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A review by eclecticemily
Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith by Jon Krakauer
challenging
dark
informative
slow-paced
4.0
Summary: This is a nonfiction book about Mormonism, primarily around their practice of polygamy. It explores this by starting off with a true crime case where a fundamentalist Mormon man killed his sister-in-law and niece. He did this primarily because he felt she was threatening his fundamentalist beliefs. It then goes back to explore what these beliefs are and where they came from.
Favorite Passage: There's a section where it talks about the Elizabeth Smart kidnapping. I was too young to know the full context at the time, but it explains here how her Mormon upbringing primed her to go along with her abductor and his beliefs.
Review: This has a lot of history and insight into the Mormon religion, but I would have liked if it had stayed a bit more focused on the main murder and that family. There are long stretches focused on Mormon history and other figures that don't directly relate to that story. The author's portion at the end says the book started out as a history of Mormonism and an exploration of their faith and belief and I feel like you can tell that because the main story feels kind of tacked on.
Favorite Passage: There's a section where it talks about the Elizabeth Smart kidnapping. I was too young to know the full context at the time, but it explains here how her Mormon upbringing primed her to go along with her abductor and his beliefs.
Review: This has a lot of history and insight into the Mormon religion, but I would have liked if it had stayed a bit more focused on the main murder and that family. There are long stretches focused on Mormon history and other figures that don't directly relate to that story. The author's portion at the end says the book started out as a history of Mormonism and an exploration of their faith and belief and I feel like you can tell that because the main story feels kind of tacked on.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death
Minor: Incest, Rape