Rating: 
Summary: Fascinating and discomfiting
Review: It's intriguing to read the reviews of those who paint Krakauer's book as misguided or poorly researched. This book is a well-written, well-documented overview of the current Mormon and Fundamentalist Mormon faith. He beautifully relays the history of the Mormon church, and then explains the schism(s) that have erupted, resulting in various sects of Fundamental Mormonism. This book wasn't written with the purpose of bashing Mormons; rather, it illustrates the bastardization of any religion that comes about when twisted minds utilize the religion to justify all their actions (ever heard of the Crusades?). To read about Dan Lafferty (a self-described Fundamentalist Mormon who beat his wife) guiltlessly explaining that God had told him to murder his sister-in-law and 15-month old niece is shattering. How can anyone reason with a nut like that? If you wish to stretch your mind, learn a great deal, and recognize that America's religious roots aren't nearly as flawless as most like to believe, then this is a great book. If you prefer to wallow in ignorant bliss, leave it on the shelf.
Rating:
Summary: Believe it...ignore the mormon skeptics
Review: This book is right on target and absolutely fascinating. Having been raised and active in the LDS faith for over 40 years and having been well tutored in it's history (from the LDS perspective I should add), I can tell you that the errors referred to by mormon reviewers on this site are minor and irrelevent to the body of work and the story Krakauer weaves together. It is an outside and balanced look into mormonism and Krakauer NAILS it. The naysayers that have already, and in the future, will continue to dispute and rail against this book are mormon (big surprise). The persecution complex inside mormondom still exists and they will immediately discredit anything that paints them in a negative light. If you are looking for fascinating reading and a peek inside the history of one of the most secret religions in the US, then this book is for you. As stated in this book, the doctrine of polygamy is no longer practiced in the religion, it is only actively practiced by fundamentalist splinter groups. HOWEVER, the doctrine of polygamy is still alive and is still taught in the current mainstream mormon scriptures as sacred and necessary to achieve Godhood in the next life. And contrary to the happy faces painted on the faces of mainstream mormon women, they are treated as lesser objects than men and bound to their husbands. Utah is the highest state in the nation in per-capita use of antidepressants...most of those using them are women. It is high in teen sucide. It is in the top 5 for bankruptcy. Child abuse (sexual and otherwise) is rampant in Utah (yes...by the mormon faithful) and only a fraction of it is reported. Don't let the happy faces fool you, there are some genuine ones there but there is still an undercurrent of darkness and disturbing problems in the mormon faith.
Rating: 
Summary: Great Summer Reading
Review: This is an interesting title which is highly relevant to anyone who lives in the Western U.S.. The content is well researched and the writing excellent. Anyone who has ever wondered about the actual private beliefs of the Mormons (as opposed to the nonsense that's endlessly spewed in their ridiculous television promos) will find this book a worthwhile read. Why only four stars? While I can't really criticize the content of Krakauer's research or writing, the books themselves are not indexed well and the quality of the paper and binding is very poor.
Rating:
Summary: A Fantastic Study
Review: First off, I found this to be a fascinating book. Having gone to law school with several persons of the Mormon faith, I have always found followers of this religion to be an interesting blend of devote traditional religious devotion and modern society (for example on e friend who was very devout loved death metal music such as Slayer, Opeth, Messugah, etc.). Krakauer does a fantastic job with the subject. In most cases, he presents the information in a logical manner, and makes an honest effort to present both sides of the story. Although he is not always successful in presenting both sides, whether is be because the religious leaders or primary individuals would talk with him, he never condemns his subject matter because of their beliefs. This book has prompted be to find Juanita Brooks book about the Meadows Massacre and investigate the writing of Dr. Michael Quinn. My only complaint with this book is the sub-title "History of a Violent Faith." If one were to study almost every religion in the world, one common theme would be violence. All religions have been persecuted against (Catholics in Ireland, Buddhists in Tibet, the Mormons in Illinois and Missouri, Muslims in America, and