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In 1984, Ron and Dan Lafferty murdered the wife and infant daughter of their younger brother Allen. The crimes were noteworthy not merely for their brutality but for the brothers' claim that they were acting on direct orders from God. In Under the Banner of Heaven, Jon Krakauer tells the story of the killers and their crime but also explores the shadowy world of Mormon fundamentalism from which the two emerged. The Mormon Church was founded, in part, on the idea that true believers could speak directly with God. But while the mainstream church attempted to be more palatable to the general public by rejecting the controversial tenet of polygamy, fundamentalist splinter groups saw this as apostasy and took to the hills to live what they believed to be a righteous life. When their beliefs are challenged or their patriarchal, cult-like order defied, these still-active groups, according to Krakauer, are capable of fighting back with tremendous violence. While Krakauer's research into the history of the church is admirably extensive, the real power of the book comes from present-day information, notably jailhouse interviews with Dan Lafferty. Far from being the brooding maniac one might expect, Lafferty is chillingly coherent, still insisting that his motive was merely to obey God's command. Krakauer's accounts of the actual murders are graphic and disturbing, but such detail makes the brothers' claim of divine instruction all the more horrifying. In an age where Westerners have trouble comprehending what drives Islamic fundamentalists to kill, Jon Krakauer advises us to look within America's own borders. --John Moe
Book Description
Jon Krakauer’s literary reputation rests on insightful chronicles of lives conducted at the outer limits. He now shifts his focus from extremes of physical adventure to extremes of religious belief within our own borders, taking readers inside isolated American communities where some 40,000 Mormon Fundamentalists 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.
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JON KRAKAUER is the author of Eiger Dreams, Into the Wild, and Into Thin Air, and is editor of the Modern Library Exploration series.
Customer Reviews:
Excellent book, I couldn't put it down!.......2007-10-06
A friend gave me this book and I finally got around to reading it a year or so later and was quickly consumed by it. It is an amazing book; it is thoroughly researched and factual yet will keep you entertained and yearning for more. Highly recommended!
Scary, horrifying, True Crime being lived out every day!.......2007-10-03
I was sickened by what I learned in this book.
Interesting that these groups of FLDS take so much money from the government that they destest. That is tax money we pay in that is given to them to let them live that illegal and immoral lifestyle.
I have seen religious fundamentalism first hand and I think there is a note of mental illness attached to it in most every case.
Book was very informative. (Couldn't put it down.)
Prepare to be shocked.......2007-10-02
If you are unfamiliar with fundamentalist Mormonism, this book will take you on a journey to places that you will doubt could even exist in 21st-century America. In the style of Jon Krakauer's other writings, the book is engaging, addicting, and disturbing. Of course, the book's outrageous subject matter certainly helps that along.
While the book centers on the true-crime story of the Lafferty murders, Krakauer indulges in some substantial subplots: a detailed history of the Mormon church in the 19th century, as well as an expose of fundamentalist Mormonism. Although Krakauer jumps among these three threads frequently, the book manages to hold together well.
Some Mormons might object to the way Krakauer treats the mainline Mormon church's beginnings, but I think his presentation is balanced. Also, I tremendously respect Krakauer for closing his book with a short, but honest, statement of his own worldview.
Another Fine Work by Jon Krakauer.......2007-09-22
Highly recommended! Another excellent work by Krakauer. I imagine most of those who rate this work poorly, one or two stars, are more than likely Mormons or fundementalists. Just as any church, religion, corporation, government entity etc. doesn't like it's dirty laundry aired for all to see or have it's hypocrisy revealed, neither does the Church of Latter Day Saints & it's adherents. Unfortunately, you can never get to the truth of the matter if you deny that anything is wrong or that there is a problem. The Catholic Church hid it's problems with homosexuality & pedophilia for decades & forcefully denied there existence, Sadly, we now know it was & is all true. Well written, insightful, informative & a hell of a good read. If you enjoyed Everest Dreams, Into The Wild or Into Thin Air, then you should enjoy this excellent work!
Fascinating review of Mormonism.......2007-09-21
Extremely well written and especially relevant since Mr. Romney is running for President - not that he is a fundamentalist. The history of the Mormon church is most interesting and the current beliefs and practices of the fundamentalists are frightening.
