Rating: 3.5 out of 5

This book was a hit back in the early 2000s, and its still making waves. A tv series (which I haven't watched) was released earlier this year based off of the events documented in this book. That doesn't answer the question as to what this book is, and I'm not sure that I can answer that either. I'm not sympathetic to fundamentalism, whether that strain is of Protestantism, Mormonism, or Islam. And, judging by the tone of this book, neither is Krakauer. That being said, this book has structural and thematic issues that made it's message difficult for me to absorb.

I walked into this book thinking that it was primarily about the murders committed by the Lafferty brothers, and while those murders are discussed, they are not the focus of the book. It dives into the history of the Mormon movement, and tries to explain the fertile soil of violence and abuse that Mormonism and its derivatives have sponsored. I initially thought that this was a way of contextualizing the Lafferty murders, and in a way it was, but somewhere along the line it devolved into simply being an excoriating list of atrocities committed by Mormons. There was no focal point to most a large swathes of this book, other than polygamy=bad. This was peppered with some casual thoughts and quotes from authorities on experiences of religion. This is to say, this book fell between the stools of a true crime investigation, a study of FLDS groups, and a history of Mormonism, failing to address any of these three issues sufficiently.

Yes, I did enjoy this book, but I was hoping for something with greater focus and greater depth. An interesting read, but lacking. ( )

With God at one's side, all things are possible. Thus goes the theology of which I had been familiar and is at play in the subject of this treatment of the history of a double murder and devout faith of the perpetrators of that act.
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There is much about the history of the uniquely American brand of home-grown religion known as the Latter-Day Saints, or which had been known as Mormon by the predominant branch of that faith. Interestingly, one of the base tenants of Mormonism is the belief that God can and will speak directly to each of those following His word, a facet which was pivotal in this telling of that double murder and subsequent arrest and imprisonment of those culpable.
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Heavily delving into the history of Mormonism, from its founding herald by Joseph Smith, exodus from upstate New York into Illinois and Missouri, persecution and counter-persecution, and trek into the Utah territory where the faithful set up a theocracy under Brigham Young.
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I would recommend this book to any of my friends who are believers of any denomination. ( )

To say the least, this was disturbing. I actually had to take a day before I could give a review for it.
I think this is a very good book. I think the author did a lot of research and was very thorough in his approach to the information and facts. I think he was also very fair. He didn't seem to sway one way or the other about what was right or wrong ~ except with what I expected he would condemn (pedophiles, raping anyone, religion when it stretches over to insanity).
And I actually love that he included the response from the LDS church AND his own rebuttal. I thought he did a great job defending his viewpoint and he brought up some very good points that I don't think the church had good answers (or any answers) for.
Very thought provoking book and I have a lot of respect for the author who took a very tough topic and did it beautifully. I really am glad I read it. ( )

While I gave this a five star rating, I felt dismay at reading this on so many levels. The treatment of women and children, the history of the religion, the degradation of principle people involved, and the author's not knowing the God of the Universe in a personal way. ( )

Fascinating, gripping, interesting, at times horrifying book. From this, I went on to read all of Krakauer's books, and the topics vary quite widely. ( )