Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon KrakauerMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
What an amazing piece of journalism. Krakauer’s writing is sensationalistic no matter how much he protests to the contrary--but the result is an immensely riveting interwoven narrative:
Mormon history, fundamentalism, murder, polygamy, inbreeding, religious revelation, and the American West. How much better does it get! All the good elements for a fantastically juicy story.
Andy and I started this book on our road trip through Utah in spring last year. It was a fantastic setting for reading about the bizarre underworld of Mormon fundamentalism. We had to stop in Salt Lake City on our way back from Moab. We were properly in awe at the temple visitors center filled with squeaky young white families, minimum four kids, looking at the wax-figure Mormon history displays, and the smiling dark-haired international converts with tour-guide badges.
It wouldn’t do to get Mormonism and fundamentalist Mormonism mixed up in talking about this book--Krakauer focuses his story on the latter. But one sort of springs from the other, doesn’t it? I mean, fundamentalist Christianity wouldn’t exist if Christianity didn’t exist. Or maybe it would.
Krakauer implies that some people are going to be extremist about something, and there’s not much we can do about it. If we can encourage them to be extremist about being concert pianists rather than religious fanatics, so much the better.
But it was so intriguing to learn that one of the basic tenets of Mormonism, as I understand, is that religious revelation is open to pretty much anybody at any time. So, it just opens the way for everyone to hear God telling them what to do--which in some cases might not be such a good thing.
I just love the way the fundamentalist Mormon guys in this book always hear God telling them to do things that are in their own interest to do. I mean, it’s remarkable that God would have the same interests, almost invariably.
For example, God usually insists that they have sex with lots of virgins, the younger the better. The reluctant ones are convinced to submit by the threats of hell and damnation they’ll suffer if they don’t.
I can’t help but notice that this bears a striking resemblance to the story of David Koresh of the Branch Davidians who also was apparently ordered (or asked nicely) by God to rape large numbers of pre-pubescent girls--I mean, like 10-year-olds. OK.
God, this is great. Anyway, I’m getting a little carried away, but this is an absolutely incredible book that will keep you up at night wondering how on earth all this can be still going on! It’s no huge secret--whole towns that are polygamous, etc.--though I didn’t know anything about it until I read this book.
I have tremendous respect for Krakauer, especially in the way he talked to so many people on all sides of the fundamentalism issue and in lots of different communities. The research is awe-inspiring. Read it if you’re at all curious about the history and evolution of Mormonism and the persistence of fundamentalism in America.
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I read this last year, as I've always had a fascination with Mormonism and all the things that I've asked Mormons which I've been told they cannot tell me about--like the ceremonies before weddings, the monitored tithing, etc. I had the seem feeling of interest and awe at all the research, but it seemed regrettable that he was SO sensational in his writing. The facts speak well enough for themselves. And while I understand his bias, sometimes it went a bit overboard. Still, a very interesting and fascinating read. I couldn't put it down. :)
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