This is the haunting story of Dan and Ron Lafferty, why they killed their sister-in-law and niece and how they gave their religion as motivation. The often disturbing story that unfolds reads more like a horror story than a work of nonfiction.

Karkauer uses the Lafferty story as a way to delve into the Mormon religion as a whole. He gives fascinating details about how the religion started and the road that brought it to the religion it is today. Krakauer’s research explains the reasons behind many of the various sects of the Latter-day Saints as well as the Mormon Fundamentalists.

With so many details and stories Krakauer often seems to be going off on a random tangent, but his tangents always link back to the main story in some surprising way.

The details behind the Lafferty murders are both horrifying and fascinating. Krakauer does a wonderful job of explaining the events that unfolded as well as the history of the religion with as unbiased an opinion as seems possible. So much of the history is filled with violence by and against the church. In response to an exaggerated report, Lilburn Boggs, Governor of Missouri, stated:

“The Mormons must be treated as enemies, and must be exterminated or driven from the state, if necessary for the public peace. Their outrages are beyond all description.”
-page 103

I was fascinated by the history of the religion, how it came to exist and the various factors that played a part in molding it. For example, the US government is a huge reason the church eventually prohibited polygamy.

“Although LDS leaders were originally loath to abandon plural marriage, eventually they adopted a more pragmatic approach to American politics, emphatically rejected the practice, and actually began urging government agencies to prosecute polygamists. It was this single change in ecclesiastical policy, more than anything else, that transformed the LDS Church into its astonishingly successful present-day iteration. Having jettisoned polygamy, Mormons gradually ceased to be regarded as a crackpot sect.”
-page 7

This brilliantly researched and well written book is a thought-provoking read that had me constantly pausing so I could read a passage to my husband. I was fascinated the entire time. ( )

2006 ( )

On July 24 1984, Brenda Lafferty and her baby daughter Erica were slaughtered in their home by her brothers in law Dan and Ron Lafferty. Their reasoning and motivation for brutally killing their sister in law can be traced back to the brand of fundamentalist Mormonism that they practiced. In this book Jon Krakauer explores the ideologies that led these two men to seek out an extremist lifestyle that advocates plural marriage as one of its centerpieces. He traces the history of Mormonism from its founding in upstate New York to its eventual rise as America's most successful home grown religion.

Almost from its inception, Mormon worshipers faced many trials and conflicts first from the hostility of their host communities and from within their own ranks due to the political machinations of different power players. Its is from this dissension in the fold that fringe movements would spring, pulling away from the central Mormon movement. Chief amongst the issues at stake was the belief by some that the decision by their leaders to do away with plural marriage was in direct contravention of true Mormonism. Like all fundamentalists, these Mormon off shoots believe that their leaders have departed from the pure practice of the religion and see themselves as restorers of the faith. To achieve this end, many carry out any form of subjugation and violence that they feel furthers their cause including pedophilia, incest, under age marriages, rapes, etc, etc.

Ron and Dan would eventually come under the sway of one of these fundamentalist fringes. Their murder of Brenda stemmed from what they saw as her obstruction of their brother's (Allen) full involvement in their ideals. They harbored so much hatred towards her that they would not even think to spare her child.

This book was absolutely fascinating and the author's extensive research is evident. The history of a nascent religion is traced in almost painstaking detail and draws you in from start to finish. I really enjoyed this book and was riveted. But I was a bit bothered by some conclusions that the author derived. For example, he claims that Elizabeth Smart who was kidnapped, raped and enslaved for nine months by Brian David Mitchell (a fundamentalist Mormon) submitted easily to him because of her Mormon "indoctrination". He says that Mitchell was able to use the tenets that she had been raised on to manipulate her into submission. He uses Debbie Palmer(a woman who had endured unspeakable horrors as a member of a fundamentalist Mormon movement but had escaped) as one of the supporters for this idea. Palmer states " Mitchell would never have been able to have such power over a non Mormon girl" (47). I beg to differ. There are way too many stories that have occurred before and since Elizabeth Smart's kidnapping that in my opinion show that that idea is less than credible. There have been scores of young girls and boys of no religious persuasion who have found themselves under the sway of monsters who steal them from their homes, family and friends. These victims mentally and physically submit to their captors out of fear for their lives and the lives of their parents and other siblings. Was Patty Hearst a Mormon? Was Jaycee Duggard a Mormon? Was Shawn Hornbeck Mormon? When a sick person like Mitchell has a victim under his control he will use whatever he can to brain wash and manipulate them. Their religious persuasion or lack thereof is only of interest to a person like him in as much as he can use it to manipulate and control them. To make it seem as if Mormonism or religion makes it easier to subjugate victims is misleading. Also referring to people's religion as indoctrination makes me doubt a claim to being fair and impartial when you are writing about that group. I am not Mormon and have no interest in becoming one so my impressions are not borne out of my desire to protect something near and dear to me.

But despite my criticisms, I did enjoy this book and it makes for a very interesting read. ( )

I couldn't put this book down. Of course, with a good writer like Krakauer, that might be expected. But the history of the Mormans and glimpses into some of their lives was amazing. He's done a lot of research and doesn't beat around the bush. I've read other, smaller accounts of the beginnings of the church's establishment but this is very in-depth writing.

If you like well-written history in the US, pick this up. ( )

Interesting story of religious extremism. ( )