Rating: 
Summary: Another good one
Review: This was the best book I've read all year. This guy is such a good writer. The story just kept delivering and it was hard to put down.
Rating: 
Summary: Objective and well written
Review: Krakauer did a wonderful job of being objective and interesting. I think some of the other reviewers were a bit sensitive to Krakauer's criticism of fanatics (not Mormons). Lets face it, there are fanatics in every religion, and their beliefs as individuals do not represent any religion as a whole.
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Summary: Powerful and Moving
Review: Jon Krakauer continues to write brilliant, well-researched books that make the reader think long after completing the book. Following up Into Thin Air and Into the Wild with another terrific book seemed unlikely, but Krakauer has managed to do it. His look at a tragic double murder, and the Mormon Fundamendalist movement, will shock and outrage most rational people. He gives us an insight into a part of America that most of us will never see. As terrible as the murders were, the most horrifying aspect of the book is the disregard that these groups have for women, and their use of underage innocent girls in the name of religion. For someone who enjoys non-fiction, this is a terrific read.
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Summary: enlightening
Review: Excellent, provocative, and disturbing. A 'must read' for mature, rational beings. Krakauer does a fine job of researching a controversial topic. This book is about fundamentalism, but challenges religion in general. In my opinion, God=Nature and we had best respect Nature or we are sunk. I congratulate Krakauer for having the courage to write this book. Let us pay attention to what this means for our country and our world, particularly in the arena of politics. The irrational and simplistic view of 'good vs. evil' is an example of fundamentalism at its worst.
Rating: 
Summary: what's it all about
Review: What is this book? Is it a true crime story or a forum for Krakauer to put forth his anti-religion ideas?. Whichever it is, it doesn't seem to have resonance with readers as it is sinking like a stone. Down to 78.
Rating:
Summary: Hardly Objective
Review: I am a great admirer of this author. I found his books "Into The Wild" and "Into Thin Air" quite compelling reading; real page turners. In Under The Banners Of Heaven, when the author sticks to the facts of the horrendous double-murder, and the chronology of events, he does a great job.
However, I think that he over-reaches when he tries so hard to connect the actions of the criminals involved with the history of Mormonism. This is the area where, I believe, he loses objectivity and paints with an over-broad stroke. He tries too hard to make a moral and causal connection between the 19th century violence involved in the evolution of Mormonism (much of which was violence against the Mormons)and the acts of the criminals involved in the 1985 murders. The 19th century and the westward movement were filled with violence and lawlessness, one group against the other. One can hardly fault the early Mormons for fighting back. (One could just as well fault the Jews of Israel for fighting back).
Whatever the quirks and other unusual practices of modern day break-away,fundamentalist "Mormon" sects, one thing is clear: those groups are not Mormon, nor are they at all representative of the Mormon Church. Anyone who murders in the Name of God, (as the criminals involved herein claim to have done)is committing an evil blasphemy. These criminals murdered because they wished to murder, and they alone bear the responsibility. The Mormon Church vehementely condemned the actions of these criminals, and rightly so. For the author to paint these murderers as an inevitable outcome of Mormonism or the history of Mormonism is unbalanced and unfair(to the Church). I gave this book 4 stars because I think it should be read; when it sticks to the chronology of the crime, it is quite good. However, it becomes seriously unbalanced and unfair when trying to pin the actions of individuals (who have free will) on Mormonism.
Rating:
Summary: Couldn't Put It Down
Review: I've waited 5 long days to write this. Had to finish the book first. Has Krakauer captured the roots of the LDS religion or the current LDS religion today? Hard to say. Many mainstream Mormons I'm sure would say no. I don't think that was his goal though. Krakauer loves the US West and he is a great Western/adventure writer. He is clearly one of the heir apparents to the great Wallace Stegner tradidtion, whom he has quoted liberally. The stories of Western expansion and of LDS history are inextricabley tangled. Both are bloody and bizarre. Krakauer seems to delight in this and wants to rub our noses or at least educate us in the history of our country's expansion, many of which I was ignorant of. I feel like i've just returned from a tour of the old and new west (albeit a bloody and bizarre one) after reading this. Furthermore, he seems to know and acknowledge that there is no such thing as "objectivity" in history or in writing, so he told the story as best he could. What strikes me as inaccurate are the many complaints that he is sloppy or incomplete in his research. As the book moves along, I find myself impressed with the sources and facts he did dig up. What many people seem to object to is his juxtaposition of those facts and sources. But I think that is the author's privledge based on the story he sees. His telling of the pro and con legal arguments of the insanity defense at Ron's second trial was espesically interesting.
