An edition of Under the Banner of Heaven (2003)

Under the Banner of Heaven

A Story of Violent Faith

  • 3.6 (22 ratings) ·
  • 89 Want to read
  • 7 Currently reading
  • 33 Have read
Under the Banner of Heaven
Jon Krakauer
Locate

My Reading Lists:

Create a new list

Check-In

×Close
Add an optional check-in date. Check-in dates are used to track yearly reading goals.
Today

  • 3.6 (22 ratings) ·
  • 89 Want to read
  • 7 Currently reading
  • 33 Have read

Buy this book

Last edited by Rob Larson
May 28, 2012 | History
An edition of Under the Banner of Heaven (2003)

Under the Banner of Heaven

A Story of Violent Faith

  • 3.6 (22 ratings) ·
  • 89 Want to read
  • 7 Currently reading
  • 33 Have read

Jon Krakauer's literary reputation rests on insightful chronicles of lives conducted at the outer limits. In UNDER THE BANNER OF HEAVEN, he shifts his focus from extremes of physical adventure to extremes of religious belief within our own borders.

At the core of his book is an appalling double murder committed by two Mormon fundamentalist brothers, Ron and Dan Lafferty, who insist they received a revelation from God commanding them to kill their blameless victims. Beginning with a meticulously-researched account of this "divinely inspired" crime, Krakauer constructs a multilayered, bone-chilling narrative of messianic delusion, savage violence, polygamy, and unyielding faith.

Along the way, he uncovers a shadowy offshoot of America's fastest-growing religion and raises provocative questions about the nature of religious belief. Krakauer takes readers inside isolated communities in the American West, Canada, and Mexico, where some forty thousand Mormon fundamentalists believe the mainstream Mormon Church went unforgivably astray when it renounced polygamy. Defying both civil authorities and the Mormon establishment in Salt Lake City, the leaders of these outlaw sects are zealots who answer only to God.

Marrying prodigiously and with virtual impunity (the leader of the largest fundamentalist church took seventy-five "plural wives," several of whom were wed to him when they were fourteen or fifteen and he was in his eighties), fundamentalist prophets exercise absolute control over the lives of their followers and preach that any day now the world will be swept clean in a hurricane of fire, sparing only their most obedient adherents.

Weaving the story of the Lafferty brothers and their fanatical brethren with a clear-eyed look at Mormonism's violent past, Krakauer examines the underbelly of the most successful homegrown faith in the United States and finds a distinctly American brand of religious extremism. The result is vintage Krakauer, an utterly compelling work of nonfiction that illuminates an otherwise confounding realm of human behavior.

From the hardcover edition.

Publish Date
Language
English
Pages
399

Buy this book

Previews available in: English

Edition Availability
Cover of: Under the Banner of Heaven
Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith
June 8, 2004, Anchor, Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, Anchor Books, A division of Random House
eBook (Kindle)
Cover of: Under the Banner of Heaven
Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith
2004, Anchor Books a Division of Random House, Inc.
Trade Paperback in English
Cover of: Under the Banner of Heaven
Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith
2004, Anchor Books
in English - 1st Anchor Books ed.
Cover of: Under the Banner of Heaven
Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith
July 15, 2003, Doubleday
in English
Cover of: Under the banner of heaven
Under the banner of heaven: a story of violent faith
2003, Doubleday
in English - 1st ed.

Add another edition?

Book Details


Edition Notes

Published in
New York

Contributors

Book Designer
Caroline Cunningham
Cover Design
John Fontana
Cover Photographs
Will Funk/Alpine Aperture

The Physical Object

Format
Trade Paperback
Number of pages
399
Dimensions
8 x 5.10 x .8 inches
Weight
11.4 ounces

ID Numbers

Open Library
OL25327391M
ISBN 10
1400032806

First Sentence

"Balanced atop the highest spire of the Salt Lake Temple, gleaming in the Utah sun, a statue of the angel Moroni stands watch over downtown Salt Lake City with his golden trumpet raised."

Links outside Open Library

Community Reviews (0)

Feedback?
No community reviews have been submitted for this work.

History

Download catalog record: RDF / JSON / OPDS | Wikipedia citation
May 28, 2012 Edited by Rob Larson Edited without comment.
May 28, 2012 Created by Rob Larson Added new book.