Part story of the Lafferty murderers, part potted history of early Mormonism, part brief overview of the many branches of Mormon Fundamentalism (with a focus on a couple and the ridiculous amount of family relationships between them)

Primarily it's a history of the Lafferty clan and the murders - this has the most detail afforded to it. A lot of this is directly taken from Dan Lafferty (one of the murderers') talking; it makes sense but it feels a bit icky sometimes that he just gets to give his own side basically without contradiction.

One thing it never really touches on even though everything else is practically begging for it is *why* people find themselves attracted to frankly bizarre claims of personal revelation or the constricted life of fundamentalism. An early event in the Lafferty story is Dan sharing his revelation of how important and great polygamy etc is with his brothers and having them all extremely receptive - Dan says it was so amazingly easy that he considered it a sign from God that he was right. It's easy to imagine the appeal of polygamy to a man but having like 5 of them who were previously solid Mormon conservatives take it up does seem baffling - yet the author doesn't spend any time on it. The subject comes up again around the birth of Mormonism, where things are pinned mostly down to Joseph Smith's personal charisma. Obviously this is an extremely complicated subject but it did feel like a weird omission sometimes. ( )

I wanted to like this more. The true crime element of the book was gripping but the theological history of the Mormons did not interest me at all. I struggled to get through this book. ( )

Shocking and engaging story of the creation of radical Mormonism ( )

My feelings on this book are all over the place. They do not fall into any particular vein or category.

1.) I learned ever so much more about Mormonism, and Mormon Fundamentalism, than I ever could have imagined. I have lived in "Mormon Country" from 22 years yet there was so much I did not know--like their hierarchy, how the Book of Mormon came to be, etc. I was intrigued by what I read (and then to talk with a friend and her husband who could give so much more insight)

2.) Polygamy is DISGUSTING. Child abuse and rape and incest and all of the things that are bottled up in FLDS...I can hardly believe people have stood by and allowed it to happen. And I have a hard time dealing with the belief that God condones it. Not the God I serve.

3.) I wanted more about the actual murders of Brenda and Erica Lafferty. Let me explain. I felt this book became an expose on religion and how religion brings about evil. Brenda and Erica were lost in the writing. I do not feel that is fair to these two innocent lives. They deserved more.

4.) In the end, while Krakauer's writing was phenomenal and his research well done, I disagreed with the conclusion he came to. It is my personal belief that there are all extremists in religion. It is not always religion that makes them extremist. And even if religion were to cease to exist, there would still be extremism and hate and violence in the name of....something..... ( )

Krakauer can really write. I forgot, somehow (I guess it has been years)--but this book just pulled em right in.

Here, Krakauer looks at the 1984 murders of Brenda and Erica Lafferty. Two of her brothers-in-law were arrested, tried, and found guilty. One timeline within this book gives the history of Mormonism--from NY, to Missouri, to Illinois, to Utah--and examines the violent history of the church (both violence toward church members to violence from church members in defending their church/lifestyle/land). Another timeline gives a modern history of Mormon Fundamentalism in the 20th century. A third looks at the Lafferty family--their upbringing, their introduction to and interest in fundamentalism, and more. The second and third timelines converge. It sounds very confusing writing it down, but it works well in the book.

I studied Western History in grad school, and read several of the books he uses as sources, as well as various books on Arizona history and immigrant routes. This book really pulled a lot of that together for me.

This book was a solid 5 stars until the very end, when he talks with the still-imprisoned Dan Lafferty
about his reasoning and beliefs. I found it less than interesting and rather creepy, as this found-guilty and admittedly guilty man tries to rationalize his past horrific behavior. Yuck. ( )