Under the Banner of Heaven - 9/1/21

 Hello Faithful Readers, 

Book 43: Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith

Premise: The history and modern life of the Mormon church. This book does focus mostly on extremists, but does talk about Mormon towns and their lives. 

When you think Mormon you may think Utah, young boys in white shirts and black ties trying to talk to you about their faith, or maybe even polygamy. But there is an undercurrent that we often don't hear about. Isolation, child brides, murder and more, all in the name of god. This book does focus heavily on the more extremist offshoots. But these offshoots may become more and more common since Mormonism is the fastest growing religion in North America.

Author Jon Krakauer (Known for Into Thin Air and Into the Wild) holds to punches when writing about the Mormon church.* The book revolves around a double murder committed by two Mormon extremists who use "god told us to do it" as their reasoning and excuse. 

It deep dived into some Mormon history, several extremist branches, some more general history as layers these narratives on top of each other. From Mormons interactions with Native Americans and other early settlers to much more recent cases cities that are completely Mormon and don't allow TV, Caffeine, Alcohol, or to talk to family members outside of the church. 

The hardest part of this book for me to read was the polygamy. Many times Men simply tell other fathers that god has told them he has commanded the daughter to marry them. Age differences do not matter, and many extremely young girls are given away to live with men much older then themselves with little to no say. Including one instance of a man marrying a widow with a daughter, when the daughter was old enough he married her as well. 

Overall this book is hard to read, the acts brought to light can turn your stomach, but it's still a fascinating. The Mormon church is usually very hush about the crimes their members commit, and even a lot of their history isn't widely talked about. 

So double check if god's really asking you to do what he says. 

And remember dear readers, Stay Vivid

*I believe this may have been because he was not granted interviews with the LDS leaders when originally investigating the double murder the book revolves around. While his biases don't openly flow in this book, in places it seems he may only be telling one part of the story.