Rating: 
Summary: Save your money
Review: This is nothing like Into The Wild or Into Thin Air. It's a disturbing look at the twisted reality and growth of Morman fundamentalism. I'm glad I read it, but it's not a keeper.
Rating: 
Summary: NickB
Review: Krakauer has found a story that needs telling and the world needs to hear. He has researched and told the story in his typically detailed, careful, yet thoroghly engrossing style. Krakauer knows that real-life human tragedy is more thought provoking than any work of fiction. The tale of fundamentalist Mormons, their disturbing lifestyles, disturbing origins, and deeply disturbed world views creates the most compelling work of non-fiction I've read in a decade. Mormon critics claim that his "history" is somehow lacking. These good folks are missing the point of the book. It is not a history of the Mormon Church, it is an essay on how religious zealots living at the fringes of society can be simultaneously saintly and evil incarnate. This book is about religion-fueled murder and an examination of how a religion that encourages members to seek personal revelations from God struggles to deal with the inevitable emergence of malevolent crackpots who create "revelations" to justify and magnify their sociopathic behaviors. Krakauer uses a mixture of history (sufficiently accurate and annotated for his purpose), interviews, and his own insight to create an illuminating, "can't put it down" book.
Rating: 
Summary: Anti-Mormon claptrap
Review: This book tries to do for Mormonism what the Protocols of the Elders of Zion does for Judaism, and is just as blatantly anti-Mormon as that tome is anti-Semitic. The central premise of Krakauer's book, based on antecdote and innuendo, seems to be that if you grew up in a mainstream Latter-day Saint family, you're just a couple of philisophical shifts away from becoming a wild-eyed homicidal religious maniac. Meanwhile, in the real world, millions of Latter-day Saints quietly raise productive, tolerant, law-abiding citizens, whose simple lives of goodness are ultimately the most eloquent refutation possible of Krakauer's rabid stereotyping.
Rating:
Summary: Think about what you think about
Review: Worth reading irrespective of your belief about religon or LDS. An extremely gripping story where JK does an excellent job of placing the central murders of the book within the context of the violent history of the LDS and the growth of FLDS. Although I am sure there are certainly factual errors in the particulars, as is true of almost any book, it is hard to fault the overall examination of the impact of belief and the need to examine one's own beliefs.
Rating:
Summary: Unprofessional and poorly researched
Review: As a fan of his other novels, this book was a great disappointment to read. I have also written about the Mormons and their church while working as a journalist throughout the world, and I have researched many of the same stories. His slant and deceptive writing style were a shame to read from a professional viewpoint. I am familiar with many of the sources he used, and it is unfortunate he chose to focus on those with "bones to pick" with the Mormon culture, so to speak. I didn't feel he was objective at all. Agnostic yes. Objective, no. But hey, if it makes a bestseller, who cares if he's honest? Extremely disappointing coming from Krakauer.
Rating:
Summary: This is a "Must-Read" book!
Review: Krakauer's well-written and meticulously-research book should be an instant eye-opener for anyone who agonizes over the blind loyalty of religious followers who never stop to think about their words or actions. The detailed look into historical and present-day Mormonism should give us all pause to think. Many who read this book will hopefully follow up on some of the other selections recommended by Krakauer, again, both from an historical and a behavioral point of view. There are some chilling modern-day lessons to be learned here. Excellent book!
Rating:
Summary: eye opener
Review: People, for all of you who think this is a history book, this is not the book for you. All of us who have read Krakauer, know that although his style of writing appears journalistic it is loaded with his own opinions and conclusions. This book appeals to those who want to take a closer look at fundamentalist sects right here in our own backyards. We do not have to go to the Middle East or blame the Taliban for all the wrongdoings in the World. He concentrates his focus on the Fundamentalist Mormon groups and their outrageous ideals but do not forget many of the problems that plague this nation is caused by the large political influence other fundamentalist groups (Southern Baptist, for example) exert in our nation.
