Instead, he decided to write about fundamentalist Mormons. While the LDS Church declared polygamy illegal in 1890, it took time for the practice to end in the official church. Those who would not accept the changes continued polygamy, with groups moving to Mexico and Canada. And there are those who continue this practice today. Krakauer is determined to understand how this came to be. In order to do this, he must retell the history of the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-Day Saints.

While polygamy is no longer accepted by the current LDS authorities, the average Mormon seems less inclined to stamp it out. Krakauer shows several cases of gung-go district attorneys who go after polygamous families, and how these white knights are subsequently removed from office in the next election. He introduces us to small towns where everything and everyone in it answers to one man, the head of the Fundamentalist LDS church (FLDS). All property is owned by their church's corporation. And the girls are married by age 14. Krakauer finds many of them married to men who are already related to them, and at least a generation older. Women are seen as transferrable property, with marriages cancelled should any church member run afoul of the church leader.

And remember Elizabeth Smart? Here was a case of a modern Mormon family running into another FLDS wanna-be. Krakauer contrasts her case with another 14-year-old, a FLDS community member, who was hidden in another FLDS community when her sister tried to rescue her from an early marriage she didn't want. The difference between the media treatment of the two kidnap victims is horrifying.

All this is merely background for a shocking murder case, where two LDS members who moved toward FLDS decided to kill their sister-in-law for being a bad influence, and her two-year-old as well. Both men insisted they were acting on revelations from God. Krakauer turns this into the Court's unease with discussions of religious belief and sanity.

The negative reviews of this book appear to come from LDS members who are unhappy with Krakauer's history of their church. It's a pity they missed his important points on the danger of revealed religion (where anyone can justify anything), or the welfare fraud committed by FLDS communities (subsequent wives declare themselves single parents and don't identify the father, while living in a trailer in his backyard), or the uneasy relationship between mainline Mormons and latter-day polygamists. It's a shame they are unwilling to look at their own church's rapidly mutating scriptures, where Krakauer shows how doctrinal racism was not removed from church teachings until the 1970s. One might ask how many of them actually read the book rather than took the advice of their stake president to publicly condemn it.

Read it for yourself, then let us know. It is a fascinating, disturbing, insightful, and important book.


When Faith Goes Too Far...   July 12, 2003
 540 out of 785 found this review helpful

Krakauer uses the 1984 Lafferty Murders in Provo to launch an
exploration into the roots and evolution of the present-day Mormon (LDS)
fundamentalist movement. Krakauer presents what may be the most
comprehensive and current assesment of the polygamous/fundamentalist
movement -- the origins, the key players, the major communes, the legal
battles, and the abuses of women, children and the welfare system.

Krakauer devotes appropriate attention to the history of mormonism,
which is refreshingly less glossy (and concerned with PR) then other
mainstream accounts have been. Krakauer, unlike many authors who need
the church's assistance with their research, is not afraid to make
frequent reference to "No Man Knows My History", D. Michael Quinn, and
numerous unflattering historical documents and sources.

Joseph Smith is portrayed as the cunning, charismatic, delusional,
egomaniacal charlatan that he was, and his frequent run-ins with the
law, the government, supporters, wives (including women that were married to other men) are laid out in
brilliant detail.

The historical background of Joseph Smith and the beginnings of Mormonism is detailed, flows well, and dares to include details that most books by LDS authors omit. The historical review covers Joseph Smith's rise to power, his unquestioned spiritual power, and his plans for glory. The reader will learn how 14 year old girls were forced to marry the prophet (or face "spiritual destruction"), and how roving bands of Mormon "avengers" dispatched those who stood in the way of Joseph's kingdom.

The story moves to Brigham Young's reign (after Joseph's assasination and a schism over polygamy), the arrival of the saints in the Salt Lake Valley and the ensuing battle with the US government over polygamy. The Mountain Meadows massacre is explored with a precision not seen since Juanita Brooks landmark work on the subject. The Massacre was the premeditated, rehearsed and sanctioned slaughter of an entire emigrant wagon train from Arkansas that was unfortunate enough to pass through Utah. Visits to the site by Federal Investigators revealed a field "strewn with bodies..." and mangled bones of "men, women, children and infants." The massacre was a sort benchmark for the church in Utah; it established that the practice of slaying those who stood in the way of the kingdom would continue in the new Zion (Utah). As the Lafferty murders clearly illustrate, this practice continues to this day.

Krakauer makes the argument that it
was polygamy, and the church's love/hate relationship with the practice,
that gave birth to the fundamentalist movement and continues to fuel it to this day.

The history of polygamy is laid out right up until the present day,
where the focus is turned to the backgrounds of the Lafferty brothers,
who brutally murdered a sister-in-law and her infant daughter.

Instead of simply retelling the sick and gory story a la "USA Movie of
the Week", Krakauer delves into the twisted psyche of the mormon
fundamentalist, and explores how these men went from upstanding members
of the church to self-proclaimed prophets to cold-blooded killers.

This detailed and well-thought examination of the knots, bumps and
bruises in Mormon history and theology is unique to non-academic
writing, and is very engaging. Krakauer effectively draws upon
testimony from the trial (psychologists, witnesses, etc) and his own
interviews with the convicted at The Point Of The Mountain to point the
blame exactly where it falls: upon the mormon church, and it's
founders and leaders.

His concluding analysis of the current state of the LDS church and its
many fractured spin-offs is refreshingly up-to-date, and the author's
after word provides valuable insight into his opinions on organized
religion, and specifically the mormon faith.

