Rating: 
Summary: an excellent book
Review: I loved this book. I am Mormon and was not offended at all by what Jon Krakauer has to say. Other critics have claimed that this is an attack against the Mormon religion. Most Mormons think that if a book isn't written praising them and how great they are that is an attack and unfair. This may be the books biggest stumbling block to a Mormon audience. They typically label anything written about them, not written by them as Anti-Mormon. The most unfortunate thing about that is that they would probably get more out of this than the average reader. @ any rate, the book was well written and informative. It treats the issues and peoples at hand with respect and in a fair manner. I have recommended this to almost everyone I know. It is an interesting and fair look @ the origins of Mormonism and how it relates to not only the mainstream Mormon Church but to splinter and fundamentalist groups as well.
Rating:
Summary: More to do with "Frontier" mentality than with religion
Review: Wow: the number of reviews of this book, and the ponderous length of some of them! There doesn't seem to be one last, single thing left to be said about the book, the author, or the Mormon Church. The only thing I'll try to add is that the book probably says more about the personality of those who participated in "the taming of the West" than it does about religion. Moving ever-westward and leaving behind the old for the new was bound to eventually produce something like the Church of the Latter Day Saints here in America. Otherwise, what most people may not know is how intolerant the Mormon Church is of things not specified in its dogma. While Catholicism, Judaism, and Islam are all anti-gay, for example, the Mormon Church is chillingly so. (This particularly odd, since the Mormon Tabernacle in Salt Lake City looks like nothing less than the Emerald City from The Wizard of Oz; I'm serious.) Orthodoxy breeds intolerance, intolerance breeds hatred: why are we ever surprised when religious zealotry leads to murder?
Rating:
Summary: Do you see yourself?
Review: Krakauer scores again. Brilliant stuff.Krakauer does an extraordinary job of detailing the nitty gritty facts behind the 2 central murders of the story; behind the development of the murderers' increasingly fundamentalist world view; and of providing solid background on Mormon history in general. He develops some pretty convincing cause and effect inferences for the reader to follow. In spite of other reviews focusing on the right/wrong interpretation of Mormonism, I believe the central purpose of this book is to hold a mirror up to believers of all stripes to ask them, "Can you see how remarkably close you are to these people? Can you see how your faith is another's delusion, and vice versa?" Can you see how blind faith doesn't only lead "others" to commit heinous acts, like the Twin Towers' destruction? Krakauer's concluding comments that he began writing this book as an inquiry into the power of religious belief supports my interpretation. Krakauer very eloquently, and diplomatically, recognized that holding up this mirror could be the death knell for his book... so he has decorated this soul-searching motive with 300 + pages of riveting non-fiction. The "characters" of the book can't extract themselves from their self-feeding delusional "revelations" and they spiral away from rational thought. Can you break the cycle in your irrational thoughts? Can you acknowledge them? Or will you, too, escalate a war of us/them value judgments based on slipshod theology... and what actions against others will YOUR religious views inspire?
Rating:
Summary: A Blockbuster of A Story!
Review: I was on a two week vacation in Phoenix, Arizona when I stopped in a Barnes and Nobles Bookstore to get out of the record 116 degree heat. 'Under The Banner of Heaven' was placed on the featured book display and was a novel concerning murders influenced by radical religious beliefs. Being that Phoenix does have a good numbered of LDS buildings, I thought I would take a few minutes to read what the author had to say. Two hours later I ceased reading and purchased the book so I could continue on with my vacation.
Jon Krakauer is not a Mormon or someone who seems to have any strong religious opinions concerning Christianity. In fact, he seems to be a religious sceptic. Mr. Krakauer is someone who simply wanted to write the truth about the murders and give 'strong documented' history on Mormonism.
It is clearly evident that today's Ultra Fundamental Mormons are not accepted by the current Mormon faith based on the writings of this novel. Yet it is extremely interesting to see how many of the current Mormon beliefs have changed over and over again. Most mainline Mormons, if they investigated their history as Krakauer has, would find that they follow a religion where some of their major doctrines have been completely disinheirted by the church and or reinterpreted in such a way that Joseph Smith never intended. That most Mormons have no real understanding specific to the life of Joseph Smith as to how his revelations, (which are Mormon doctrine) were conjured up by himself and not God inspired.