the Jews just about everywhere in the world). In my personal opinion, the Mormon faiths persecution is nothing spectacular, nor is their violence against gentiles and other particularly shocking.... ...Krakauer's only criticism of the mainline LDS Church is why they feel compelled to ignore their past (such as Brigham Young's fanatical racism, the Mountain Meadows massacre, the unwritten church policy of blood atonement, and of course the blind eye towards the polygamist sects). Krakauer correctly and consistently mentions that these people have been excommunicated from the church, but members of these sects have so much identity with traditional Mormon beliefs that one would be hard pressed to tell the difference, particularly since Doctrine and Covenant 132 (plural marriages)still remains part of the official church text, while up until 1978 blacks were permitted from entering the priesthood (in addition to early Mormon beliefs that blacks were not of the human race). Many who read this book should understand that this book about sects and offshoots of the LDS Church, and his historical analysis of the church is done to explain why many of these sects have the views that they do. having read this book, and critically talked about this with friends of mine who are followers of the Mormon faith, I will take Krakauer's objective study of the church over the biased analysis of those who would hide the warts that are inevitably in the histories of all religions. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition
Rating:
Summary: A great piece of investigative journalism
Review: Krakauer has made a highly-respected name for himself as an adventure writer, so a book about Mormon Fundamentalism first came as a surprise to me. Having read the book, however, Krakauer's trademark writing style emerges just the same: his incredible attention to detail, exhaustive research (much of it first-hand), even-handedness in balancing criticism and sympathy, and a well-paced writing style. The book keeps you engaged from page one, bringing to life little-known stories from both past and present. Some have criticized Krakauer for being a "Mormon-basher," but this couldn't be farther from the truth. Krakauer states again and again that the official Church of Latter-Day Saints (LDS) distances itself from splinter fundamentalist groups and their beliefs. While Krakauer doesn't shy away from presenting the sometimes-flawed behavior of past LDS leaders, he often reminds readers that all religions have similar stains in their history. He also states in a final note that he grew up around Mormons, many of whom were childhood friends, and certainly has no intention of cruelly exposing them or distorting their faith. My only hesitation in giving the book five stars was Krakauer's own admission of his areligious nature. One certainly doesn't need to be religious to understand or approach another religion, but one senses that he forever remains slightly puzzled and intrigued by the religious faith of others. His wilderness adventure pieces, Into the Wild and Into Thin Air (both of which I highly recommend), bear even greater authority because of his own personal experiences that allow him to sympathize on a much deeper level with the characters in those works. Because he freely admits that most organized religion is out of his depth, he takes on the perspective of the slightly-puzzled outsider, not one who has been stirred by religious conviction himself and could, therefore, relate on a deeper level. However, this never affects his balanced approach to the history presented, a truly fascinating story that I highly recommend.
Rating:
Summary: Not an academic work...
Review: But then again, it never claimed to be. It is well-researched and well ballenced. In a time when the focus is on Islamic fundamentalists it pays to remember that every monothesistic religion has their share of those willing to kill for the faith. American holds a strange position of wanting to both allow all citizens to practice their religions and protect all the other citizens from intimidation or harm from those practices. It is high time we faced up to the inherent conflict and had an open debate on the matter. This book is not an attack on modern LDS, no matter how hard the Mormon reviewers try and make it one. It does explore the roots of the Mormon church, which you get the feeling the modern church would rather not have people exposed to, rather like the Spanish Inquisition to the Catholics. I appreciate his agnostic viewpoint, but then, of course, unlike the reviewer below, I don't think that researching the history of the church of latter day saints will necessarily cause conversion:-) Read this book yourself, come to your own conclusions and don't be intimidated by those claiming it is an attack on the modern church.
