Under the Banner of Heaven: Summary and book reviews of Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer, plus links to an excerpt from Under the Banner of Heaven and a biography of Jon Krakauer.
Under the Banner of Heaven A Story of Violent Faith
by Jon Krakauer
Hardcover: Jul 2003,
400 pages.
Paperback: Jun 2004,
400 pages.
Jon Krakauer’s literary reputation rests on insightful chronicles of lives conducted at the outer limits. In Under The Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith, 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.
BOOK REVIEWS
Media Reviews
Publishers Weekly
While Krakauer demonstrates that most non-fundamentalist Mormons are community oriented, industrious and law-abiding, he poses some striking questions about the closed-minded, closed-door policies of the religion-and many religions in general.
Booklist - Benjamin Segedin
Krakauer's account is gripping yet deeply disturbing.
Kirkus Reviews
Starred Review. The jarring story of a double murder committed by fundamentalist Mormons, told with raw narrative force and tight focus. Yet this is far more than just the retelling of a grisly murder ... Krakauer worms deeply into the Mormon religious experience, its fractures, violence, and fight against the growing power of central government. . . . . [He] lays the portent on beautifully, building his tales carefully from the ground up until they irresistibly, spookily combust.
Book Magazine
[Krakauer's] study of faith and violence in Mormonism, by far the most successful American-grown religion, is not only provocative but also convincing. It reminds us of the power of the most pernicious form of evil-evil in the name of God.
Library Journal - Rachel Collins
A thoroughly engrossing and ultimately startling comment on all fundamentalist ideas.
The Los Angeles Times - Emily Bazelon
The split between the Fundamentalists and the official Mormon church is the backdrop for Jon Krakauer's new book, Under the Banner of Heaven, in which he explores the fanatical fringe of Mormonism and the nexus between extremist faith and predatory violence through the story of a bone-chilling double murder committed in 1984 in the heart of Mormon country.
The New York Times - Janet Maslin
In collecting evidence, Mr. Krakauer ventures out to a lunatic fringe of polygamous self-appointed prophets, where the Mormons and the Martians are almost interchangeable.
USA Today - Deirdre Donahue Heaven uses the murder of a young Mormon wife, Brenda Lafferty, and her 15-month-old daughter in 1984 as a launchpad to probe the roots of all religious faith and the extremes to which it can be taken. … In the hands of a less perceptive writer, the book would be just another lurid true-crime tale with superficial religious overtones. Instead, Krakauer … presents events in historical context.
USA Today - Deirdre Donahue
For many readers, including this one, the most anticipated day [of the summer] is July 15, when Krakauer's latest arrives in stores.
BookPage
Under the Banner of Heaven is a first-rate work of non-fiction from one of our most intrepid reporters.
The Washington Post - Ann Rule Under the Banner of Heaven is not likely to be popular in Utah or other LDS sanctuaries. Perhaps it will inspire backlash books highlighting the violent and tawdry details of Gentile (non-Mormon) faiths. None has a pristine history. This is a chilling book, slowed occasionally by the sheer number of names to recall and relationships to connect, and the somewhat awkward juxtaposition of current events and remote history -- not a beach book but rather a tour de force that must be read carefully and savored.
New York Times Sunday Book Review - Robert Wright
Dan and Ron Lafferty saw their quest for security and stature frustrated and then found someone to blame -- a description that, in one sense or another, applies to Mohamed Atta, Timothy McVeigh and the Columbine killers. Under the Banner of Heaven is an arresting portrait of depravity that may have broader relevance than the author intended.
Citation from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, upon awarding Krakauer an Academy Award in Literature
Jon Krakauer combines the tenacity and courage of the finest tradition of investigative journalism with the stylish subtlety and profound insight of the born writer. His account of an ascent of Mount Everest has led to a general reevaluation of climbing and of the commercialization of what was once a romantic, solitary sport; while his account of the life and death of Christopher McCandless, who died of starvation after challenging the Alaskan wilderness, delves even more deeply and disturbingly into the fascination of nature and the devastating effects of its lure on a young and curious mind.
Recent Reader Reviews
Rated of 5
by Georgia Under the Banner of Heaven Jon Krakauer's book was exciting and hard to put down. Coming from a Mormon background drew me in because I appreciated another perspective on the Church that I had not focused on before. Our family was active in my growing up years and no longer... Read More
Rated of 5
by Pat Interesting Reviews I suspect the reviewers who gave this book a "1" are fundamentalist Mormons. One of which does not even understand that the concept of fundamentalism can apply to any religion. Excellent, insightful read.
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Publishers Weekly
Citation from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, upon awarding Krakauer an Academy Award in Literature
of 5
by Georgia
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