2011 Bookshelf: Under the Banner of Heaven

"Under the Banner of Heaven" (by John Krakauer) taught me more than I ever knew before about Mormonism and Mormon Fundamentalists. The core of the book examines a horrible murder committed by two Mormon Fundamentalists in 1984: two brothers were convinced God had told them to murder their sister-in-law and her 15-month old baby. They carried out this "order" with great brutality. The brothers were caught, tried, and found guilty (although by the end of the book - in 2004ish - one brother is still languishing on death row, while the other is spending life in prison).

As he develops the stories around these murders, Krakauer also delves into the history of Mormonism, and the history of how the Fundamentalist branch of Mormonism breaks off from mainstream Mormonism. The main schism between the two had to do with polygamy: mainstream Mormons denounced the practice of polygamy, while Fundamentals insisted it was a directive of God that they practice plural marriage.

I found it very intriguing to learn about how Mormonism started under Joseph Smith in New York state, and over time and because of persecution, eventually moved to remote areas of the West, parts of Mexico, and parts of Canada.

I have to admit, this was one of my favorite lines in the book, only because it describes a situation so absurd it's hard to believe it's true. The author here is describing the family tree of a woman who was a plural wife to a Mormon man named Blackmore: "As his sixth wife, Debbie became stepmother to Blackmore's thirty-one kids, most of whom were older than she was. And because he happened to be the father of Debbie's own stepmother, Mem, she unwittingly became a stepmother to her stepmother, and thus a stepgrandmother to herself." And you thought your family was complicated?

It became clear while reading the book that the author himself was skeptical, and even critical, about any organized religion, and at the end of the book he admits as much by saying "I don't know who God is...In fact, I don't know if God even exists".

I suppose with any book on the history of a religion, this work should be taken with a grain of salt. Even though the author obviously did extensive research, and quotes many other authors in the book, this is still his take on the history of the religion. The appendix of the book provides a defense the Mormon church gave in response to this book, as they countered some of the more unsavory aspects of their religion's violent and controversial history. Nevertheless, it was an interesting look at a religion that I hadn't really known much about.