Book Description
Crime Scene Golgotha approaches Jesuss crucifixion from the perspecitive of a crime scene investigator: What do we know is fact? What can be historically documented? What can we deduce may have happened? Taking the popular CSI television dramas as inspiration, Crime Scene Golgotha is a direct reaction to Mel Gibsons much talked about movie The Passion of the Christ. Ian Wilson systematically outlines what is known about Jesuss trial and crucifixion, as well as where art and the movies have gone astray. His investigative methods include eyewitness testimony (that of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John), archeology, medical and forensic findings, and history, which systematically describe the most famous murder in history.
Customer Reviews:
Brief, compelling story of the crucifixion .......2006-08-29
Ian Wilson has written the most vivid book I have read on the crucifixion of Christ. Capitalizing on the success of Mel Gibson's movie, "The Passion of the Christ," and using the TV program "CSI" (Crime Scene Investigation) as a model Wilson looks at the crucifixion as a detective might. That sounds hokey in the telling --but it works well in constructing a story in which the facts are gathered and evaluated, and mixed with the author's speculation.
Wilson's story is as bloody and shocking as Gibson's movie, with which he differs on many points. His description of the process of crucifixion will turn your stomach. He approaches Jesus's suffering as a police investigator: what were the consequences of being beaten by the Pharisees and scourged by Roman soldiers? What physical damage was caused by nails being driven through his feet and hands and a spear piercing his side?
Wilson places a lot of faith, probably misplaced, in the authenticity of the shroud of Turin but points out persuasively the similarities in the wounds inflicted on Jesus and the marks on the shroud. He also makes the case that other relics of the crucifixion may be authentic, including a placard written by Pontius Pilate that Jesus was forced to carry with him on his way to the cross. He briefly goes into speculation about how these relics might have been preserved -- and dismisses carbon 14 tests that show the shroud dates from the Middle Ages rather than 30 AD.
Unlike most authors, Wilson has the audacity to examine head-on the evidence for the resurrection -- the most unlikely and inexplicable event of Western history -- and he does so convincingly, even to my skeptical, rational, modern mind (so we describe ourselves). There are books designed to shake the faith of the believers; this book is designed to shake the doubt of the unbelievers. For the secular or religious reader, "Murder at Golgotha" is a thought-provoking read.
Smallchief
Too Many Assumptions.......2006-08-01
One of the first lessons in any crime scene investigation is to assume nothing. Unfortunately "Murder at Golgotha" does exactly that. Wilson uses dubious claims and assertions throughout his book, which make his central premise almost laughable. The central fallacy is that the author backs up his scant findings using the Shroud of Turin as an authentic relic. The Shroud itself continues to be the most controversial relics in the Christian faith, but it is controversial because the validity of it is still in question. In 1988, the Shroud was tested using a carbon dating procedure, and it was found to date sometime to the High Middle Ages. Even if one assumes that the Shroud is real, you must then make a further assumption that the radioactive effect of the resurrection produced the image on the cloth. Not only does Wilson make these several assumptions, he treats the Shroud as authentic, without any attempt whatsoever to back up this rather dubious claim. Wilson should have stuck with the evidence that we can scientifically verify, such as the bones of a man that was crucified that was found in 1968.
Also, it is understandable to rely on the testimonies of the gospel writers, but relying on the travels of Helena, the mother of Constantine, to back up the true site of the cross, is truly crass. Wilson also does not explain why, for instance, that for all the thousands that were killed by crucifixion in the Roman Empire, only one remain was ever found. Of course, biblical scholar John Dominic Crossan's theory is that there are no remains, because crucified persons were thrown in a garbage dump where wild dogs fed on the remains, thus destroying the evidence.
This is not to say that Wilson does not bring up interesting points however. For instance, his explanation of rigor mortis after the crucifixion is particularly compelling. However, after writing about the whole effect of rigor mortis, and how the burial team had to compensate for this, Wilson instead says that this theory further backs up the validity of the Shroud. Overall, Wilson essentially rehashes old arguments, with this book serving little better then a companion guide to a History Channel documentary about the crucifixion.
