shopping cart
Save up to 30% on our Staff Picks
Call us:  800-878-7323 HELP
McAfee SECURE helps keep you safe from identity theft, credit card fraud, spyware, spam, viruses and online scams.
Contributors | November 10, 2009

Zachary Lazar: IMG Evening's Empire



Without knowing it, I'd always had two unspoken arrangements with the world. The first was that I would not trouble it with unpleasant conversation... Continue »
  1. $17.49 Sale Hardcover add to wish list

Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith

by Jon Krakauer

Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith Cover

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

Jon Krakauer’s literary reputation rests on insightful chronicles of lives conducted at the outer limits. He now shifts his focus from extremes of physical adventure to extremes of religious belief within our own borders, taking readers inside isolated American communities where some 40,000 Mormon Fundamentalists still practice polygamy. Defying both civil authorities and the Mormon establishment in Salt Lake City, the renegade leaders of these Taliban-like theocracies are zealots who answer only to God.

At the core of Krakauer’s book are brothers Ron and Dan Lafferty, who insist they received a commandment from God to kill a blameless woman and her baby girl. Beginning with a meticulously researched account of this appalling double murder, Krakauer constructs a multi-layered, bone-chilling narrative of messianic delusion, polygamy, savage violence, 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.

Review:

"[T]old with raw narrative force and tight focus....Krakauer lays the portent on beautifully, building his tales carefully from the ground up until they irresistibly, spookily combust." Kirkus Reviews

Review:

"In collecting evidence, Mr. Krakauer ventures out to a lunatic fringe of polygamous self-appointed prophets....[T]his book provides more voyeuristic astonishment than curiosity or understanding." Janet Maslin, The New York Times

About the Author

Jon Krakauer is the author of Eiger Dreams, Into the Wild, and Into Thin Air and is editor of the Modern Library Exploration series.

What Our Readers Are Saying

Add a comment for a chance to win!
Average customer rating based on 2 comments:
Suz, April 3, 2007 (view all comments by Suz)
Krakauer has once again demonstrated his ability to write page-turning non-fiction. This book explores the differences between Mormons and Mormon Fundamentalists. Krakauer skillfully explains the origins of Mormonism, and the point where the Mormon Fundamentalists branched off from the Church of Latter Day Saints. Krakauer presents the information through true stories, interviews and historical fact, and allows the reader to draw their own conclusions.
Was this comment helpful? | Yes | No
(34 of 58 readers found this comment helpful)
crowyhead, September 26, 2006 (view all comments by crowyhead)
An excellent nonfiction book exploring religious fanatacism. Krakauer chooses as his focus a particularly brutal murder that occurred in Utah in the early 80s, committed by two Mormon fundamentalists. Brenda Lafferty and her daughter Erica were murdered in 1984 by Ron and Dan Rafferty, her brothers-in-law, who believed God had ordered the murders. Krakauer relates the events leading up to the murder in meticulous detail, as well as providing a history of both mainstream Mormonism and the fundamentalist sects that exist alongside the official LDS church.

I expected that this would be a very well-researched and well-told story before I even began to read, being familiar with Krakauer's other excellent books. I wasn't disappointed. Krakauer remains carefully impartial, while raising profound questions about faith and fanatacism.
Was this comment helpful? | Yes | No
(45 of 77 readers found this comment helpful)
View all 2 comments

Product Details

ISBN:
9781400032808
Subtitle:
A Story of Violent Faith
Author:
Krakauer, Jon
Author:
Krakauer, Jon
Publisher:
Anchor Books
Subject:
United States - 20th Century (1945 to present)
Subject:
Mormon fundamentalism.
Subject:
Christianity - Mormonism
Subject:
Murder - General
Subject:
Christianity - Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Da
Subject:
United States - 20th Century (1945 to 2000)
Subject:
Christianity - Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saomts (
Subject:
Christianity - Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (
Copyright:
Edition Description:
Anchor Books
Publication Date:
June 2004
Binding:
Paperback
Language:
English
Pages:
432
Dimensions:
8.01x5.22x.94 in. .71 lbs.

Other books you might like

  1. $28.95 New Hardcover add to wish list
  2. $7.99 Used Hardcover add to wish list
  3. $8.50 Used Trade Paper add to wish list
  4. $10.00 Used Hardcover add to wish list

    Escape

    Carolyn Jessop and Laura Palmer
  5. $3.95 Used Trade Paper add to wish list
  6. $2.00 Used Mass Market add to wish list

    The Da Vinci Code

    Dan Brown

Related Aisles

  • back to top

Powell's City of Books is an independent bookstore in Portland, Oregon, that fills a whole city block with more than a million new, used, and out of print books. Shop those shelves — plus literally millions more books, DVDs, and eBooks — here at Powells.com.