Rating: 
Summary: Excellent, Well Researched
Review: Krakauer does his usual exhaustive research with footnotes on almost every page. His maps of areas he introduces is helpful too. Unfortunately, I wish he had through to toss in a few family trees. With the large families he chronicals, with many people having the same last names and similar first names, it is easy to get lost in some of the narative.
Sometimes this book is difficult to read not because it is poorly written, but the contents stir consternation. It is not directed just at Mormons, but our society in general. Why is it so terrible that the Mormons didn't allow African Americans into the priesthood until the 1970's when to this day, they still don't allow women (a much larger percentage of people)? Is it because Catholics do the same thing and they are an "acceptable mainstream" religion? Why are some forms of discrimination acceptable and others not? Krakauer's book doesn't just reveal weaknesses in the LDS, but at our religious notions as a nation in general.
Rating:
Summary: A most important book.
Review: This book is not meant to be scary, but it is.If I lived in Utah, after reading this book, I would move out. This book is sobering, but true. READ IT!
Rating:
Summary: Negative Reviews prove Krakauer's point
Review: A fantastic book! Krakauer proves he really can write about anything. As someone who is not LDS, and lived for 5 years in Salt Lake, it was obvious to me from the beginning that this book would be polarizing in this part of the country. The number of negative reviews from what appear to be mainstream LDS individuals, confirms a people who to this day are still prickly. Their persecution was indeed real and tragic, but I have friends who's parents and grandparents died in the gas chambers in Poland that might think the protests are a little over done. Krakauer repeatedly stresses there is a difference between the LDS church of today, and the FLDS church. But what is undeniable is the roots of their belief's coming from a central figure, Joseph Smith. And like him, the FLDS participants always take a position that "plural marriage" is the cornerstone of both their belief in restoration of the true church, as well as a central theme in his. And for those mainstream Mormon's out there, how does something that was always against the law, become a "requirement" for the Saints on one hand, and then get conveniently "revealed" away when Statehood is on the line? You've got to ask yourself, "Is this convenient, or what?" It's easy to see how things could get so confused and Krakauer makes an excellent point of this. He is one of the first writers on the topic I've seen ask the question, "When everyone is being "talked" to by God, who's prophesy prevails?" Well, that's the reason the additional prophesy was necessary to make "The Prophet" the only one capable of getting "genuine" direction from God. That being the case, who was really talking to the Lafferty brothers, or any of the other dozens of people that Krakauer cites in his book. The prevailing problem is that in the Bible it states specifically that prophesies will cease. Makes you wonder if more people read their bible, how many Mormans would we really have? Time after time, even the mainstream LDS church has made Jon's point for him. Free thought and reason are not cornerstones in the Mormon arsenal. Obedience, and faith in men are. Brenda Lafferty died for one simple reason. She thought for herself, which is even an accomplishment for many women in the LDS church. Polygamy may not be in the Church's doctrine anymore, but it's no less male dominated. There's no getting around admiring a people who almost single handedly created a society and community in a savage and unfriendly environment. I just wish they could be more honest about where they've come from without throwing out an excellent book because it reminds them of a past they'd rather forget about. One last struggle I've always had. The Dead Sea Scrolls gave historical crediblity to the Bible. It's just always seemed so convenient that all the scripture was given to one man and then it was taken away, back to Heaven. Hmmmmm.....
Rating:
Summary: Another fine book by Krakauer
Review: I have read two other books by Jon Krakauer and enjoy his writing style immensely. Although I think it is painfully obvious who the Mormons are who have read this book in most of the reviews on this website, I think it is probably impossible to review it fairly without having any distance from the Mormon religion. I spent a great many years in Utah, making this book even more interesting. I think Krakauer does a fine job in not passing his own moral judgement while adequately conveying the true history of the Mormon religion, parts of which the Church of Latter Day Saints wants everyone to forget. The core of this book is about a brutal murder performed by Mormon Fundamentalists (extreme ex-communicated faction of the Mormon Church) and taking the reader from the beginnings of the Mormon religion and relating it to the current Mormon Fundamentalists today. Excellent read!
Rating: 
Summary: Inaccuracies
Review: As a casual historian of the period covered in Krakauer's book, I am dismayed, even insulted, that a fellow author would twist and omit crucial facts about any group--mainstream or not. Had he included a balanced overview of events from credible (not sensationalism-type) sources, he would have had no story at all. Now I wonder about inaccuracies in "Thin Air". I've lost all respect for the author. Apparently not what he's "Kraked" up to be. Sad how quest for notierity and money clouds integrity.
Rating:
Summary: Under the Banner....truth!!
Review: Fantastic Book, COuld not put it down. As a former resident of Utah it was amazing to read!!
