num_pages: 399
description: Jon Krakauer’s literary reputation rests on insightful chronicles of lives conducted at the outer limits. He now shifts his focus from extremes of physical adventure to extremes of religious belief within our own borders, taking readers inside isolated American communities where some 40,000 Mormon Fundamentalists still practice polygamy. Defying both civil authorities and the Mormon establishment in Salt Lake City, the renegade leaders of these Taliban-like theocracies are zealots who answer only to God.At the core of Krakauer’s book are brothers Ron and Dan Lafferty, who insist they received a commandment from God to kill a blameless woman and her baby girl. Beginning with a meticulously researched account of this appalling double murder, Krakauer constructs a multi-layered, bone-chilling narrative of messianic delusion, polygamy, savage violence, 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.From the Trade Paperback edition.
language: English
title: Under the Banner of Heaven
titlecomplete: Under the Banner of Heaven
genres: Historical, Religion, Biography, Cults, Nonfiction, Audiobook, Crime, Journalism, History, True Crime
ratings_count: 201223
places: Utah
awards: awardedAt: 1072944000000
name: Colorado Book Award
category: General Nonfiction
publisher: Macmillan