The author does an excellent job of weaving past and current history together so that the reader is able to follow the purpose for the book.
Rating: 
Summary: Blood Atonement and Celestial Marriage
Review: This book dwells on Mormon history and their Fundamentalists' believe in blood atonement, celestial marriage, divine revelations and their sometimes bizarre tenets.
To read about massacres committed by Mormons in Utah on fellow Americans, like the Mountain Meadows Massacre of 160 men, women and youth, robbing them of their riches and then make the Paiute Indians their scapegoats is quite appalling. "Celestial marriage" is another subject described in this book, even though the pragmatic reason for polygamy (for instance in Islam due to the high death toll of men during wars), especially a celestial reason for old goatherds - in Mormon language titled Saints - lusting for and subduing 13 year old girls in the name of God Almighty and his prophets, is not made clear. In this connection light is shed on the motive behind the abduction of Elisabeth Smart by the Saint Immanuel.
After 17 years being condemned to death row, Ron Lafferty, who murdered his sister in law and her infant, is retried fearing that he was mentally incompetent to stand trial in the first place, and to determine whether he was and is crazy or sane according to accepted legal criteria. The psychological evaluation is an interesting read whether there is a difference between religious fanaticism, narcissism, and mental illness.
There are stretches of boredom in this book, but then Mr. Krakauer picks up the thread again and more information about what goes on under the "Banner of Heaven" takes on "enlightening" aspects for the reader.
Rating:
Summary: Telling it like it is
Review: Through my work, I have had the opportunity to meet (and even get a little friendly with) people from Colorado City. I knew that I would have to read this book when a friend told me about it. Let me start by saying that I could not put it down! The subject of religious fundamentalism and the polygamist lifestyle is fascinating. While the story of the murders of two innocent people as a result of these beliefs is an integral part of the story (and somewhat graphically detailed), it didn't captivate me as much as the history of Mormonism and fundamentalist Mormonism did. Jon Krakauer did not use this book to bash, degrade or embarrass those of the Mormon faith; he was telling the story of and explaining the history of the LDS Church as it happened so that we could understand why some people choose to live the lifestyles that they do. When I mentioned some of the more negative historical information to an LDS friend of mine she was quick to reply that his information was wrong! This book is not about who is wrong or right (although most Mormons will quickly debate you when negative Church history is presented to them), but simply presents the true (and for some, painful) history behind the ultimate founding of both the LDS Church and the Fundamentalist LDS Church.
Krakauer's writing style draws you in right away. I'm always skeptical about nonfiction reading as it has the potential to be dry and boring. Not so here! If you have any interest in this area of religious debate or are a fan of Krakauer, you won't go wrong with this one.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Study
Review: Jon Krakauer provides us with another excellent work of nonfiction. The subject matter is fascinating, and Krakauer presents a complex and controversial subject with great skill. My only point of contention with the author is his assertation that Mormonism is the "quintessential American religion." In fact, less that 2% of the population of the United States belongs to the LDS faith, and the tenets of the religion seem far more like communism than capitalism and democracy. Other than that, this is a fascinating read.
