By, Jon Krakauer
433 pages - 3.5 stars
Under the Banner of Heaven is a book that came out awhile ago and I've heard a lot about it but never read it. Growing up in a part of the country where there is a fairly prominent contingent of Mormons, I like to think I know a fair amount about their culture and religion but I have to admit that I'm probably largely influenced by our own popular culture as well.
Krakauer does a pretty amazing job of delving into Mormon history, both standard Mormonism and fundamental Mormonism, and explaining it to those of us who aren't Mormons. I can't say he paints a pretty picture of the religion's founding, which seems to be both fraudulent and bloody. Then again, how does that really differ from most of the world's religions.
The really interesting part of Krakauer's book focuses on the struggle between mainstream Mormons and fundamentalist Mormons (another aspect of their religion that rings true to many others throughout the world) and to those who read strict law in the writings of their prophet. Krakauer investigates the sub sect of Mormonism that believes in polygamy and specifically into the story of one family and a murder.
The Lafferty family, a standard Mormon family verging on fundamentalist, is the center of a story about murder and god's will and the future of the Mormon church. Two of the Lafferty brothers kill a Lafferty wife and infant daughter in the name of God and the righteous. Krakauer interviews pretty much everyone connected to the crime (including the surviving Lafferty brother) but really goes back in to the weeds to propose a connection between the founding of the Mormon church and the killings that happened in the Lafferty family.
The story is pretty intense and incredibly interesting. I will warn you that the text verges on gratuitous (I had to sit down to settle my stomach on the subway) but the book is worth reading, if only to better understand a pretty significant section of our population.
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