Comment

Community comment are the opinions of contributing users. These comment do not represent the opinions of Daniel Boone Regional Library.
Nov 20, 2017jandt_mcmurray rated this title 4.5 out of 5 stars
History, religious background, murder, community --- this book has it all. Jon Krakauer explores the history & background of the Mormon faith (aka Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints), more specifically the Fundamentalist LDS, by detailing the crime & subsequent trial of a modern-day FLDS family. The Lafferty brothers, Ron & Dan, along with 2 sidekicks murdered their 23 yr old sister-in-law & her 15 month old daughter because "God revealed to them that these people needed to be destroyed." While the author describes the Lafferty family & their beliefs prior to the murders, he jumps back in time to various points in the history of the Mormon church & its founder Joseph Smith & leader Brigham Young. By giving brief glimpses of the church's history, he is able to better explain how the Lafferty brothers & others come to their Fundamentalist beliefs. I have had a deep interest in the Mormon church & its believers for several years. My grandpa & aunt did a TON of research on the church as they came in contact with Mormons believers constantly in their home state of Arizona. Since I got my hands on their research, I began picking up where they left off. I believe the author does a fair job at trying to be unbiased & simply report the facts as seen by both parties. He does, however, point out his particular beliefs in an epilogue. I think many people would find this book interesting, but I believe every Christian in particular should read this book in order to get a basic background on an ever-growing church. Age recommendation: 14 & up (profanity, murder, polygamy, physical abuse, incest) On a scale of 1-10 stars, I give it 9.