Like A CSI Episode!.......2006-04-29
This book reads like a csi story. It starts off giving a profile of the victim and It goes on to give an account of his trial and death and all the while exploring the politics and causes of his (jesus)death.It also shows how hollywood(especially the mel gibson movie)got it wrong.This is a great read and I highly recomend It!
Customer Reviews:
Jesus Demystified.......2006-09-01
Reich exposes Jesus as all-in-one with nature, and not as a supernatural power, nor dying for men was his OWN choice. Morality and men's judgement of their own sins led to his murder...
Don't think twice. Buy it at once!.......2006-04-18
This book is a masterpiece.
Instead of describing it, i will mention only 1 point:
When you read it, you will either read it again and again and again, or you will burn it before finishing it.
It depends of your "inner" situation.
In both cases it is absolutely worth to read it.
It is a unique book, written from one of the most genious and surely the bigest physician and natural scientist on the world ever.
A totally depressing book, a great man broken by culture.......2005-06-22
This is a profoundly depressing book, along with its companion Listen Little Man. In fact when I first read this book seriously in the mid-1970s when I devoured everything Reich wrote, reading those two books cast me into a near-suicidal depression. They are sad commentary on how Reich was destroyed, and many others of his generation was destroyed by the collapse of revolutionary communism and the imposition of STalinism.
Put simply, this book is autobiographical. Reich posits that the problem of the world is that great epoch making prophets and leaders come into the world at each major stage of history. These men--and in Reich's telling of this tale they are all men with no thought of women at all--are somehow possessed of greater vision because somehow they are not orgone deprived--orgone being the basic natural energy released in healthy sex among other places according to the Wilhelm Reich from the late 1930s until his death in the 1950s--like the normal neurotic weaklings, but they suffer and are killed and ignored by the normal neurotic weaklings.
This speaks to the flaw in Reich's system. He had begun as an assistant to Frued. Yet, Reich was familiar with the Marxist answer to Freud's view of the permanence of the Edipus Conflict that most of human history we had non patriachial structures and not the nuclear family of modern Europe. Moreover, Reich was also influenced by the Malinowski and other anthropologists who discovered relative sexual freedom, particularly for youth, in prepatriarchal societies in the South Seas and elsewhere.
Armed with these ideas and the spirit of revolutionary Marxism that swept Western Europe after the Bolshevik Revolution (Reich was born in Hungary of Austrian-Jewish parents and lived in Vienna and later Berlin before fleeing to Norway and the US after Hitler came to power), Reich began a radical scientific psychological extension of Freudian pyschology to eliminate the conservative and idealist concepts Freud integrated in the system when Freud realized that his concepts of sexual repression clashed with the conservative family morality of middle class Europe that Freud believed in.
This materialist and political aspect of Reich's work is hard to find because after his development of "orgone theory" in the late 1930s all of his works were reedited to reflect it.
Reich was not only widely successful as a pyschoanlyst, but launched a political movement for sexual freedom, particularly for the youth that won thousands of supporters in pre-Hitler Germany. His best work "The Mass Pyschology of Fascism" even with its current orgone editing shows how a battle of for sexual rights for the youth, equal rights for women, abortion rights for women, could have cut into the Nazi's support among the Youth.
Reich was expelled from the Communist Party of Germany for "Trotskyism" and fled to Scandanavia when Hitler came to power, for he was surely on Hitler's death list. Across the 1930s, his belief and faith in buidling a political movement waned, and his belief that a sexual energy called orgone was emitted during good sex was born. By the 1950s, when this book was written, Orgone energy was not restricted to sexual union, but had become a basic underlying energy of the universe with which Reich proposed to cure cancer, built plans to shoot down Soviet jets, and proposed to power spaceships.
In the 1920s and early 1930s, Reich understood great events in the world and mass movements such as he had witnessed and participated in in Hungry, Austria, and Germany during those years and a revolutionary movement could allow people to look beyond the limitations of every-day conservative life, and see a bigger picture and create radical change. Yet, by this time, Reich tended to believe all problems were due to orgone deprivation and more and more began to have the insane and paranoid belief that he was specially infused with orgone and a heroic view of the world because his mother had produced him through an affair with an extraterrestial!
