members.

For those familiar with the HBO show Big Love, much of what is in Under the Banner of Heaven will seem recognizable, though the book makes the TV show seem tame in comparison. Krakauer's book is disturbing and highly informative; more importantly, it is an engrossing page-turner. To understand the dangers of religious extremism - and no matter the faith, it is always bad news - this is a must-read.

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Eye opening

Great book! I couldn't put it down. I also read his "Into the wild" recently, that one too is very engaging and though provoking.

"Under the banner of Heaven" shows how extremists in any religion take the same same messages as the mainstream followers adhere to in a literal and very violent direction. You can clearly see how the Mormon, Jewish, Muslim, etc extremists (terrorists) are the same types of hateful, narcissist, dangerous people with almost identical ideologies.

The book is very well written, but can be overwhelming to some readers, I imagine, due to the vast amount of factual information woven into the parallel story lines. It will also be a quite disturbing read to LDS folks.

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Fascinating insight into American history.

This book was INCREDIBLE! It is my favorite Krakauer book. Not only does it describe the history of Mormonism so beautifully, it touches on themes that have been constant in so many other religions. Persecution allows for justification etc. It also raises the question: If you hear the voice of god does that make you crazy? READ THIS BOOK IF YOU LIKE LEARNING!

Enlightening

This book was given to me by a guy I am dating after the subject of Mitt Romney came up. This book shed a lot of light on Mormon fundamentalists and violence. It's a good read although hard to get through the first half. The second part is a good psychological thriller.

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An American Religion Exposed

Krakauer delivers a great snapshot of Mormon life. Under the Banner of Heaven chronicles the dual murders committed by Ron and Dan Lafferty of their sister-in-law and her infant daughter, claiming God divinely inspired them to carry out these brutal slayings. The book not only looks at the brothers' lives and how they came into Mormon Fundamentalism, but also the history of the Mormon Church in America. Beginning with Joseph Smith and his prophesies, it follows the formation and migration of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and their establishment in Utah. There are also detailed accounts of how fundamental branches have tried to keep polygamy alive in remote corners of the country. The plot often gets bogged down with names, both in Mormon history and in polygamous family trees, but that's just the details of the story, not Krakauer's writing. I feel like I got a great American history lesson, because Mormonism is truly an American religion that often escapes history books. I was not aware until reading Banner the influence Mormons had in shaping the American west. Stories of persecution and betrayal litter the Mormon history, but ultimately the story is about Fundamentalism and its effects on the Lafferty brothers, their actions, and their justification of their crime. Should religious beliefs and communication with God be considered insanity? If so, wouldn't everyone with any religious beliefs be considered insane? Draw what conclusions you want, but the cases of Ron and Dan Lafferty are shocking to the core. I enjoyed this book, its history, and the questions it raised about religion and fundamentalism.

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