This book is a breath of fresh air into LDS studies, and has the unique
benefit of being written by an immensely well-respected nonbeliever
under a major publisher.

This is one of the strongest examinations of mormonism in print,
because it is not an "anti-mormon" work. As indicated by modern church
leadership and public relations, nothing is more "anti-mormon" then the church's own
history, leaders, and fundamentalist members. "Under The Banner of
Heaven" is a factual, analytical treatise of a religion that has an
extremely dark and bloody past, and dares to bring to light the painful
legacy that that Mormonism perpetuates to this day.

For anyone who has left the church, is investigating the church, is LDS
or knows someone who is LDS, I strongly recommend this book.

Sociology, American History, Current Affairs and Religion bookworms
will also find this to be an especially compelling read...


Read it between the lines...   November 3, 2003
 165 out of 308 found this review helpful

Hmmmm...have some of these harsh critics actually read the book?

I knew nothing about Mormonism before I read this story. But by the last hundred pages, I was thinking very emphatically to myself that Mr. Krakauer took GREAT PAINS to emphasize that the devil here were these two murderers, neither the Mormon religion itself nor even fundamentalist Mormons (although the latter are portrayed as being less blameless).

I did not pick up this book intending to come away with a comprehensive history of Mormonism. I did not pick up this book intending to read a true crime story.

No, contrary to some "misled" individuals who claim to have read this book, I picked up this book intending to read EXACTLY WHAT IT SAYS ON THE FRONT COVER, Einsteins. It states right on the cover, and I directly quote:

"On July 24, 1984, a woman and her infant daughter were murdered by two brothers who believed they were ordered to kill by God. The roots of their crime lie deep in the history of an American religion practiced by millions..."

What does this sentence mean to you? It doesn't say, "The Evils of the LDS Church" or "...two Mormon brothers..." For anyone reading those critiques that so harshly pan the book because it "wasn't what they expected," please read the quote that I have written here, and then tell me what you expect to read. I promise you that what you read into that quote is what you will get when you read this. These brothers' roots were indeed in LDS...that does not mean that LDS is wicked, and I never once saw it that way, even without any prior conceptions about LDS.

And as for you critics who think that Mr. Krakauer is biased because he is agnostic, I find it hard to believe that you could forgive him his well-researched and well-balanced, conscientious manuscript, no matter WHAT his spiritual values. If he was Jewish, you'd find something "biased" about that. And ditto if he was Lutheran, Catholic, or Mormon himself. No matter what religion he was, because he's writing about religion, you'd say he was biased.

Of course, the only "unbiased" person is the completely ignorant one. Everyone who learns something has an opinion about it. I dare any critic to tell me otherwise. But as far as this book is concerned, Mr. Krakauer has taken the utmost care to make the condemnation of this crime of which he writes as narrow and as specific as possible.

Mr. Krakauer points out to us time and time again that these are resentful, looney-tunes, fundamentalist, ex-communicated-Mormon brothers who murdered their sister-in-law. So unless you are a resentful, looney-tunes, fundamentalist, ex-communicated-Mormon brother who wants to murder their sister-in-law, know in advance that this book does not set out to offend you.

Read it to learn, not to judge, and ye shall be the wiser.


Very Good Storytelling   September 24, 2003
 130 out of 247 found this review helpful

To me, the key to a good book, fiction or non-fiction, is whether it is told well.

Jon Krakauer is a gifted storyteller, and "Under The Banner Of Heaven" is a very well told story.

In addition to covering the 1984 murder of a woman and her child by self-proclaimed Mormon Fundamentalists (acting, as they claim, on a mission from God), Krakauer takes the time and patience to cover some of the history of the Morman religion. He interweaves historic events with the contemporary storyline and gives a kind of insight not common to a "True Crime" story.

For those wondering, Krakauer takes great care to explicitly draw the line between Mormons and Mormon Fundamentalists. This is a critical point in the book.

I had no information about the Mormon religion or its history and found this book engaging and very well written.

It's a good read, and thats what books are all about. I recommend this book to all.


Just scratches the surface   July 12, 2003
 129 out of 262 found this review helpful

This compelling piece of dramatized fiction, told in the style that is unmistakably Jon Krakauer's, only begins to scratch the surface of what is wrong with Mormon fundamentalism. As an individual who once lived and practiced medicine in a small town just east of the Utah-Montana border, I have seen the results of the practices of these groups. Some so shocking and stomach turning that I could no longer continue to be there. These "fundemental" mormon groups take the original tenents of their faith and twist them beyond all recognition. The harmful results are either ignored by those around them, or efforts to intervene fall on the deaf ears of authorities. While the practices of these groups do not relect the practices and beliefs of the LDS, I know better than to believe that they do not know they exist, and fail to understand their shock and outrage regarding the publication of this book. Jon Krakauer's interpretation of this story, and the underlying circumstances that made this horrible crime possible, is well-balanced, thoughtful and presented in a way meant to enlighted the public, not attack the modern mormon church. Understanding the role of fundementalism in our world, why some people gravitate toward it, and its role in a wide number of atrocities, may help to heal or prevent the wounds that it can create. Rather than condem Jon Krakauer for writing about the elephant sitting in the temple, perhaps all of us should consider this crime an opportunity to reflect on what is wrong in our own societies and how these problems create and nurture these groups. Only then cane we work to prevent such extremist behavior. In a post 9/11 society where fundementalism has come to the forefront of our conciousness, this book is a timely look at the cleaning we need to do in our own closet.