Facing this, there seemed no way to resolve the conflict between the great visionaries like Reich and Christ and orgone deprived masses whom this book despises. Great visionaries are doomed to death. Christ is murdered, and poor, delude Reich believed he was doomed to be murdered by the conspiracy of the orgone deprived led by Stalin.
Sadly, this led him to send many of his papers and documents to the CIA and the US Air Force which made it easy for the government to frame him up as a quack doctor--though Reich only did experimental medicine and psychology in the United States.
He was thrown into prison. All of his books were banned and burned by the federal government. I can remember reading bootleg copies of his masterpiece The Mass Pyschology of Fascism in the late 1960s when the ban was still in effect.
Oh well, if you want to see the grandeur of a revolutionary vision of how the neurotic problems of capitalist mental health can be overcome read his early writings like the Sexual Struggle of the Youth and The Sexual Revolution. If you want to read an outstanding analysis of why conservative "family values" politics are essential to capitalist society and how they can be defeated by a struggle for women's rights, sexual freedom, and true liberation, read The Mass Pyschology of Fascism.
If you read this one, make sure to keep the number of the suicide hotline handy!
Amazing book on Life!.......2004-06-25
When Reich wrote this book in the early 50's He was supposed to have gone mad. After a first read of the book, you will find He was unusually lucid, much more than Nietzsche himself in the account of a Life ruling principle.
Do not be afraid of any comment. Just enjoy reading it!
The murder of Christ by the victims of the emotionnal plaque.......1999-09-06
In this book Wilhem Reich, revolutionnary scientist, explore the Myth and history of Jesus in a functionalist perspective...and depict what he calls 'the emotional plague'
He expose in a philosophical manner the responsibility man continually evades...
Book Description
This riveting work of social history documents the role the news media played in spurring two murders revolving around Edmund Creffield, a charismatic "Holy Roller" evangelist who arrived in Corvallis, Oregon, in 1903 and quickly enraged the citizenry by defiantly challenging the religious and sexual mores of the time. When ardent female followers began refusing to speak to their nonbelieving husbands, vigilantes tarred and feathered Creffield, eventually forcing him to flee to Seattle.
Once there, Creffield was murdered by George Mitchell, the brother of one of his followers. The news media in Seattle and Oregon applauded George's defense of his sister Ethel's honor, influencing the jury. Citing temporary insanity, the jury quickly acquitted George, pleasing the cheering crowds and the approving media. As George prepared to return to Oregon, however, Esther shot him point-blank at Union Station and another moralizing media frenzy broke out. Esther was sent to Western State Hospital and committed suicide after her release. Her short life was among the most poignant of the dozens wrecked by the controversy.
Gerald Baldasty's examination of Seattle and Oregon media coverage shows the tenacity with which frontier media protected traditional mores, particularly the notion that men are responsible for women's purity and have the right to take action if they feel another man has besmirched a woman's honor. Expertly crafted in a brisk, accessible style, Vigilante Newspapers illustrates through the tragic tale of Edmund Creffield, George Mitchell, and Esther Mitchell how the news media defined social deviance using vague concepts such as hysteria and temporary insanity, vigorously defending the established order of religious, class, and gender norms.
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Asesinato de Jesus, el: The Murder of Jesus (None)
John MacArthur
Manufacturer: Editorial Portavoz
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ASIN: 0825415764 |
Book Description
El asesinato de Jesus es una mirada al pecado del hombre y la bondad de Dios. John MacArthur presenta el sacrificio de Cristo de una manera que obliga al lector a contemplar el acontecimiento en todo su poder. La pasion de Cristo se examina cronologicamente a traves del lente del Nuevo Testamento. [The Murder of Jesus is a story of man's sin and God's goodness. John MacArthur presents the pivotal moment of Christ's crucifixion in a way that forces readers to witness this event in all its power. The passion of Christ is examined chronologically through the lens of the New Testament.]
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- Denisty's Damned sets the stage for a great trilogy
- An Intriguing Conspiracy Thriller of the Da Vinci Code Kind
- A real thriller
- What a story!
