This extraordinary work of investigative journalism takes readers
inside America’s isolated Mormon Fundamentalist communities, where some
40,000 people still practice polygamy. Defying both civil authorities
and the Mormon establishment in Salt Lake City, the renegade leaders of
these Taliban-like theocracies are zealots who answer only to God.
At the core of Krakauer’s book are brothers Ron and Dan Lafferty, who
insist they received a commandment from God to kill a blameless woman
and her baby girl. Beginning with a meticulously researched account of
this appalling double murder, Krakauer constructs a multi-layered,
bone-chilling narrative of messianic delusion, polygamy, savage
violence, and unyielding faith. Along the way he uncovers a shadowy
offshoot of America’s fastest growing religion, and raises provocative
questions about the nature of religious belief.