Rating: 
Summary: A historical account from a non-historian
Review: I am neither a historian or an expert in the lds church and I was still able to find many significant errors in this book. For example, 'Laban' in the Old Testament and 'Laban' in the Book of Mormon are not the same person, as Mr. Krakauer believes. Not only are they separate individuals, but several hundred years separates their time on the earth. Ooops. This is just one of many... This is more than an attack on the lds church. It is an attack on all religions. If the need for a few wasted hours is present in your life, feel free...just give the information you find the credit it deserves...similar to the credit of a super-market tabloid. Still want to waste your money? Here are some other reviews...from real critics... The Boston Globe, Terryl L. Givens, 27 July 2003 "To understand how an ostensibly nice religion that produced Donny and Marie Osmond could also produce brutal murderers, we are told, we need to take a 'clear-eyed journey into Mormonism's violent past.' Really? To understand Ron Lafferty, legally declared a paranoid delusional murderer, Krakauer says we need to go deep into 'this history of an American religion practiced by millions.' Trying to extrapolate profound truths from isolated examples of religious excess is a dangerous game. The Laffertys were not the first murderers to hear voices, and they won't be the last. But applying Krakauer's model, every David Berkowitz (''Son of Sam'') would provoke an inquiry into the sinister potential of Judaism (after all, Abraham heard voices telling him to kill Isaac). But that would clearly be anti-Semitic. Exactly. Insofar as Krakauer recounts Mormonism's past, he does it poorly, using outdated sources and discredited reports to portray a Joseph Smith and a Mormonism reminiscent of 19th-century caricatures. His picture of contemporary Mormonism is also seriously misinformed, leaving us with far more overlap between Mormons and renegade polygamists than really exists, and grave misperceptions ... Krakauer irresponsibly misinforms as well on subjects from the ''Book of Mormon'' to the Mountain Meadows Massacre - all in an effort to link deluded modern murderers with a skewed depiction of Mormonism's past and present ... His book is ultimately more about doing violence to a faith than uncovering the violence behind a faith."
The Wall Street Journal, Naomi Schaefer, 11 July 2003 "This is all quite misleading. Anyone who has spent any time with members of the Mormon Church will know that Mormons are not today polygamous, let alone violent. Indeed the church produces some of the most productive, law abiding, patriotic and community-minded citizens the country has ever seen. (Brenda Lafferty, a faithful Mormon and graduate of the church's flagship university, was one.) "True, 'Under the Banner of Heaven' is purportedly about the off-shoots of the Mormon church, whose members long for the days when the church allowed polygamy and banned blacks. But by linking the history of the church directly to these groups, and lightly skipping over the past 100 years of Mormon history, Mr. Krakauer implies that the fundamentalists are the rightful inheritors of the church's tradition. He regularly quotes the Lafferty brothers citing older Mormon scriptures as precedents for their revelations and behavior, as if there is some damning truth hidden in ravings of criminal extremists. "Predictably, the theme of the final courtroom scenes - where experts debate whether the Lafferty's are insane or just very faithful - is that all truly religious people share the Lafferty brothers' 'injudiciousness' and might therefore hold similar violent tendencies. It would be difficult to count the number of religious people in the world who would find this characterization frightfully unfair, but one could start with the 11 million members of the Mormon church."
Rating:
Summary: Making sense of Mormonism
Review: Krakauer's Under the Banner of Heaven combines meticulous research with a healthy dose of skepticism to produce a remarkably insightful and interesting read. Although some would think it a blatant attack on the strange phenomenon of religious fundamentalism, Under the Banner of Heaven does not come off preachy or condemning of a religious system the author admits he is outside. All religious attacks from the outside remain just that--outside. I find it refreshing that rather than attempting to produce objective history with no personal bias, Krakauer unapologetically admits his skepticism--and thus his status as an outsider. This admission arms his readers with valuable insight into his inability to comprehend the nature of existential religious experience, what S. Kierkegaard referred to as the teleological suspension of the ethical, or in simple terms, the phenomenon of the Divine giving mandates to individual that run counter to the expected or accepted norms of a particular religious group. The highlights of the book include a very compelling recounting of the life and death of Mormon founder Joseph Smith, as well as fascinating glimpses into the thoughts of self-appointed modern day prophet-turned murderer Ron Lafferty. Krakauer raises some pretty important questions, and as a whole, Under the Banner of Heaven can be characterized as "not bad coming from an outsider."
Rating:
Summary: An indictment of fundamentalism in general
Review: Compelling, well-written and well-thought out investigation into the dangers of fundamentalism, whether encountered in the LDS cult or any other religion. Thoroughly documented, exhaustively researched, this work will take hold of you like one of the better fast paced novels. A valuable work on many levels, this is highly recommended (and urged on all my friends!)
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