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

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

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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 726 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Gripping story while you're getting a history lesson

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:

Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling

An Insider's View of Mormon Origins

In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith

Who Really Wrote the Book of Mormon?: The Spalding Enigma

The Pattern of The Double-Bind in Mormonism

No Man Knows My History: The Life of Joseph Smith

The Mountain Meadows Massacre

Mormonism, Mama & Me

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Homicide amidst the honeybees

Although the subtitle of Under the Banner of Heaven is "a story of violent faith," there is a lot more to it than that. Krakauer, author of one of my favorite adventure books, Into Thin Air, delves deep into the history of the Mormon Church, from its humble beginnings, to what it is today: one of the world's fastest growing religions. About his original plans for the book, Krakauer writes (p 337) "As initially conceived, it was going to focus on the uneasy, highly charged relationship between the LDS Church and its past." The resulting work contains a lot of fascinating information about the church; (p 69) an angel named Moroni handed off some gold plates to founder Joseph Smith, who (conveniently) returned them after translating them into what would become The Book of Mormon; the founder himself, who married (p 6) three to four dozen women in spite of his first wife's aversion to the practice; his successor, Brigham Young, (p 205) who had 20 to 57 wives; the murder, execution style, of 120 members of the Fancher party; the deceitful treatment of Native Americans by the early Mormon settlers; and much more. Both religions (p 5) "believe in the same holy texts and the same sacred history." The story of the murders, though grisly and tragic, and the murderers, who did away with their innocent victims supposedly based on a commandment from God, fill up more space than the historic parts, but in my mind are more of an accessory to the historic facts, from infancy to the present, about the Mormon church, both LDS, and FLDS, which by the way (p 5) "amounts to less than 1 percent of the membership in the LDS Church worldwide." The book definitely has its negatives, including trial testimony that seemed to go on forever and the overwhelmingly anti-FLDS (and LDS) tone. But as they say, you reap what you sow. The fundamentalists are still practicing one of the religion's original tenets: celestial marriage, plural marriage, spiritual wifery, polygamy-call it what you want-live and let live seems like a good policy-but not when it involves, to any extent, the forced marriage of underage girls. Under the Banner of Heaven is an anti-FLDS-toned, highly informative history of the Mormon religion, primarily concerned with the murder of a woman and her daughter by male relatives. The Anchor Books Edition has an interesting appendix containing an official response to the original edition by a church leader and Krakauer's rebuttal. Also good: Silence by Shusaku Endo, The Greatest Story Even Told by Fulton Oursler, and god is Not Great by Christopher Hitchens.

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Very timely, given TX events

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.

Interesting Book on LDS and FLDS beliefs.

I am enjoying reading this book, but I can only read a little at a time. It is a huge amount to process on each page. And, nearly every page has footnotes. I believe that the descriptions are very interesting and make me understand where my LDS friends come from on certain subjects. I also believe that the purpose of this book is to inform people outside the LDS faith and not to make judgement on FLDS or LDS beliefs. I recommend this book to those who are curious about the Morman religion and those who are already in the Mormon religion. I believe that there are a great deal of Mormons out there that have never taken the time to fully understand their beliefs and where they came from (ie faith in the word of the Elders and Prophets - the LDS church discourages members to research other faiths or viewpoints). I recommend this book just as I would recommend a book about Catholicism to a Catholic or non-Catholic alike.

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Captivating tale

Krakauer again works his magic to tell a very interesting tale. The book is full of history and is very educational, but at the same time entertaining--in a captivating way. The book explores the FLDS sects and what the members are willing to do in order to fulfill what they perceive to be "God's will." It's eye-opening and shocking.

reviews: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, page 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16

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