Rating: 
Summary: Good read but scary...
Review: THis is pretty easy to read. One can definitely finishes it over a weekend. It gives the reader brief history of Mormons. In addition to the comments by my fellow reviewers, I would like to add: 1. The brothers have the fundamental belief and from the description of the book, pratice some kind of religious meditation that gives them the "revealation". This is the most dangerous part of meditation, IMHO. For as far as I know, no decent buddhist student are allowed to have religious meditation without a guidance of a buddhism master. Some of students may need to stay with the master for 10 years until the master finally "admit" one as student. So, an ad hoc group like those groups in this book are really dangerous without a formal guidance. 2. The author clearly is a not friend of Mormon but I will say he makes his disposition fair & square with little moral judgement. 3. I wonder how does a Christian solve the problem of faith in the scripture and the real life. Clearly, most people now abhor polygamy and surely, the main stream (reluctantly, as described in this book) dropped the teaching of polygamy. However, the scripture has implicitly say it and the prophet, Joseph Smith, did practice it.... The bible asked people to stone a woman if
she commits adultery. Will a Christian really stone a woman? But, it is against the temporal law in most country. So, what is the truth? How could you tell this we should which but that we shouldn't?
Rating:
Summary: disappointing, biased, poorly written
Review: Right off the bat, let's get this straight: Krakauer is not a writer; he's a reporter, and not a very good one. This story involved a cult that was an offshoot of Mormonism, but Krakauer manages to leave uninformed readers with a undeserved negative impression of the mainstream Mormon church. If he's going to report, he owes it to reader to research his subject well and report without bias. As a reporter, he's a hack. As a writer- well, there's no art here. I'm not a Mormon but I live in the epicenter of that religion, and have plenty of contact with both conventional and fundamentalist Mormons - and Krakauer's account has little if anything in common with either.
Rating:
Summary: Enlightening historical perspective
Review: My wife and I both just finished reading this book. We were first made privy to it while watching Dateline NBC a couple of months ago. I had grown up knowing some mormons that I went to school with, but not ever fully knowing what they believe or what their religion is based upon. My wife had spent some time in a seminary so she knew more of their history. I'll start off by saying I was amazed during the reading of the book on several levels. I was quite impressed with Krakauer's writing. It seems he made a great effort at keeping it for the most part a historical view, using the scriptures, tenets, etc that the church was built upon throughout the book. He also did a great deal of research into different interviews and the like using quotes from key people in the history of the faith as well as the people surrounding the Lafferty murders, which becomes a sort of focal point for Krakauer. My amazement came on a completely different level as I comtinued turning the pages and learning more and more about what the mormon faith is based upon and the history of its church/people. Even with consideration for the time period, it is difficult for me to believe people did not question more of what the "prophets" of the faith continued to bring forth as revelations, and thus foundations of the faith. Although, I am sure some of these tenets are no longer taught or ascribed to, I was shocked to know that mormonism was founded on such tenets as polygamy, biggotry (viewing white americans as superior), and such far-out ideals as blood shed to atone for sin. I don't understand why more within the faith today do not question why these tenets were the foundation of the faith long ago, and why some of them are now some sort of "hidden secret". I am sure this book has outraged the people of the mormon faith, but I am glad and find it interesting and intriguing that Krakauer has brought all he did to light.
Rating: 
Summary: Been there, done that.
Review: Jon Krakauer stoops to conquer in Under the Banner of Heaven. Except for the accounts of the Lafferty murders and the Elisabeth Smart kidnapping, very little here is new territory. Krakauer quotes from the same tired ex-Mormon gadfly, D. Michael Quinn, who is never quoted without mentioning his Yale degree. Quinn is a big fish in a very small pond, and he is "trotted out" here and there--as in last year's New Yorker article--and is fast becoming a re-tread. In the popular press, polygamy remains a lurid topic, and Krakauer knows this. My aunt, Ardyth Kenelly, made fun of it in her 1940's bestseller, The Peaceable Kingdom. Contrary to many of the reviews, many people do not separate fundamentalists from today's Mormon church--don't be surprised to hear this book quoted on "Focus on the Family," when they do their anti-mormon diatribes. Krakauer insists that he had Mormon friends growing up in Corvallis, Oregon. But clearly, his relationship with them was nothing compared to Wallace Stegner, who is quoted in his book. Wallace Stegner once said, after being raised with Mormons and attending their church, that he would only ever write about Mormons as a friend. This book may capture your interest--but believe me, it is the 21st century version of the 19th century's "Opium Eaters in the den of Brigham Young" and the 20th century's "The 27th wife." They sit on my bookshelf next to my latest addition--Under the Banner of Heaven.
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