Reviews tagging 'Trafficking'

Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith by Jon Krakauer

13 reviews

andmingmingtoo's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective slow-paced

4.75

This book sets itself apart from most other "true crime" by going beyond the who+what+where+when to ask why-- instead of just focusing on one tragedy, this book asks how the setting and history surrounding what happened led to it occurring.
(Also bonus points to this book for making me hyperfixate on mormonism. It's so hard to explain to my friends that I'm having a mormon phase but not in a religious way, it's in a learning about neat history way)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Physical abuse, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Violence, Religious bigotry, Misogyny, Incest, Sexual violence, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Death, Sexual assault, Grief, Adult/minor relationship, Sexism, and Rape

Moderate: Confinement, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Suicide, War, Suicidal thoughts, and Racism

Minor: Deportation, Homophobia, Cursing, and Alcohol

The main case in this book involves

the murder of a woman and her baby

. There's also a lot of discussion around religious fundamentalism, which includes

religiously-motivated murders and religiously-sanctioned child brides

cinnaminskies's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious sad slow-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Religious bigotry, Trafficking, Violence, Murder, Adult/minor relationship, and Misogyny

Moderate: Rape, Hate crime, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Infidelity, Gun violence, Sexual violence, and Mental illness

pearlisarobot's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative sad tense fast-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Forced institutionalization, Sexual assault, Violence, Xenophobia, Misogyny, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Pregnancy, Racism, Rape, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Hate crime, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, Alcohol, Death, Incest, Infidelity, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, and Racial slurs

nicoleannreads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative reflective tense medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Death, Racism, Domestic abuse, Racial slurs, Rape, Incest, Trafficking, Adult/minor relationship, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Child abuse, Child death, Death of parent, Misogyny, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Animal death

carlytenille's review against another edition

challenging informative reflective medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Genocide, Gun violence, Hate crime, Incest, Murder, Racism, Rape, Trafficking, and Violence

kelsie_s's review against another edition

challenging dark informative sad slow-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Rape, Child abuse, Religious bigotry, Sexual violence, and Trafficking

daishaspencer's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective tense medium-paced

4.0

This book captured my attention right away as someone with family ties to the Mormon church. John’s writing isn’t linear, but that of a season journalist which he is. If you have a fascination with Mormonism, religious extremes, and the domino effect that it has this is the book for you. It can be challenging to follow the timeline and different people this book follows, so don’t pick this up as casual read. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Antisemitism, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Grief, Hate crime, Homophobia, Xenophobia, Incest, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Trafficking, and Violence

laurenleigh's review against another edition

dark informative sad slow-paced

4.0

Thanks @greta.Humphrey for the rec! This book was wild. I knew the basic storyline of Joseph Smith and the birth of Mormonism, but there was SO much I didn’t know. Fair warning, there are a number of sad, bloody, gruesome details in this book. Krakauer is not just focused on the history of Mormonism, but on all the ways the religion has been used as a justification for violence, both past and present. I was most interested to learn about the differences between the current day mainstream LDS church and the fundamentalist offshoots. It might be easy to read this book and condemn or judge any current Mormons, but seemingly no religion is removed from violent pasts or present extremists. Not that any of that is excusable of course. My main problem with the text was its structure (too much chronological hopping for me), but I also understand Krakauer’s reasonings for writing it so.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Murder, Death, Death of parent, Child death, and Violence

Moderate: Misogyny, Xenophobia, Rape, Trafficking, Toxic relationship, Sexual violence, Adult/minor relationship, Violence, Mental illness, Racism, Racial slurs, Incest, Homophobia, and Colonisation

Minor: Animal death and Animal cruelty

tinybluepixel's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative slow-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Pedophilia, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide attempt, Blood, Child abuse, Colonisation, Death, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Infidelity, Murder, Physical abuse, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Torture, Trafficking, and Incest

Moderate: Homophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Miscarriage, Mental illness, Drug use, Grief, Pregnancy, Trafficking, Suicidal thoughts, and Kidnapping

samarakroeger's review

challenging dark informative slow-paced

4.75

read in conjunction with watching the show as it came out. It was interesting to see how the book was adapted to be told in a different format - and I’m glad they did adapt the narrative frame to suit the media style. The book includes a much more detailed history of the LDS Church than the show can cover, so I’m glad I read the book at the same time for context. The show’s “flashbacks” were not nearly as effective as the rest of the show, in my opinion. 

I am absolutely terrified of true crime and had previously read the prologue and been so freaked out I set the book aside. I’m so glad I came back to it because most of the book isn’t directly about that horrific double murder case, but instead dives into the history of the founding of the LDS Church and more recent history pertaining to Fundamentalist sects and their devotion to polygamy. All of it will make you uneasy, because violence, pedophilia, and child rape are difficult topics to read about. 

I think this is Krakauer at his best. He is a very consistently solid author for me throughout the four books of his I’ve read so far. 

If you are fascinated by how people can possibly believe in ludicrous-sounding religions, this is a great book for you. My fascination and curiosity with the LDS Church has been further nurtured by this book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gaslighting, Incest, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide attempt, Violence, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Religious bigotry, Sexual violence, Trafficking, Misogyny, Murder, Pedophilia, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Genocide, Kidnapping, Mass/school shootings, Racial slurs, Gun violence, Homophobia, Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Racism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Sexism