ONE


THE CITY OF THE SAINTS


For thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God, and the Lord hath chosen thee to be a peculiar people unto himself, above all the nations that are upon the earth.
Deuteronomy 14:2


And it shall come to pass that I, the Lord God, will send one mighty and strong, holding the scepter of power in his hand, clothed with light for a covering, whose mouth shall utter words, eternal words; while his bowels shall be a fountain of truth, to set in order the house of God.
The Doctrine and Covenants, Section 85
revealed to Joseph Smith on November 27, 1832



Balanced atop the highest spire of the Salt Lake Temple, gleaming in the Utah sun, a statue of the angel Moroni stands watch over downtown Salt Lake City with his golden trumpet raised. This massive granite edifice is the spiritual and temporal nexus of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS), which presents itself as the world's only true religion. Temple Square is to Mormons what the Vatican is to Catholics, or the Kaaba in Mecca is to Muslims. At last count there were more than eleven million Saints the world over, and Mormonism is the fastest-growing faith in the Western Hemisphere. At present in the United States there are more Mormons than Presbyterians or Episcopalians. On the planet as a whole, there are now more Mormons than Jews. Mormonism is considered in some sober academic circles to be well on its way to becoming a major world religion--the first such faith to emerge since Islam.

Next door to the temple, the 325 voices of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir swell to fill the tabernacle's vast interior with the robust, haunting chords of "Battle Hymn of the Republic," the ensemble's trademark song: "Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord . . ."

To much of the world, this choir and its impeccably rendered harmonies are emblematic of the Mormons as a people: chaste, optimistic, outgoing, dutiful. When Dan Lafferty quotes Mormon scripture to justify murder, the juxtaposition is so incongruous as to seem surreal.

The affairs of Mormondom are directed by a cadre of elderly white males in dark suits who carry out their holy duties from a twenty-six-story office tower beside Temple Square.* To a man, the LDS leadership adamantly insists that Lafferty should under no circumstances be considered a Mormon. The faith that moved Lafferty to slay his niece and sister-in-law is a brand of religion known as Mormon Fundamentalism; LDS Church authorities bristle visibly when Mormons and Mormon Fundamentalists are even mentioned in the same breath. As Gordon B. Hinckley, the then-eighty-eight-year-old LDS president and prophet, emphasized during a 1998 television interview on Larry King Live, "They have no connection with us whatever. They don't belong to the church. There are actually no Mormon Fundamentalists."

Nevertheless, Mormons and those who call themselves Mormon Fundamentalists (or FLDS) believe in the same holy texts and the same sacred history. Both believe that Joseph Smith, who founded Mormonism in 1830, played a vital role in God's plan for mankind; both LDS and FLDS consider him to be a prophet comparable in stature to Moses and Isaiah. Mormons and Mormon Fundamentalists are each convinced that God regards them, and them alone, as his favored children: "a peculiar treasure unto me above all people." But if both proudly refer to themselves as the Lord's chosen, they diverge on one especially inflammatory point of religious doctrine: unlike their present-day Mormon compatriots, Mormon Fundamentalists passionately believe that Saints have a divine obligation to...

 

In an understated, almost astonished voice, narrator Scott Brick leads us into a uniquely American hell. This is the story of a 1984 double murder committed by a pair of fundamentalist Mormon brothers and, more broadly, a chilling tale of how religious fervor can lead to unimaginable consequences. Brick masterfully teases out the nuances in the author's arguments. The book alternates between descriptions of the murderous Lafferty brothers and a history of Mormonism from its nineteenth-century roots in upstate New York, Illinois, and Utah. Brick makes these transitions seamlessly in perfectly understandable tones and precise pacing. His voice is also sly at some points, as if he were doing verbal eyebrow raising in response to the book's events. R.I.G. (c) AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine

 

"Fantastic. . . . Right up there with In Cold Blood and The Executioner's Song."

 

"Powerfully illuminating. . . . Almost every section of the book is fascinating in its own right, and together the chapters make a rich picture. . . . An arresting portrait of depravity."

 

"This year's most audacious work of nonfiction. . . . A white-knuckle mix of true-crime reporting and provocative history."

 

"Scrupulously reported and written with Krakauer's usual exacting flair, Under the Banner of Heaven is both illuminating and thrilling. It is also the creepiest book anyone has written in a long time--and that's meant as the highest possible praise."

 

"Krakauer writes with almost astonishing narrative force. It is hard to stop reading."

 

"Stunningly researched. . . . Elegant reportage. . . . An evenhanded inquiry into the nature of religious belief itself."

 

"Captivating. . . . Fascinating and appalling. . . . [Krakauer] should be applauded--and read."

 

"A great book. . . . Krakauer has found a fascinating story in plain sight, right in the heart of the American West, and told it with the narrative drive and unflinching honesty that marked his 1998 best seller, Into Thin Air."

 

"Jon Krakauer is at his provocative best."

 

"A fascinating page-turner. . . . Engrossing. . . . Krakauer's knack for crackling narrative and taut focus . . . drives this thought-provoking story."

 

"A hair-raising true-crimer."

 

"Terrifying. . . . Startling. . . . Mov[es] deftly between past and present [and] provides a fascinating glimpse of the church today."

 

"A powerful portrait of how two seemingly ordinary Americans became murderers."

 

"Illuminating . . . provocative. . . . Krakauer is an adept chronicler of extremists [and] the tour guide of choice for secular quests."

 

"Marvelous. . . . A departure from Into Thin Air and Into the Wild . . . but every bit as engrossing."

 

"Well-researched and evenhanded. . . . Thought-provoking."

 

"Startling. . . . Timely. . . . Krakauer uncovers a ghastly trail of forced marriage, polygamy, violence and mind control. . . . A chilling look at Mormon fundamentalism."

 

"Horrific, gripping. . . . Soberly written and courageously reported."

 

Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer
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