6 or 7 years ago I read "Into Thin Air" a book by Jon Krakauer. It's about people climbing Mt. Everest. I enjoyed it, and was thereby fooled into thinking that I would enjoy another book of his, "Under the Banner of Heaven". It is, I suppose, about people who do crazy things, calling it the work of god. Specifically he focuses on polygamist offshoots of the LDS church. I got about 1/3 of the way though and had to quit, because I just couldn't take his version of events.
Obviously, any probe into polygamy in Utah is going to include a study of the LDS church and it's history. Certainly different people feel differently about the church. However, the unforgivable sin perpetrated by Mr. Krakauer in his book is that he ignores any debate is dispute. I don't mind so much that he presents versions of stories that I don't believe. It's that he presents only one version, as if it were the only version there is. His writing is obviously one sided and often biased. I don't mind someone disagreeing with me. I do mind when someone disagrees with me by publishing a book that implies that there isn't even a debate and doesn't bother to cite specific references where his "facts" even came from.
2 comments:
This is Stewart and I don't have a blog. So no username. But I concur with you, Clark. This was a terrible book. His bias didn't bother me so much. As an historian, I'm constantly aware of bias, and it really is impossible to shake. My problem is that it's disjointed. He conflates Mormon extremist groups with accepted LDS theology, as if they both derived from the same cultural parent. Cultural analysis doesn't work that way. You have to show a connection within society or at least a shared semiotic system. This guy just assumes the common genealogy. You might be wondering why I read the book. When I worked at Officemax in Portland, somebody (I'll never know who) left the book in the break room. During lunch breaks on my overnight shifts, I would sometimes read it out of boredom. Anyways...
I am glad you reviewed this. I was actually just reading about this very book on the Daily Herald discussion boards (you know, my ridiculous indulgence). Most of the people gushing about how great it was were self-proclaimed disaffected members of the church, so that should give an idea about who the audience he is catering to is.
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