Rating:
Summary: An introduction to the dilemmas of the "American religion"
Review: As a moderate scholar of LDS history (wrote my Master's Thesis on the texts of polygamy), I found nothing new in this latest book by Jon Krakauer. However, I enjoyed the straightforward journalistic style of his other books, and I expected, and received, the same here. Other books document the history of Mormon fundamentalism in great scholarly detail. Krakauer, on the other hand, uses that scholarship as well as his own research, to adroitly weave several stories of Mormonism and show the paradoxical pattern of this very American religion. Because of that American-ness, I recommend this book to all Americans, Mormon or Gentile, as a glimpse into the history and character of this nation. In many ways Mormonism (including polygamy) was and is the ecclesiastic incarnation of Manifest Destiny. Krakauer makes an occasional minor error, which I note that the LDS church seized upon in their press release preceding publication of the book. I hope that Krakauer will use such criticism to correct those details in future printings and thus thwart efforts to discredit his premise, which is sound and remains substantially unchallenged by the Mormon hierarchy. By niggling over minor details such as the percentage of Mormons who attend the Hill Cumorah pageant, church officials fail to address head-on the dilemmas that constitute the two main threads of Krakauer's book: polygamy and prophecy. Modern Mormonism has found no way to explain much of its history, so it tends to ignore inconvenient evididence or explain it away as an aberration. As Krakauer points out, Mormonism is no different from any other religion in this regard. Its relative youth and plethora of documentation, however, give seekers greater access to the winding road that the faith has followed from Joseph Smith's backwoods occult to its current middle American stability. The fact is that the founder of the religion, Joseph Smith, had sexual relations with dozens of "spiritual wives" many in their early teens. Such behavior is morally repugnant to most modern Mormons, who were shocked at the kidnapping and rape of Elizabeth Smart. What differentiates Smith from Brian David Mitchell, Smart's abductor? It's a hard question for a Mormon to answer. Ultimately, it comes down to prophecy. In American fashion, populist Smith taught that prophecy is given to all people who seek it. The challenge of the Book of Mormon, given by clean-cut missionaries every day, is that its veracity cannot be determined by logical analysis (archeological evidence does not support it), but through revelation from God through earnest prayer. But what if someone receives relevation that runs contrary to mainstream church doctrine? Joseph Smith certainly claimed to receive such revelation in his day. Krakauer's book is a brief but compelling look at the conundrum of the modern Mormon church, which has abandoned so much of its history (polygamy, racism, blood oaths) in order to survive--and even to "fill the earth", as modern Mormonism strives and succeeds in moving into the American (and global) mainstream. Does history matter to Mormonism, or is religion simply a corporate brand with only one goal: to expand its market?
Rating:
Summary: Fundamentally Insightful
Review: Fascinating, meticulously researched, and fair-minded, this book offers insights about the dangers of all forms of fundamentalism.
Rating:
Summary: It is time to come to grips with history
Review: An active member of the Mormon Church, I have found the last decade to be a difficult one. A number of scholars - including Michael Quinn, who is extensively referenced in this book - have searched beyond the sanitized, official version of Church history to bring to light many disturbing facts: Joseph Smith did not translate the Book of Mormon by reading golden plates, but rather by looking at a seer stone in his hat. He was both lascivious and a step removed from being a pedophile, having, among the thirty-plus women he married, some women as young as fourteen. Much of Church doctrine was made up as it went along, often based on expediency of the moment, to fulfill the Prophet's desires or to enhance his station. The early Church was ruled not only through the charisma of its leaders, but through political intrigue and violence (and was met by more than its share of violence in return). These are not points that can be ignored; those in the Church must finally come to grips with them and move one. From what Mr. Krakauer wrote in the last chapter of the book, this was what he originally was planning to write about: how to reconcile belief with the realities of history. Mr. Krakauer is the recipient of this recent scholarship, and he uses it well. He adds to it his gift for writing to make it come alive. By juxtaposing the early Church with the modern-day fringe fundamentalists (who, as he states, are not member of the Church), he draws a thread linking the religious fervor that led to the birth and development of the early Church to religious extremism in the Wasatch Mountains of Utah today. Looking at these case studies, drawn over 150 years apart, provides a commentary on the need for some to embrace religious fanaticism, and the seeds of violence that this fanaticism might contain.
Rating:
Summary: Wow: I learned so much about my OWN church!
Review: This book was an incredible find for me. Very readable, I couldn't put it down and finished the whole thing in just 2 days. Mr. Krakauer is a talented writer and has obviously spent a lot of time researching a very braod topic. I'm confused by others here would criticize him as an "amateur with no real credibility" and such, when he obviously has proven talent. Anyway.. I think this book may have changed my life. I learned many things about the history of the Mormon church. I have been a member of the LDS fiath my whole life and never heard many of the details of church history that were included in this book. For example: Brigham Young added an "Oath of Vengence" to the sacred temple endowment ceremony in which temple-goers pledged: "I will pray, and never cease to pray, and never cease to importune high heaven to avenge the blood of the Prophets on this nation, and I will teach this to my children, and my children's children unto the third and fourth generations" (P. 198) Apparently, this oath was added after the martydom of Joseph Smith. I've been going to the temple for years, never knew that this used to be part of the ceremony. (According to the book, it wsa taken out of the ceremony in 1927). This is just one small example. I am now looking at my faith a little differently thanks to Mr. Krakauer's book. I hope to learn more about church history by researching some of the books in his bibliography.
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