About this title: Krakauer shifts his focus from extremes of physical adventure to extremes of religious belief in this true story of an appalling double murder committed by two Mormon Fundamentalist brothers who insist God commanded them to kill.
Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Anchor Books
Date Published: 2004
ISBN-13:9781400032808ISBN:1400032806
Description: Good. No dust jacket as issued. Cover shows wear with creases, name on testimonial page, text lightly tanned and appears unmarked. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Doubleday
Date Published: 2003
ISBN-13:9780385509510ISBN:0385509510
Description: Acceptable in Acceptable jacket. 26-X-Add Books rated "Acceptable" may have significant wear & tear; may have significant amounts of underlining, highlighting, or notes; may have moderate stains, creases, or tears; may have cracked spines or loose pages; may have the previous owner's name, stamp, sticker, or gift inscription; or may be library discards. read more
Description: Good. Light shelf wear and minimal interior marks. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Acceptable. Former Library book. Shows definite wear, and perhaps considerable marking on inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Description: Good. Former Library book. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Description: Octavo, hardcover, fine in near fine blue and white pictorial dj. 399pp. with, biblio, index and maps. Author shifts his focus from extremes of physical adventure to extremes of religious belief within our own borders. At the core 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 ... read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Anchor Books
Date Published: 2004
ISBN-13:9781400032808ISBN:1400032806
Description: Good. No dust jacket as issued. Almost has a crease at the spine after the second page. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 432 p. Audience: General/trade. read more
Description: Good. 2003-Hardcover----Used-Good-Hall Street Books proudly ships from Brooklyn, NY. All orders are processed and shipped within 24 hours, M-F. 100% money back No-Worry guarantee with expedited delivery and delivery confirmation available. read more
"This is an incisive look into the fundalmentalist mormon culture. I assume it was used to a great extent by HBO in the making of its series Big Love. Anyone wanting a better understanding of what is going on in El Dorado Texas should read it."
"I really enjoyed Into Thin Air, but now I wonder if it is poorly done as this book was. As a Mormon I was amazed at Krakauer's complete naivete that he's trying to pass off as expertise and a well-researched book. I'd be scared of Mormonism too if I read this and didn't know better. The logic leaps he makes are simply massive. For a story about the Lafferty's, this is a nicely told yarn. For understanding its extrapolation into a story about Mormonism it is foolishness at its finest."
"This book is a wet dream for wiseass, arrogant agnostics like myself. It's ostensibly about (a) the history of Mormonism; and (b) the brutal murder of a mother and her 2-year-old daughter by a couple of Mormon Fundamentalists who strayed way too far from the flock in the early 1980's. However, the deeper subject is the uneasy coexistence of faith and reason, and how the two have trampled each other throughout history. Without reading this book, you're probably aware that Mormonism is one of the kookiest religions out there. Magic reading glasses and peepstones, plural marriage, historical anachronisms in the Book of Mormon, church-sanctioned racism and homophobia, the questionable morals of the religion's founding fathers...it's all laid out very well by Krakauer. But he also gives Mormonism the respect it deserves as the world's fastest-growing religion, and rightfully so. After all, just because the big JC didn't walk the earth in the time of printing presses, who's to say it's any quirkier than the oldest religions (or Scientology, for that matter), or that the founding fathers of the thousands of religions that have popped up throughout the ages were any more god-like. The bottom line is faith: you either have it or you don't, and sorry, we're never going to know who's right until we drop dead (and btw, if the wiseass atheists and agnostics are right, what fun would that be? How can we brag about it if it all just goes poof? DAMN YOU, COLLEGE EDUCATION/DISCOVERY CHANNEL!!! JESUS SAVES!!!). Faith and reason do not coexist. But, as the murder story demonstrates, sometimes they have to form an uneasy truce in figuring out when "faith" devolves into "crime" or "insanity." Not as easy a task as you'd think.
Man, look at that review: I'm so ostensibly cool! Who said that English major was worthless?"
"Wow. I'm slowly becoming more of a fan of non-fiction, and this book is great for that! Krakauer gives a well-researched (judging from the length of the bibliography) account of the history of the Mormon church, interwoven with an absolutely chilling look at Mormon Fundamentalist communities that practice polygamy in the desert wilds of Utah, Arizona, and Canada. These people are nuts, plain and simple. I can have a limited respect for a watered-down and spiritualist form of religion, but this kind of extremism is just insane. It's a completely irrational justification for the worst kinds of human behavior, including domestic violence, rape, sexual abuse, and, what is central to Krakauer's story, murder.
Krakauer has been accused by some of not presenting an even-handed account, and I think it's true that it's easy to see that he thinks Mormon fundamentalism is absurd. On the other hand, it's a rare person who doesn't. And Krakauer refrains (for the most part) from actively condemning or poking fun at his subjects, although it would be very easy to do so. He lets the absurdities of Mormon history and belief speak for themselves. No direct criticism could be so damning.
Particularly interesting is the part of the book where Krakauer talks about religion and insanity. He focuses on the story of Ron Lafferty, a Mormon fundamentalist who participates in the brutal murder of a young woman and her 18 month old daughter. During Ron's trial, the prosecution works hard to make the case that Ron, despite his history of hearing voices and his belief that an evil spirit is trying to enter his body through his anus, is mentally competent to stand trial. And part of that argument is arguing that these totally absurd and violent beliefs are really just as rational as any other religious person's beliefs. And since they are, we cannot judge Ron to be insane, because that would be saying that all religious people are insane. In the absence of any rational reason for believing in one version of the supernatural as opposed to another, it is indeed difficult to argue that one belief system is insane, while another deserves to be endorsed by nearly every candidate for the president of the United States. Food for thought, for sure."
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