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Destiny's Damned
Shawna Ryan
Manufacturer: Pilchuck Publishing, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0978521609 |
Product Description
DESTINY S DAMNED is a searing thriller, a trilogy of consummate evil where evil manifests itself within the mind, heart and soul of a vicious, sadistic, serial killer and within the church that protects him. Because of its breadth and depth, Destiny's Damned is a "Thriller You'll Remember Forever." Come join us and tumble, if you dare, into hell. Told not only from the vicious killer's perspective but from his victims, Destiny's Damned, the first book of the trilogy, is psychologically terrifying, depicting evil in its most base forms. Bizarre, ritualistic murders are being committed in the heart of San Francisco. Eric Caldwell s finger is cut off at the first joint. His skull is crushed by a sledge and a mysterious relief stamped between his eyes. One at a time, a cruel, compulsive killer imprisons women in a box deep within a crawl space, tortures, dehumanizes them, then sends them to God. This vicious killer knows God damned him many lifetimes ago and that his destiny is hell. His only hope to avoid that destiny is the promise of salvation through Jesus Christ's crucifixion. However, as evidence mounts that the New Testament was altered by pagans and there was no crucifixion, the killer appoints himself God's ally, ritualistically murdering those who are bringing that evidence to light. Troubled and alone, dangerous to himself and possibly others, Monsignor Patrick Bodowski is hunted by the Church with orders to kill. Book 2 of the Trilogy, SATAN S SCAT, will be released November 1, 2007.
Customer Reviews:
Denisty's Damned sets the stage for a great trilogy.......2007-05-01
I recently had the opportunity to meet the author at the LA Times Festival of Books, and get a preview of the next book in the series, "Satan's Scat". Like the first book, it is fast paced, well researched and fascinating. Destiny's Damned is a dark, intellectual thriller and I am looking forward to reading the rest of the trilogy.
Evelyn
An Intriguing Conspiracy Thriller of the Da Vinci Code Kind.......2006-09-20
Author Shawna Ryan's DESTINY'S DAMNED is in the searing genre that has made best seller lists and was forged by Dan Brown with his THE DA VINCI CODE. Ryan, a Pacific Northwest attorney, has conducted extensive research on mythology that predates Christianity. Noted mythologist, Joseph Campbell, in his work, THE HERO OF A THOUSAND FACES, set Ryan on her own author's creative path of "What if . . .?"
What if there was a great conspiracy to control and spread an empire by creating, manipulating and promoting a religion as the way to do it?
DESTINY'S DAMNED is the first in a trilogy that will undoubtedly collect a very loyal following. The novel is structured so that each chapter covers a single day. The end result is that the novel has a kind of cinematic quality as the story unfolds, and the pacing is such, that readers will find the novel a quick page turner!
A real thriller.......2006-06-09
Ms. Ryan develops a convoluted story. The pace is fast with enough clues to keep you trying to figure out the plot and the villians. I kept racing ahead looking for the next clue. A fascinating read. Excellent first book, I can hardly wait for the next book in the series.
What a story!.......2006-06-06
Literally couldn't put it down. Finished it at 2 am, after standing since midnight, reading "just one more page".
More twists than a hanged man's feet. If you liked the DaVinci Code, you're going to love this one.
Customer Reviews:
Attack? On who?.......2005-02-20
This book is no more an attack on the Mormon church than a history of slavery in the South is an attack on America. It's just a well-written book about facts.
The book is not pro or anti-mormon. The reader is left to make his/her own decisions.
It is all too easy to spot those who have not read the book by the way they word their criticism and use Amazon as a forum to promote thier religious beliefs.
Less Than A Star, Really...........2004-05-11
To be quite honest, this book stinks. At first, the book does grasp you and you feel like "This is a really good book, nothing bad about it." But then, as each chapter goes further into a "momon bashing fit", the story deteriorates into what read as a "I Hate Mormons" campaign/manifesto. It feels as though the writers started not caring about what they wrote, as long as it was seen that mormons "are bad people, becuase they are human...shame on them, shame!....".
All told, I wasted $2.50 for a used copy of this book and increased my stupidity for it.
The tales of Hoffman.......2004-04-29
This book details the history of Mark Hoffman, one of the most controversial figures in modern day Mormonism. This was the first book that I had read on Hoffman. I read it as a young man (about 16 years of age), and it prompted me to do further study on certain questions regarding Mormonism that I found troubling. In a sense, I owe the authors of this book a debt of gratitude, as it was through them that I eventually learned of Fawn Brodie and the Tanners. I've been out of Mormonism for nearly 13 years now. I am deeply grateful to be out of Mormonism.
