Thread: Anyone Read Krakauer's 'Under The Banner Of Heaven'?

Just read an interview with Jon Krakauer in the Guardian plugging his latest book 'Under The Banner Of Heaven' which focuses on the Church of the Latter Day Saints. Seems quite intriguing.

Anybody read it? I liked his other stuff but this seems a bit of a departure.

I read it and thougt it was good. Different from his other books to be sure but the writing style is similar. The premise of it and info in it are somewhat disturbing, but I'd recommend it.

Originally posted by glademaster02
The premise of it and info in it are somewhat disturbing...

And this surprised you? Pshaw!

reading it now. pretty chilling historical accounts of lying, stealing, misguided realigous zeal, and fanaticism. As with Into Thin Air, I plan on reading another book on the topic to get a balanced view. Krakauer definatlycan tell one side of the story.
I'd like to hear about some of the stories about homesteading it in hostile country and bringing hope to many without it, but thats not the point of the book.

I read a different review. Said the book was good but I don't think I'll be reading it, not really my thing. Prefer the climbing stuff. Just my .02

I'm pretty much in favor of anything that debunks the myth's of organized religion. Kudo's th JK for having the sack to put it in print. America is a great place.

I read it. Although I'm sure our LDS brethren might disagree, I thought it was pretty balanced. It's basically a story about a murder and the milieu that it arose from.

Since the murderers were radical fundamentalists, much of the history concerns the birth and growth of radical fundamentalist sects within (but mainly outside of) the LDS church. "Outside" because most of these fundamentalists have been excommunicated from the LDS church proper.

Certainly there is plenty of stuff that makes the LDS church look bad. But Krakauer does more than accuse, he attempts to show why things have developed as they have, and much that has happened has been positive, and that's in there too.

I recommend it.

Originally posted by truth
I'm pretty much in favor of anything that debunks the myth's of organized religion. Kudo's th JK for having the sack to put it in print. America is a great place.

And I would subscribe wholeheartedly to this statement.

I thought the book was definetly worth reading. I have to agree with Ice I thought he was pretty balanced and made it quite clear several times that these actions were outside the LDS church. I would definetly recommend reading it

I listened to it on CD, which was cool because JK read his own book. I had to turn it off occasionally because I was so angry/dumbfounded that people can do such things to eachother "in the name of God."

Very interesting read, I would recommend it for anyone who is intersted in religion, particularly anyone who has spent some time in anad around SLC. And for anyone who thinks the radical islamic militants of this world are really radical and militant. The fundamentalist Mormons put them to shame. Kudos to JK indeed, for having the sack to print it.

read 'into the wild' recently. not bad, but at the same time, it just seemed like it was trying to be too provacative. not sure i really like his writing style. i much prefer joe simpson for that genre (of course this last book has nothing to do w/ mountains, etc).

I read 'Into The Wild' too and sympathised with his predicament insofar as he had to base a lot of the book on hearsay, deduction and assumption. I got the impression that he was shielding a lot of McCandless' more pompous asshole tendencies from the reader because he identified with his motives quite strongly and wanted to portray him in a gently favourable light.

I've read it.

Since moving to Utah, I've been intrigued with the non publicized historical events. You know, the ones that the mainstream decision makers try to shove under the rug. The book mainly focuses on the fudamentalist side of the LDS, not the mainstream. You will need to keep this in mind when reading this.

JK is an excellent writer, I've read many of his works, and have become a fan. This book holds true to his style.

I felt it was a little bit on the anti-LDS side, and no, I am not, never will be, nor care to be LDS. I would have like to have heard an interview of some type with a high up official in the church. But it did a great job exposing many events.

The Mountain Meadows Massacre is a very interesting event. I would like to read more about it. JK does a great job discussing it, even though there are better texts out there about it, including the one written by the scapegoat himself.

Also, the book sheds some light on the Elizabeth Smart story that most of America does not know. Such as why she did not run away when escape seemed so easy to those not there.

Anyway, give it a read, you just might enjoy it.

Waiting for paperback...cause I'm cheap...wait, spend my $$ selectively.

Reading it now...about halfway through. It's totally Krakauer style: think about it, "Into Thin Air" was riddled with controversy and triggered a series of reactionary books from other people involved in the Everest accident/rescue. In the same way, there are many people and things in "Under the Banner of Heaven" that could be responded to.

The difference with this book, is that you're certainly not going to see a novel come out of Hilldale or Colorado City refuting anything written about them. (And I wouldn't beleive a thing that came out of the mouth of Ron Lafferty at this point)

But for anyone here in SLC or Utah, it's a must read; I'm not LDS and it's been a real eye opener - just in explaining things that have not been clear up to this point...

Interesting. I'll buy it.

It'd be illuminating to hear from any LDS guys if they'd bought it...

My wife (former mo) read it and enjoyed it greatly. She then passed it on to her sister who also enjoyed the book.

Originally posted by Lumpy
Waiting for paperback...cause I'm cheap...wait, spend my $$ selectively.

Get a library card.