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Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith
 

Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith

by Jon Krakauer

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... (read more)

Top tags: religion,  non-fiction,  nonfiction,  mormons,  history (all tags)

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Other Reviews

Amazon Reviews (5)
 

Most Helpful Reviews

Liked It

1 of 1 members found this review helpful.
Shannon
  • Rated 4 stars

“A surprising glimpse into the history and beliefs of the Mormon faith and how some fundamentalists twisted this faith (like they do almost all others) and this causes them to take actions that are not good. The murder in that this book is about comes from FLDS faith which prompts some men to believe that god wants them to kill their brothers wife and child. The research and history in this book are fascinating since as the author explains Mormonism is the only modern developed faith that has...”

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Didn’t Like It

1 of 1 members found this review helpful.
Brett J
  • Rated 2 stars

“This was my second Krakauer book. I loved the first (Into Thin Air), as it was an engaging story and extremely well written. Under the Banner of Heaven was also well written (I love Krakauer’s writing style and still need to read Into the Wild), but I was turned off by the poor (or perhaps selective) research. It reminded me of research I did in high school - just get enough material to support a predetermined thesis, hope the teacher didn’t write her Master’s thesis on the subject, and...”

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Community:
  • Rated 3.986645 stars
Amazon:
  • Rated 3.9375 stars
  

Newest Comments

  • Princess michelle w

    princess michelle w said:

    “Okay ever one knows right that these crazy people are not part of the LDS church and that they are just a break off crazy cult as evidence by the fact that they killed people. also isn't that just creepy reading a book about murders.”

    posted Tuesday, June 24 2008
  • pabloz

    pabloz said:

    “When Romney ran for the Pres. nomination I could see the future: Mormon president... WoW! suddenly GOD speaks to the right people and plural marraige, blood atonement and who knows what else are before congress”

    posted Tuesday, June 24 2008
  • Kim B

    kim b said:

    “I thought this was a quite well written book, even if it felt a bit disjointed through the beginning. The individual story lines through the novel gave a great idea of the mindset of people in fundamentalist religions. I wish I could find more information on what happened to the Lafferty brothers since the end of the book...”

    posted Tuesday, June 10 2008
  • She

    she said:

    “This story should be a must read along with Shattered Dreams. It is so relevant to what is happening in Texas right now. We need to wake up!!! We are breeding our own native version of a Christian Fundamentalism that is based in violence towards the body-mind-soul.”

    posted Sunday, May 4 2008
  • clockstein

    clockstein said:

    “For another interesting view of Mormonism, read American Massacre. It's about a historic massacre of a wagon train by Mormons in Utah. ”

    posted Wednesday, January 30 2008 ( | view 2 replies )
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