I personally like the anti-Joseph Smith position carried on in this book. I recognize he had to have been a great man to be able to create his own Religion and one of trhe fastest growing one, to say the least. But it is good to see this man was no HOLY MAN. It is good to see he was able to influence the "multitude" with his Charisma but in all he was a very confused man and let his own personal desires dictate and rule his life. It is sad that some of these became official "dictates" supposedly from GOd but were only meant to create control and establish him as the only leader of this group of blind sheep he led. Enough for now
Rating:
Summary: Provocative exposé of Utah culture.
Review: This book is a must read for all people in America who have questions about the Mormon faith. The freshly scrubbed and wholesome looking missionary at your door has a doppelganger back home in Utah who is much more Moslem than Christian in his world view. Mr. Krakauer has done the nation a great service by exposing the truth about the dangers of all fundamentalist religions, and in particular one whose basic tenants sanction violence against non-believers and apostates, as well as plural marriage and a theocracy wherein the citizen consecrates all property to the church. The books greatest achievement is to be able to bring several seemingly disparate historical occurrences and concisely put them into context. The Morrisite war, mentioned by Mark Twain in " Roughing It", the Mountain Meadows massacre, the attacks on numerous emigrant wagon trains which were blamed on the American Indians, the murder of Brenda Lafferty and her baby and the Elizabeth Smart saga all have a common set of root causes. Some critics have suggested the book is inaccurate because it is not properly footnoted but if you want to know its sources just read the acknowledgements. Other authors whom have written books that are more scholarly and heavily footnoted are Faun Brodie, Will Bagley and Brent Metcalf. There is a problem for the mainstream Mormon Church today. The real American talaban living in Hilldale, Utah with four wives and twenty children, who is willing to slit the throat and abdomen of any one whom he considers to be unrighteous is practicing the true " Celestial Masonry" revealed to Joseph Smith and practiced by all Mormons until the early twentieth century.
Rating: 
Summary: Interesting...
Review: I read and enjoyed Jon Kraukauer's "Under the Banner of Heaven" but was ultimately frustrated by the meandering structure and repetitive language. A more thorough editor might have noticed his tendency to repeat certain words and ideas, and could have framed the narrative in a more cohesive order. My guess is that a rush editing job is to blame for what is an otherwise successful book. The book works on several different levels. It is a criminal justice story, about a grusome, religiously motivated murder. It is the history of a uniquely American religion, the Latter Day Saints, and one of its scarier offshoots, Morman fundamentalism. The book details the origins of this religion in Palmyra,NY, to its westward trek to Salt Lake City. The lives of the key leaders, from Joseph Smith (who founded the religion after a series of visions) to Brigham Young (who took over after Smith and his brother were killed by an angry mob), are detailed, as is the split within early forms of the religion. One of the most hotly contested issues was plural marriage, which was eventually banned by the mainstream LDS church. It is still practiced by approximately 30,000 Morman fundamentalists, many of whom have been excommunicated from the church. A secular audience will likely be horrified by the misogyny and patriarchal control of Morman fundamentalism. There are apt parallels to Islamic fundamentalism, and many of the details of this story seem impossible in modern America. I don't think any intelligent reader of this book will confuse these practices with the beliefs of the mainline LDS church, although there are still some historical connections between the two. There are millions of Mormons in the world (it is the fastest growing religion in the West) and a tiny percentage practice polygamy, and that is a distinction that is made clear in this book. Definately worth a look.
Rating:
Summary: Not historical?
Review: This book is a fascinating look at a very strange religion. Admittedly "the church", as it is known in Utah, does not condone the deaths of Brenda and Erica Lafferty but there is a clear link from the murders to the teachings of the church. No wonder this book is driving Mormons nuts. They keep saying it is inaccurate but when you ask for examples the only footnotes they can give is God. God said it happened a different way. To them that is a perfectly logical answer. Where rationality ends, faith begins. Although there are several excellent books dealing with one aspect of Mormon history or another (read No Man Knows My History, by Mormon Fawn Brodie who was excommunicated for her work, or Will Bagley's book on the Mountain Meadows massacre), this book brings it all together and connects the dots. It is readable and historically accurate. Unless of course you believe God can rewrite history.
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