Rating: 
Summary: Don't listen to the nay sayers
Review: John Krakauer is a decent author not one of my favorites but decent. The book is well written and definitley exposes some of the darker corners of an already dark religion. Having lived in Utah for 8 years (in some of the smaller communities I might add) I can see that Krakauer did his homework.
I would say to anyone read the book and decide for yourself if you think it is good. The less you know about the LDS faith going into this book the better. The Book will only make you want to explore the LDS religion further. And let me be the first to say that when you do you will find it is the most fascinating work of fiction. Jaw dropping what people believe. Makes L. Rom Hubbard look like a genius.
Rating:
Summary: Well written, no matter your background
Review: I know that this space is largely consumed by those cutting and pasting their doctoral theses on Mormonism (both positive and negative assessments thereof), but I would like to make a few casual observations as a casual reader:1. This book is marvelously written
2. This book is entertaining and a joy to read
3. A well researched "counterpart" is welcomed, but if it's as thin and shrill as the critical editorial from the LDS leadership included by the author (!) in response to an earlier publication of the book, then I'd recommend that you save your ink. If I may editorialize a bit myself, books such as this are clearly necessary as we grapple with religious orthodoxy and its bitter struggle with modernity. Those who thought a truce had long been forged between faith and reason, what with the establishment of Reform Judaism, the Unitarian Church, and Vatican II, could not be more wrong. Obviously, it's far too simplistic to say, "Well, of course Islam produced Osama Bin Laden ... you ever read the Qu'ran? It's full of violence!" That it might be, as much as the Bible is, as well as countless other religious texts. What the author does here is set the religion in context, view its history openly and honestly, and assess how a religious system can inspire acts of violence. Every Mormon is not a murdering polygamist any more than every Muslim is a terrorist or every Jew is a racist settler. But if we cannot honestly grapple with the issues raised by those individuals who do fit the bill, as this book (successfully IMHO) attempts, then we are willfully turning our backs on the most important issue of our day.
Rating: 
Summary: Great story, but author interprets history
Review: This was a fascinating book, but when I finished the last page I felt like I had read a 365-page story from the National Enquirer. The book oozes with juicy descriptions of fundamentalist Mormons, murderers who kill in the name of God, and the checkered history of the Mormon Church. If you're expecting a clinical dissection of a murder, skip this book. It claims to focus on two brothers (Ron and Dan Lafferty) who murdered a woman and her baby two decades ago, but only one-third of the book really talks about the murder. Another third covers the history of the Mormon church, and the final third is a startling (and equally gossipy) survey of polygamist communities from Utah to Canada to Mexico. As a story, the book hits a home run. Krakauer is a great writer, and his eye for detail is devastating. You read descriptions of the polygamist communities and you feel like laughing at the crackpots and crying for the victims at the same time. Unfortunately--and this is why I give the book only three stars--Krakauer can't merely document the history and describe the events. His book quietly advocates two stealth theses. They don't belong in a book like this, at least not secretly, and I think the second thesis is wrong anyway. His theses, which are never spelled out completely but nevertheless lurk below the surface in every chapter, are that (a) religion is a waste, and (b) the mainstream Mormon church has infused its followers with such a spirit of violence that it must share in the blame when its fanatic followers go berserk. These are perfectly valid topics to contemplate, but if you put them forth you should come clean and say so out loud, and then give data to prove them. Krakauer's book tries to prove these theses with anecdotes, extremely narrow vignettes of deranged persons, and sensationalized histories of century-old events. For example, we never hear what the "mainstream" polygamists think of the Laffertys' crime. I think they would probably denounce it, but Krakauer isn't going to give them voice in his book because it would weaken his second thesis. Instead (surprise, surprise) the last chapter revolves around an ex-fundamentalist who found his salvation in atheism. What's his connection to the Lafferty crime? None. Krakauer is extrapolating a line from a single point. Can you really draw general conclusions about a worldwide church from the actions of two fundamentalist kooks? Krakauer thinks you can. Worse, he conflates three very different things (the mainstream Mormon church, the fundamentalist polygamists, and the Lafferty brothers) to the point where naive readers will start thinking they're all the same thing. The author has right to ask hard questions about religion and the Mormon church, but I think it's wrong to write contentious things by making unilateral interpretations without giving all sides of the story. The Appendix to my edition of the book (Anchor) contained a negative review of "Under the Banner of Heaven" by a Mormon official. Krakauer engages him and debates fair and square for a few pages. What the shame the rest of the book wasn't like that.
Rating: 
Summary: An objective, eye-opener
Review: I had read this author before and liked his work. I checked this book from the public library. I could not have guessed that he grew up Mormon until he tells the reader near the end of the book. There's so much here that I did not know. Fascinating.
Rating:
Summary: Krakauer does it again!
Review: It is not a new observation that religious zealotry and mental illness can be an extremely destructive combination. This book describes an example--in which Morman fundamentalist brothers (apparently) murder their sister-in-law and infant niece for religious reasons--while informing the reader about the history of the LDS church and its offshoots.
The author takes a subject which could have been dry as dust and made it totally absorbing for this reader who had absolutely no background in the subject matter. Krakauer has the gift for making every one of the diverse subjects he chooses interesting to the lay reader.
Wisely, Krakauer leaves the formulation of any global conclusions about religious wars to the reader, although the implications of the LDS conflicts to the middle east conflicts are obvious.
It should also be noted that the author appears to fairly state--I can't say for sure because I haven't read the source material--the LDS church's historic reliance upon plural marriage, which Church leaders now minimize or deny, without being normative about it.