I re-read this book again recently. It is a fascinating tale, certainly. However, it does seem to be too sensationalistic in points (not that the Hoffman story isn't sensational!). For a more balanced version of the Tales of Hoffman, I would reccommend Robert Lindsay's A Gathering of Saints.
A vicious attack on Mormonism.......2004-04-12
At first sight, this appears to be an engrossing true-crime narrative. But it soon becomes evident that the real agenda of the authors is to use the crime case as an excuse for attacking the Mormon church. All of the Mormon leaders are presented as scoundrels and all of the followers are presented as fools. In short, Mormonism is demonized. The book is full of cheap shots. No stone is left unturned in the authors' quest to ridicule Mormonism. This is out of place in a true-crime book and hopelessly detracts and distracts from the narrative. We are expected to believe that two-thirds of the inhabitants of an American state are scoundrels and fools. Nonsense!
excellent book.......2003-05-19
If you read the other reviews of this book, or any other book which Mormons might consider uncomplimentary of their faith, it is easy to pick out who are the Mormon reviewers and who are not. If the book criticizes Mormonism, the Mormon reviewers inevitably slam the book, call it fiction, say that it slanted, biased, uninformed, etc., etc.
That being said, I thought "The Mormon Murders" was excellent. The authors obviously had extensive information from insiders on the case, particularly some of the police officers and prosecutors. Mark Hoffman, perhaps the most accomplished forger in American history, manipulates and tricks everyone he comes in contact with, duping them like the con-man extraordinaire he is. And despite their alleged power of discernment, the Mormon leadership is duped even more easily than the common people in the book.
There was never a thorough, public accounting of the Hoffman case because the LDS leaders pressured the prosecuting attorney to lower the charges and let Hoffman plea-bargain---thus saving high-ranking LDS leaders from having to testify under oath.
This story has been depicted by a few different books. After this book, "Salamander" and "A Gathering of Saints" painted uncomplimentary versions of the LDS Church's complicity in these crimes the Church fought back in a round-about way by having some LDS scholar write a book called "Victims" and publish it through the Univ. of Illinois. Don't be fooled--the book's main purpose is to try and exonerate the LDS leaders from looking like idiots at best and conspirators at worse.
I've read that the rights to "The Mormon Murders" were purchased by a network. It is a great story for a TV movie and yet, not surprisingly, it has never made the big screen or little screen. Does anyone have to guess why?
Average customer rating:
- Unintelligble garbage
- A correction...
- Fascinating Account of one of the Most Bizarre Crimes in Utah History
- Learning about Forgeries.
- A normal essential to all mormologists great and small.
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Salamander: The Story of the Mormon Forgery Murders
Allen Dale Roberts , and
Linda Sillitoe
Manufacturer: Signature Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
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Similar Items:
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The Mormon Murders
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Gathering of Saints, A
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The Mormon Conspiracy
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Victims: THE LDS CHURCH AND THE MARK HOFMANN CASE
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The Poet and the Murderer
ASIN: 0941214877 |
Customer Reviews:
Unintelligble garbage.......2007-02-09
When I found myself in Salt Lake City on business in the early '90s with an unexpected free day on my hands, I thought to use it for pleasure reading and was directed to the Deseret Book Store. It looked like a Barnes & Noble. I did not know it was in thrall to the Mormon Church.
There, I asked a female clerk if there happened to have been any books written about a series of bombings I recalled reading about in the New York Times some years earlier. I was interested in knowing if the culprit had ever been captured and, if so, what had happened to him.
She replied there were two books. "One is historical fact and the other is fiction," she said. "The fiction is pretty bad." At this, she actually wrinkled her nose as if the fiction had left a bad smell she could still detect.
So I bought the 'historical' book she recommended. It was "Salamander: The Story of the Mormon Forgery Murders." Despite the turgid prose, jumpy time lines, and bucketfuls of shibboleths and cliches, I managed to wade through the whole thing in half a day. I found it crushingly dull, very poorly written, and at times completely impenetrable to a reader like me with little or no recollection of the actual case.
