Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith in Pick-a-Shelf

Feb 22, 2011 Kate rated it it was amazing

I have to say that I love reading on the subject of FLDS. It is like watching a five car pile up on the freeway... it is so horrifying that you cannot take your eyes off it. That is how I feel about Under the Banner of Heaven. It is utterly horrifying to hear about all of the violence that has happened surrounding the founding of the Mormon faith and that still happens in the Fundamental Latter-Day Saints. Hearing about the child that was kidnapped out of her own bed and raped and then held cap I have to say that I love reading on the subject of FLDS. It is like watching a five car pile up on the freeway... it is so horrifying that you cannot take your eyes off it. That is how I feel about Under the Banner of Heaven. It is utterly horrifying to hear about all of the violence that has happened surrounding the founding of the Mormon faith and that still happens in the Fundamental Latter-Day Saints. Hearing about the child that was kidnapped out of her own bed and raped and then held captive till she took on the beliefs of her captor and grew to love him. I remember hearing about this in the news, but reading about everything surrounding this event was awful. I cannot imagine being woken up and taken captive and forced to marry someone and then raped by them repeatedly. I cannot imagine being chained to a tree for hours on end. I cannot imagine being fourteen years old, or even sixteen, and married and pregnant and starting a family already. Good gosh, I cannot even imagine sharing a husband with another women.

Under the Banner of Heaven was a powerful look into FLDS. It grabs you from the very first sentence and does not let go until the ride is over. I realized when I was over half-way through that I had grabbed the abridged audio version of this book, but I have loved this book so much that I reserved the unabridged edition of this book and will be reading it again when it comes in. This is one of those books that you really want to believe is not true, but you know that it is. It is one of those books where you sit back after having finished and wonder how anyone can believe in this. How can anyone believe that God gave a prophecy that they should go and kill women and children? That is a God that I am not sure that I can understand.

Anyway, in conclusion, I highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in reading about the FLDS. I give it a 5/5 star rating and I cannot wait to get my hands on the unabridged edition so I can find out what I missed with the abridged edition (which is half the length so there has to be a lot missing!) ...more

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Jul 10, 2008 Suzanne rated it really liked it

Shelves: non-fiction, true-crime

It took me a while to get through this book as it was dense and intense sometimes. Overall though it was disturbingly fascinating. I didn't know very much about Mormonism before reading this book and thanks to Jon Krakauer's superb research and writing skills I know more than I probably ever wanted to know. Then again, knowledge is good. My knowledge base is richer for the experience and I liked being challenged about faith in general when reading the trial of Ron Lafferty and the defense and pr ...more

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Sep 26, 2008 Sunflower rated it really liked it

Shelves: nonfiction-2020-and-before

As I read this book wondering how anybody with a functioning cerebral cortex could possbly be sucked in by this religion, Krakauer constantly reminded me that all religions require leaps of faith, and there are examples of fanaticism and violence in most religions, thereby quashing my smugness.
He is very fair in his writing, allowing the reader to draw their own conclusions, and always explaining the seemingly psychotic behaviours of the fundamentalist Mormons as they see it themselves, in such ...more

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Sep 11, 2009 Arlene rated it liked it

I bought this book after a friend was reading it. I grew up a Protestant in Utah and found the story of this alternant society there very riveting. I heard rumors of some families in our area who had "different" family lives. ...more

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Mar 04, 2011 Lauren rated it really liked it

Shelves: non-fiction, polygamy

I've developed a small obsession with polygamy. I read everything and anything I can get my hands on about it. Of course many of these books lead me to the FLDS world.

This book is different in that it takes the viewpoint of the outsider and really looks at the history of the Mormon faith. It's a bit of a commentary on how the Mormon church reached where it is today. I really enjoyed learning more about the Mormon faith aside from the polygamous roots or shall I say stint within history.

This book ...more

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