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rocky mountain bible fanfic sex cult. don't believe the mainstream mormons when they try to distance themselves from this. this is mormonism.
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
John Krakauer is just absolutely amazing to me. He traveled all around the US, conducting interviews, reading books, speaking to people over the phone, and continuing in this manner for 3-4 years to spend ANOTHER year writing this book. I am blown away with the amount of factual information and history this book contains. I will read anything he writes.
A lot of people argue that this novel is "against Mormonism," where I think the facts speak themselves against at least the fundamentalist Mormon.
I have attended a LDS church service before, and never felt like I was in a hostile or crazy environment, and readers should understand that Krakauer is portaying historical facts and writing about interviews mostly about FLDS. The guy CANNOT be perfect and hit every angle the way every reader wants him to hit it.
Yeah, the facts speak volumes.
This book was CREEPY as hell. I couldn't put it down.
A lot of people argue that this novel is "against Mormonism," where I think the facts speak themselves against at least the fundamentalist Mormon.
I have attended a LDS church service before, and never felt like I was in a hostile or crazy environment, and readers should understand that Krakauer is portaying historical facts and writing about interviews mostly about FLDS. The guy CANNOT be perfect and hit every angle the way every reader wants him to hit it.
Yeah, the facts speak volumes.
This book was CREEPY as hell. I couldn't put it down.
I really enjoy reading about religions, and Mormonism is fascinating. Krakauer does a good job of weaving a story in with the educational aspects of the topic.
I love Jon Krakauer’s books.
He’s a journalist known originally for writing magazine articles about mountain climbing, who nearly died in the deadly Mt. Everest disaster in 1996, which claimed 8 of his fellow climbers.
He turned his harrowing experience into his first novel, Into Thin Air, then embarked on writing deep, long-form, immersive non-fiction stories that make you feel like you were there.
I read ‘Into the Wild’ about 10 years ago, detailing the life and death of Chris McCandless, a young man seemingly with the world on a string, who decided to donate his entire trust fund to OxFam, and pursue living life in the wilds of Alaska. It is one of my most favorite books.
It was turned into a film in 2008 starring Emile Hirsch, directed by Sean Penn, I highly recommend both.
I put ‘Under the Banner of Heaven’ on hold at the library when I saw it was being made into a series by Hulu starring Andrew Garfield.
The book is in part a true crime story of the murder of Brenda Lafferty, and her baby Erica, in July of 1984 in American Fork, Utah. They were murdered by two of her husband’s brothers.
So the big question the book attempts to answer is: why would these men brutally kill their brother’s family?
But to really understand the ‘why,’ Krakauer takes a upside-down pyramid explanation that starts with Joseph Smith, and the creation of the LDS church, through its bloody history and the rise of Brigham Young, down through the split of the fundamentalist factions of the church, deep into explanations of the inner-workings of the faith within its insular communities, snaking a path that leads to this very specific murder.
It also explores how Mormonism was critical to the spread of settlers through the midwestern United States and their very tenuous relationship with the US Government.
When Abraham Lincoln was elected president, he sent a letter to Brigham Young basically saying, “if you leave me alone, I will leave you alone.” Apparently it was like that. Texas likes to boast it was once its own country. Utah, for a time, was its own self-governed kingdom.
There were some pretty brutal massacres of Mormon people, and massacres committed by Mormon people that I found incredibly fascinating.
Like, stuff that should probably be getting taught in history class.
I had no understanding how large the LDS church is, even the splintered fundamentalist sects, and just how impactful they were to how the US -as we know it today- was formed.
If you ever thought about reading one of Krakauer’s books, I highly recommend them. They’re fascinating explorations.
He’s a journalist known originally for writing magazine articles about mountain climbing, who nearly died in the deadly Mt. Everest disaster in 1996, which claimed 8 of his fellow climbers.
He turned his harrowing experience into his first novel, Into Thin Air, then embarked on writing deep, long-form, immersive non-fiction stories that make you feel like you were there.
I read ‘Into the Wild’ about 10 years ago, detailing the life and death of Chris McCandless, a young man seemingly with the world on a string, who decided to donate his entire trust fund to OxFam, and pursue living life in the wilds of Alaska. It is one of my most favorite books.
It was turned into a film in 2008 starring Emile Hirsch, directed by Sean Penn, I highly recommend both.
I put ‘Under the Banner of Heaven’ on hold at the library when I saw it was being made into a series by Hulu starring Andrew Garfield.
The book is in part a true crime story of the murder of Brenda Lafferty, and her baby Erica, in July of 1984 in American Fork, Utah. They were murdered by two of her husband’s brothers.
So the big question the book attempts to answer is: why would these men brutally kill their brother’s family?
But to really understand the ‘why,’ Krakauer takes a upside-down pyramid explanation that starts with Joseph Smith, and the creation of the LDS church, through its bloody history and the rise of Brigham Young, down through the split of the fundamentalist factions of the church, deep into explanations of the inner-workings of the faith within its insular communities, snaking a path that leads to this very specific murder.
It also explores how Mormonism was critical to the spread of settlers through the midwestern United States and their very tenuous relationship with the US Government.
When Abraham Lincoln was elected president, he sent a letter to Brigham Young basically saying, “if you leave me alone, I will leave you alone.” Apparently it was like that. Texas likes to boast it was once its own country. Utah, for a time, was its own self-governed kingdom.
There were some pretty brutal massacres of Mormon people, and massacres committed by Mormon people that I found incredibly fascinating.
Like, stuff that should probably be getting taught in history class.
I had no understanding how large the LDS church is, even the splintered fundamentalist sects, and just how impactful they were to how the US -as we know it today- was formed.
If you ever thought about reading one of Krakauer’s books, I highly recommend them. They’re fascinating explorations.
3.5 stars.
Quite engaging well written book to read and finished it quite quickly. As an ex Mormon the historical stuff about the church was educating although I knew quite a bit already. I think how religious people turn to fundamentalists can happen in any religion so it’s not purely a Mormon phenomenon. How much can you blame the LDS church for people taking the stick off to the deep end to fundamentalism I don’t know. I think this is the books weakness. The LDS church does have a bizarre history one that I’m glad to no longer be a part of but whether or not they can be blamed for what happened with the killings I’m not sure. The author does make you think about things so a worthwhile read for that reason alone
Quite engaging well written book to read and finished it quite quickly. As an ex Mormon the historical stuff about the church was educating although I knew quite a bit already. I think how religious people turn to fundamentalists can happen in any religion so it’s not purely a Mormon phenomenon. How much can you blame the LDS church for people taking the stick off to the deep end to fundamentalism I don’t know. I think this is the books weakness. The LDS church does have a bizarre history one that I’m glad to no longer be a part of but whether or not they can be blamed for what happened with the killings I’m not sure. The author does make you think about things so a worthwhile read for that reason alone
Wow. This was such an interesting book. I learned that I actually knew little to nothing about the history of the Mormon church - a history that is really fascinating, especially given how young a religion it is. And although the extremist beliefs of the FLDS church obviously presents cause for concern and I don't believe I would ever let my daughters visit Colorado City, AZ, I thought this book was a great read and definitely recommend it!
I was ravenously into this book when some dickhead stole it from my gym locker.
genuinely i don't think i have anything to say that wouldn't be taken as Insensitive by some people but mannnnnnnnnn people really do all this fucked up stuff just to control women huh
challenging
dark
informative
medium-paced