"Salamander" suffers from many defects of writing, style, organization, sloppy editing, and negligent proof-reading -- but none so severe or nettlesome as the fact that it makes no narrative sense whatsoever. The largest mystery in reading this book became, for me, wondering over the seemingly indeterminable motives of quite a few of the key characters. Most of them abruptly drop in or fade out of the story like indifferent actors at a crowded theater audition where only bit parts are on offer.
The next day, I happened to mention my frustration with the book to two friends who live in SLC. When they heard how I had come to read "Salamander" they howled with laughter.
"That bookstore clerk steered you to the official Mormon Church version," one explained. "You'll never be able to understand what really happened until you read the other book -- the one she called fiction."
They reminded me of the title of the book I should have read. It was "The Mormon Murders," written by Naifeh and Smith. I read it that night. It is superb.
Naifeh and Smith lay out a clear, well-written, and compelling narrative of the murders. Not only do they explain and document all available evidence about the motives of the perpetrator and intentions of his victims, the total environment in which the killings were conducted, and the dramatic preliminary hearing, they also show the reader in detail how and why powerful political and religious forces were at play behind the scenes.
In short, The Mormon Murders by Naifeh and Smith cleared up two mysteries I had encountered on my visit to Salt Lake City: the murder case itself and why the "Salamander" book I had just read was so atrocious.
If you happen to collect books that are so notoriously bad they have become collector's items for that reason (some folk do, you know), go ahead and buy "Salamander: The Story of the Mormon Forgery Murders." But it's a waste of your time if you try to read it.
A correction..........2005-08-29
Not remembering the alcohol plant mentioned in the quote in the following paragraph, I asked Allen Roberts, my friend and one of the authors of this book, as to what the reviewer was refering. Allen had no clue as there IS no alcohol plant mentioned anywhere in the book. Allen Roberts and Linda Sillitoe are people of high integrity and spent many, many, many hours doing meticulous research for this book so that an objective account of the events COULD be told. Either the following quote does not refer to this book, or the reviewer needs to read the book again.
Don't believe everything you read!, January 8, 2001 Reviewer: A reader: "My family was involved with the alcohol plant in New Mexico that the authors of the book claimed never existed. I know it actually did exist, I was there. If the authors had done a minimum amount of research, they would have known it too. So this makes me wonder what else they got wrong. I tend to think there was a lot that really didn't fit together, so I'll keep searching for the truth. I hope everyone else does too."
Fascinating Account of one of the Most Bizarre Crimes in Utah History.......2005-08-27
"Salamander: The Story of the Mormon Forgery Murders" is a very fine analysis of one of the most bizarre stories in Mormon history. It tells the story of the Salt Lake City bombings on 15 and 16 October 1985 that killed Steven F. Christensen and Kathleen B. Sheets and seriously injured Mark W. Hofmann.
One of the scenarios developed during the period immediately following the deaths of Christensen and Sheets on 15 October, associated the bombings with high finance and the crumbling business empire of J. Gary Sheets, husband of Kathleen and former associate of Christensen. Sheets' business, CFS Financial Corporation, was in a well-publicized nose-dive. His investors and creditors were clamoring for repayment and Sheets was considering bankruptcy. Christensen had left CFS a few months earlier unhappy with the direction Sheets had charted for the company. Could Sheets have planted the bombs to collect insurance money on the victims or to keep them from talking about illicit business dealings? Could disgruntled investors have placed the bombs? No one knew.
If this were true, it bore no relationship to the Mormon church. The monkey-wrench in this scenario was what appeared to be the attempted murder of Hofmann on the morning of 16 October. He was not associated with CFS in any way, but he had a business relationship with Christensen revolving around the discovery and sale of Mormon historical documents. Christensen had purchased from Hofmann the so-called "Salamander Letter" of Martin Harris to W.W. Phelps, which had been unveiled in a circus-like meeting of the Mormon History Association in May 1985. After Hofmann's bombing most of the speculation suggested that the murders were linked to that document and the study of Mormon origins.