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Summary: Under the banner of heaven
Review: Regardless of religion, these are bad people, the Laffery Brothers. Jon Krakauer has used his skills as a writer to paint a picture of the United States not often seen. While we worry about other fundamentalist in the world we allow these people to break our laws, hurt others, lie, and do all those things we blame terriorists for. Readers will find their faith challenged and wonder where the laws of the United States are in Utah and Arizona are enforced. A read for all those who want to be informed
Rating:
Summary: Excellent read
Review: Jon Krakauer has long been a literary hero of mine. I have found his story telling technique to be poignantly revealing of both the beauty and horror of the human condition.
This book reads incredibly well and weaves the stupefying history of the latter day saints with the horrifying murders of Brenda and Erica Lafferty. Ultimately, Krakauer makes the tacit polemic that the legacy of the LDS church, which is replete with both violence and polygamy, should not be underestimated when trying to understand the motives of the murderers; Ron and Don Lafferty. Although the LDS church is quick to distance itself from fundamentalist Mormon groups, which happily embrace polygamy, the history is undeniable. Both Joseph Smith and Brigham Young, were devout polygamists, and believed polygamy to be among the most sacred of God's commandments. Many from the LDS church (and reviewers on this site) decry the book as being one-sided. It most certainly is not. Rather ironically, it seems that the ruling patriarchy of the church is the one in fact that is bent on presenting a dubiously researched and one-sided view of its history. To be sure, Krakauer treats all parties mentioned in the book with respect and dignity, remaining an objective narrator throughout the text. This is definitely a recommended read.
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Summary: Dark side of religion or of man?
Review: It is not an easy read. No, it is not a difficult book technically, but it deals with fanaticism so intense and so perverse that makes one wonder of what darkness humans are capable. As a Christian pastor this book particularly interested me. Mormonism has always intrigued me especially in their recent attempts to portray themselves within the mainstream of Christian thought. As the book clearly demonstrates, they have unique teachings and beliefs that separate them widely from biblical Christianity. The book itself is wonderful and I highly recommend it. But as a pastor, I would like to take issue with two statements the author makes. In doing so, I hope I am not straining at theological nats, rather, I hope my comments transcend theology to the very nature of man. The author states that Under the Banner of Heaven is a look at the dark side of religion. He goes on to mention that all faiths, Moslem, Hindu, Buddhist as well as main stream Christianity have a dark side, that if not kept under control is capable of great barbarism and cruelty. Any student of history can attest to this, my objection, however, is that the problem is not a dark side of religion, but the dark side of man. Man, himself, is capable of great cruelty. Yes, man has used religion to justify genocide, but one cannot jump to the conclusion that it is the religion that compels man to violence. Religion is merely the tool that man uses to justify his cruelty. Since the French revolution, modern man has the tendency to reject religion as superstition (the opiate of the people) and has deified reason and science as the new gods. Modern man believes that the answer to lifes ultimate questions can be found in technology and science. The only problem is, that science and technology has not brought about the utopian society that Western man has hoped for, instead, it has brought barbarism and death on a scale undreamed of in centuries past. In the twentieth century alone, millions upon millions have perished on the altar of the dialectical materialism of Karl Marx and the National Socialism of Hitler and his ilk. It is not the dark side of religion that drives man to barbarism; it is the dark side of man. Perhaps this phenomenon can be described by the word- idealism. The idealist believes that he has the answer for what troubles man, i.e., religion, communism, National Socialism, environmentalism, etc., and will stop at nothing, even the destruction of property and murder to bring about his utopian paradise. In killing, he thinks he is saving. In destroying, he thinks he is building. My second observation is that faith and reason are not as diametrically opposed as the author repeated infers. Yes, one cannot reasonably believe the history of the early Americas, as set forth in the book of Mormon- there simply is not one scintilla of evidence to support it as the author demonstrated. No wonder in the front plate of every Book of the Mormon published there is an appeal to the burning in the bosom as evidence that the book if true. The New Testament authors, however, never use such subjective criterion when they attempt to persuade their audiences of the truthfulness of the resurrection of Jesus- they always appeal to the witnesses who saw the risen Christ and who ate and drank with him after he was raised from the dead. Yes, the Christian believer must accept the resurrection of Christ by faith, but it is a faith that is based on reasonable evidence, the testimony of witnesses who ate and drank with the risen Christ. Sorry for the sermon, I just could not help myself. Now back to the book- read it. It will give you insight to the Mormon Church as well as the dark side of man.
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