Under the Banner of Heaven...

[dryan]

just started, so far excellent.

[Richardo]

1. I want to read that one.

Let us know!

[Bullwinkle925]

11. Was one of the books our book club selected - and is still a book

that gets mentioned at our meetings.

[eallen]

2. Excellent book. I think you'll be pleased through the end.

[AllyCat]

3. It made me sick to my stomach

Good book, but there were times I was so grossed out I had to put it down.

[the other one]

4. Fantastic read. Scary in its implications.

The picture Krakauer suggests is of a Mormon church set on becoming the dominant force in US politics, and succeeding in its goal. If Krakauer is right, this will be the Mormon states of America in 50 years.

[stray cat]

5. I thought it was really well done and interesting

[dryan]

6. Mark Hoffman....

one of the things I found interest is that Lafferty's cellmate was Mark Hoffman. Hoffman had been a devout Morman who became an atheist. He later forged a number of documents that made the Mormom church look bad (which they bought for their 'archives). Hoffman later killed 2 people via bombs he placed and nearly killed himself. I read the two books mentioned about the Hoffman case in the book.

[LisaM]

7. I liked that book too

I then read Faun Brodie's biography of Joseph Smith, a good companion read.

[dryan]

8. I read that a long time a go....

it was very good

[Patiod]

9. Reading that on the way home from Atlanta last night

coupled with the books on the bombings, it's scary stuff.

All fundamentalism is scary, which is a point he makes in the preface, and "fundamentalist" Mormons (a term that mainstream Mormons don't like too much) are out of their minds.

The thing is, most mainstream East Coast Americans don't believe you when you tell them about Mormons or fundamentalist Mormons. It's like the implications of having Rapture-believing fundamentalist End Times Christians as commander in chief, where my friends refuse to believe that anyone believes in The Rapture.

Krakauer knows how to draw you in.

(oh, and the "bleeding the beast" stuff just pissed me right the hell off -- those polygamists are collecting millions from the state in aid for dependant children. Plus they're throwing away their boys, and raping their girls. Repulsive).

[dryan]

10. Several ....

former female residents of Colorado City-Hilldale have appeared on the Dr. Phil Show. Its hard to believe that this goes on in 21st Century America!

[Hamlette]

12. The book is a great read.

I'm the attorney for the welfare office in Utah. Polygamy is a difficult issue for us as so many polygamists recieve public assistance. Tom Green who has 5 wives and 30 kids (his second family) rec'd an average of $60,000 per year in assistance.

That and the fact that polygamy is organized around cult leaders and gain and hold membership through strong arm tactics is what takes it out of the realm of freedom of religion.

I'm sure you know about how they treat young girls (like baby machines) but they also kick young men out of the group because there are not enough wives to go around. These pre-teen aged boys with no where to go are another horrid fallout of this "religion".

As an attorney, (who when to law school with Ted Bundy...another story) you might imagine I too have read all the books on our many varied weirdo criminals.

There was a report/study recently showing Mormon "recruitment" is down. It also explained that church membership is inflated as the church never takes people off its rolls. Every mormon is expected to do "missionary work" (ie convert people all over the world) at some point in their lives. Often, as soon as the missionary comes home, the convert stops "being a mormon" but is still on the rolls. One of my favorite examples is Thailand. Mormons have converted (they say) half the Karen hilltribe people of Thailand. You'd NEVER know it. The Karen people "adopt" every religion they are exposed to. That is not to say they switch religions, but rather they consider themselves to be ALL of the faiths they adopt in addition to their own animalistic or pagan type faith.

[flamingyouth]

13. I thought it was very well done.

He did an excellent job of taking a very complex history and making it quite readable, all the while tying in the more current events.

My mother's side of the family is all Mormon and one of my great-great aunts was the second wife of a man who had had 12 children with his first wife and another 12 with my great-great-aunt. I met her in 1976 when my mom took me to Utah. She was about 82 at the time, IIRC.