Reviews tagging 'Colonisation'

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

15 reviews

knachknachjoke's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative sad medium-paced

4.5

A haunting, thorough exploration of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, its history, and the dark implications of what actually investigating that history leads one to believe.

I would have considered myself somewhat knowledgeable on LDS church history before this read, but Krakhauer blew pretty much everything out of the water with how thorough his storytelling was. He discloses at the end his own perspective—that he hadn't intended for this to be anything other than an amicable exploration of Mormon history inspired by an admiration for his childhood friends' faiths—and the resonance I felt to his perspective was really startling.

I think my biggest takeaway from reading this, and I believe Krakhauer's from writing it, is just how frightening the two roads you can take after studying Mormonism's history are: either you discern it is one man's quest for sex and power, or you conclude that everything—polygamy, blood atonement, white supremacy, child abuse—is all true and all imperative to a right way of life.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Child death, Gore, Incest, Colonisation, Death, Death of parent, Infidelity, Hate crime, Pedophilia, Religious bigotry, Violence, Blood, Child abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Emotional abuse, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Mental illness, Sexual assault, Suicide attempt, Suicide, Sexual violence, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Cursing, and Pregnancy

fiveredhens's review against another edition

dark emotional informative tense medium-paced

5.0

i think it's time to admit to myself i would read practically anything jon krakauer writes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Racism, Sexual violence, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Murder, Pedophilia, Religious bigotry, Incest, and Colonisation

jazzofmine's review against another edition

dark emotional informative sad tense medium-paced

5.0

This book earns five ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ stars from me! It’s definitely for someone interested in Mormon history, development of fundamental offshoots of Mormonism and deeper, philosophical thinking about the nature (and dangers) of religion. I would describe this as “gruesome, Mormon true crime” to any potential reader. 

The primary aim of the book is to explore these situations that beg us to ask “How could this happen” with substantial history and development of this religion. The author explores history and provides context in order to show how the LDS organization provided a conducive environment for radical, extremists to be bred and thrive. 

The example of the Lafferty brothers‘ murder of their sister in law and baby niece is reprehensible, but not isolated. And not an accident. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Misogyny, Sexual violence, Colonisation, Death, Gore, Mass/school shootings, Violence, Blood, Murder, Rape, Incest, Sexism, Pedophilia, and Sexual assault

Very graphic, great read; informative

allys_shelf's review against another edition

challenging informative slow-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, Grief, Misogyny, Child death, Hate crime, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Violence, and Incest

Moderate: Kidnapping, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Alcohol, Gaslighting, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Cursing, Suicide attempt, Colonisation, Emotional abuse, Antisemitism, Pregnancy, Death, Infidelity, Domestic abuse, Infertility, Gun violence, Incest, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Child death, and Drug use

jamiejanae_6's review

challenging dark informative reflective sad medium-paced

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Colonisation, Death, Incest, Murder, Pedophilia, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Sexism, Xenophobia, and Sexual assault

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

urreadtome's review against another edition

challenging dark informative reflective sad slow-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Adult/minor relationship, Murder, Child death, Misogyny, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Rape, Physical abuse, Incest, Sexual assault, Sexism, Child abuse, and Pedophilia

Minor: Colonisation, Domestic abuse, and Racism

amsswim's review against another edition

dark informative sad medium-paced

4.25

I was aware of much of the information in this book, but the author does a good job of collecting a lot of information and tying it back to his main topic. The whole book revolves around a murder in the 80s but we cover much of the history of the Latter Day Saints and the various branches (mostly fundementalist) of the church.

It always strikes me how incredibly American the Morman church and beliefs are, as well as the incredible violence within their history and beliefs. 

Anyone interested in religious fanaticism should read this one. Also there is a Hulu series out now, so maybe will watch that too. There have been some major developments since its publishing, so that also offered an interesting perspective.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Religious bigotry, Sexual violence, Violence, Toxic relationship, Infidelity, Colonisation, Death, Homophobia, Adult/minor relationship, Emotional abuse, Incest, Murder, Rape, Sexism, and Sexual assault

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