Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith

Written by:
Jon Krakauer
Narrated by:
Jon Krakauer

Abridged Audiobook

Ratings
Book
100
Narrator
15
Release Date
July 2003
Duration
5 hours 25 minutes
Summary
Jon Krakauer’s literary reputation rests on insightful chronicles of lives conducted at the outer limits. In UNDER THE BANNER OF HEAVEN, 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.
Reviews
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Melissa W.

This book was very interesting, but some parts were really hard to get though. Overall, good book, I would listen to it again.

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Anonymous

This is a LOT about the history of the Mormon Church - well cited with research. If you believe in the LDS Church, it may cause you to question your faith in the church.

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Jessica H.

Fascinating story. A bit long.

Incredible and provocative insights into the long and storied history of the moronism and the implications of a religion built on personal revelation and the chaos that springs from it. I wasn't particularly interested in the history of Mormonism when I started and was more interested in the introductory case, but I became transfixed by the sordid history of Joseph Smith and origins of Mormonism. The story was writing in a captivating way and I wanted to throw something when the Meadow Massacre was described. Listen to this book, if you are interested in religion, true crime, the American West, the philosophy of the individual conscience, or the power of religious personal revelation or just want to hear a fascinating historical account.

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Robin J.

Good book was very interesting and informative on some thing s I did not know about Mormonism.

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Anonymous

awful. not much about what happen a ton about Joseph Smith

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Ron M.

Loved this book!

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Tamra Olsen Ivie

Th e book has s bad feeling to it I will not recommend it to any one

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Robin Knourek

Narrator speaks quite fast and you have to really listen to catch everything. The book was great!

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