Rating:
Summary: An absorbing account
Review: Jon Krakauer's UNDER THE BANNER OF HEAVEN is an absorbing account of a particular Mormon family--one which lives and breathes a particularly Orthodox type of Mormonism not sanctioned by the mainstream Church of the Latter Day Saints. That's the micro story. The macro story is that of the beginnings of the Mormon faith, with all its ups and downs, and it is absolutely fascinating. Whether or not you agree with the tenets of the Mormon church, the story itself is absorbing and richly detailed.
The family the story focuses on--the Laffertys--becomes involved in a terrible crime. I don't want to say more for fear of giving away too much detail to those who haven't read the book. While Krakauer stays away from overemphasizing the gory details, he conveys the horrific nature of it enough to shock the reader.
Some of the family members are sketched in finely drawn detail, but others--including a main character named Allen--are so lacking in detail and nuance as to be almost unknowable. This is really the only problem with the book from a readability perspective. Otherwise, it's a sad but fascinating account of what can happen when religious leanings tip over the edge into fanaticism.
Rating: 
Summary: Are you Kidding?
Review: I would suspect that for those who read "Under the Banner of Heaven" by Jon Krakauer would find the book from an LDS perspective as offensive. There are some who see Krakauer's book as an attack on the LDS Church, although he acutally attacks the very concept of religious faith itself, questioning whether reational individuals are justified in believing in a mormal authoriity greater than themselves. Within the pages of Under the Banner of Heaven Jon Krakauer shows a certain hostility toward religion in general.
The book would have you believe that every Latter-day Saint, including your friendly Mormon neighbor, has a tendency to violence. Krakauer unwittingly puts himself in the same camp as those who believe every German is a Nazi, every Japanese a fanatic, and every Arab a terrorist. Should the Church thank
Even the Wall Street Journal as an unbias party describes the book as "quite misleading," in a review written by Naomi Schaefer on July 11 2003. Other reviewers charge Krakauer with being a "one-sided journalist," going even further by questioning not only the analysis but accusing Krakauer of being "unfair" in his approach to his subject matter.
After the realease of Under the Banner of Heaven outside the United States there were reports as seeing the "Mormon Church as a fertile breeding ground for killers, child abusers, racists, polygamists and white supremacists." All of which is the furthest thing from the truth.
In conclusion the book is totally unfair in its approach, tone, and tenor, misrepresening the LDS faith system and history by using inflamatory verbage to invoke the most negitive response. Jon Krakauer consistantly cut corners on research to the point of dishonesty. It is a wonder how this book got past a publisher to publication.
In this persons opinion no LDS person and very few Christians would or sould find this book in any positive light. Jon Krakauer's preface while launched at the LDS specifically plays just as big a role against Christianity as a whole demeaning the character of those of faith.
Rating:
Summary: Unbiased book
Review: I can't really say that I enjoyed this book--It is graphic and highly disturbing--the content, however, is astounding. Whatever your religious belief(s), this book is a must read. I found especially interesting the parts of the book that dealt with the history of the Mormon church. This a history that you won't get elsewhere. The most impressive detail about UNDER THE BANNER OF HEAVEN is that it is written without religious slant, in fact, I would gather from his writing style that the author espouses no religion whatsoever. His style is challenging and revealing, and while I am personally a Christian, I certainly appreciate his unbiased look at a religion whose history and modern-day appearance have been shrouded in both mystery and illusion.
Great read!
Rating:
Summary: Never seems to get deeper than the surface
Review: I'm not in the LDS, so I've no complaint about Krakauer's close examination of their beliefs. Indeed, I wish more Americans knew of their Mormon friends and neighbors' beliefs: the pre-Columbian Hebrew tribes, the magic spectacles, etc. These things seem so silly to me to be almost self-refuting.
However, Krakauer as a secularist, does not seem able to really distinguish one religious belief from another in terms of their truth claims. He just lumps them all into one big irrational heap. This must be because he is a stranger to religious belief himself and is examining something that he with which he is completely unfamiliar. It also seems to me that those who like this book the most share his innate distrust of and thinly disguised disdain for religion in general.
Is belief in God simply irrational as Krakauer claims? There is increasing acknowledgement in philosophical circles that it is not, even among philosophers who are not theists themselves. There may not be overwhelmingly compelling proof of God's existence (and probably never will be), but many academic philosophers are no longer willing to say that theism is necessarily irrational.
Further, as an outsider to religious belief, Krakauer never seems to go beneath the surface to explain the "why" that makes Mormonism or Mormon fundamentalism attractive. Or why religous belief in general persists in such great numbers in America, when 30 years ago a secular society was expected by most academics.
He also never explores the dichotomy between the strict legalism espoused by all branches of Mormonism and or the flagrant violations of its "moral" code by the fundamentalists. Why, for example, are mainline Mormons so outwardly upright, and these fundamentalists such hypocrites by Mormon standards: swearing, sometimes drinking, and violent, etc.? What sort of rationalization or mental negotiation is going on here? Krakauer never really explores these sort of questions. It's as if he's gone into his project expecting all religous people to be self-righteous hypocrites, so it's completely unremarkable to find examples of the same.
As I've said, those who share Krakauer's predispositions will enjoy this book the most.
Rating:
Summary: Ok, but not author's best work
Review: After all the strong reviews in the newspapers I went into this book with high expectations. But while the reporting was the author's usual detailed chronoligical tale, I found the abundance of names and multiple locations of LDS settlements a little hard to keep straight and keep interested in. The author has clearly reached some conslusons about the LDS church and some of them are well founded, however sometimes I felt his writing was needlessly crtical of the church.
Into the Wild is still his best book, althought Into Thin Air is a close second.
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