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American Fork, Utah. July 24, 1984. Brenda Lafferty, 24, and her 15-month-old daughter, Erica, are killed inside their home. Police quickly zero in on two of Brenda's brothers-in-law, Ron and Dan Lafferty. Their explanation is the part that stops you cold: they said they were carrying out a command from God.
Jon Krakauer's Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith starts with that crime and refuses to stay in one place. He traces the Lafferty family's path into fundamentalist belief. He digs into the early history of the Mormon church and the offshoots that still practice polygamy. And he asks a hard question: where does devotion end and danger begin?
This is not a quick true-crime recap. Krakauer, the author of Into the Wild and Into Thin Air, brings a reporter's patience and a historian's reach. The result is part murder case, part portrait of a family, part examination of belief. The book was published in 2003, and the story reached a new audience when FX adapted it into a 2022 miniseries on Hulu starring Andrew Garfield.
The questions it raises are still uncomfortable. Was this faith, or something else wearing faith's clothes? Who is responsible when conviction curdles into violence? Read it with the lights on and your phone off. Find the book on Goodreads and start it tonight.