Dated 23 October 1830, this letter narrated a strikingly different story of Book of Mormon origins than most were familiar with from the standard faith story. It suggested that Joseph Smith was intimately involved in folk magic (one aspect of which involved a white salamander who guarded the gold plates) and money-digging, and that the Book of Mormon was simply one more instance of these practices. Moreover, the messenger who delivered the plates to Joseph bore little resemblance to the benevolent being traditionally associated with the story. Instead, he was a crusty and malicious spirit who jealously guarded the treasure. The document seemed to hold the potential to destroy the underpinnings of faith for many naive believers.
The "Salamander Letter" appeared to be a connecting link between the victims in this scenario for the bombings. Christensen had acquired this document from Hofmann; Kathleen Sheets' husband, who seemed to have been the real target of the bomb in this scenario, had been a business associate of Christensen.
Most Mormon historians dismissed as absurd charges made by police investigators within a few days after the bombings that Hofmann was the primary suspect in the murders and that he had cold-bloodedly murdered Christensen to cover up illegal business dealings and Sheets to make it look like the killings were CFS-related. His own injuries, they thought, coming a day after the first murders were the result of the accidental detonation of a third bomb intended for yet another victim. Mark Hofmann was the closest thing the Mormon historical community had to a genuine celebrity. As the discoverer of several overwhelmingly important Mormon documents, he was both nationally known and invariably well-liked. It seemed impossible that Hofmann was a forger and con-man par excellence who committed two grisly murders to stave off financial ruin and a public unmasking of his illegal business dealings.
As it turned out, the police were right. Authors Sillitoe and Roberts describe how Hofmann had brutally murdered Christensen and Sheets and had injured himself while handling a third bomb in his car. He had committed murder to mask a complex array of white-collar crimes that extended back to his student days in the late 1970s at Utah State University. These crimes demonstrated a pattern of deceit and manipulation that was impressive in its size, scope, and length of time.
The immediate causes of the murders, according to the authors, revolved around a complicated collection of documents worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, the McLellin Collection. William McLellin had been one of the original Twelve Apostles of 1835 but had left the church in 1838. Evidence suggests that he collected considerable material on the development of Mormonism. The McLellin Collection was fabled as a treasure trove of important historical materials, many of them damaging to the church's traditional view of history.
In 1985 Hofmann claimed to have found the collection and borrowed huge sums--a $185,000 signature loan that Hugh Pinnock, a high-Mormon leader, had arranged in one instance--from several different people, each unknown to the other, for the purpose of acquiring it. In effect he sold the same collection to several different people. Hofmann did not produce the collection for any of his investors and during the fall of 1985 increasing pressure was bore on him to repay his creditors or to produce the collection. He staved them off for a time with some very slick tap-dancing and even secured backing for his bank loan by having Pinnock arrange for a wealthy Mormon to buy the collection from Hofmann and donate it to the church. The money obtained from this sale would not only pay back the $185,000 bank note but also provide Hofmann with a tidy profit.
Christensen, who had dealt with Hofmann before, volunteered to serve as a middle man for the movement of the collection from Hofmann to the church. As such he became a key player when Hofmann defaulted on the $185,000 loan and Pinnock asked him to press Hofmann for settlement. Christiansen was persistent and Hofmann was increasingly unable to avoid his probes. The bombing of Christensen would buy him time since his main protagonist would be out the way, Hofmann thought; maybe the church would drop the matter entirely. The bombing of Sheets was a diversion that would make Christensen's murder appear CFS-related.
The authors suggest that the 15 October murders did not dissuade the church from completing the transaction for the McLellin collection. In one of the most satisfying sections in the entire book they describe how Hofmann was informed after the Christensen and Sheets murders, which most people at first thought were CFS-related, that the deal was still on track and Christensen would be replaced by Donald Schmidt, the retired LDS Church Archivist. Desperate action was required, so Hofmann built a third bomb. The victim would be another decoy, this time one associated with Mormon document dealings.
Brent Ashworth, a successful lawyer and businessman who also bought collectible documents, was the ideal target. He and Hofmann had been meeting most Wednesdays in Salt Lake City for years, 16 October was a Wednesday, and he could easily get him to accept a bomb wrapped in a package similar to the first two. Afterward, Hofmann believed, there would be no pressure to proceed with the McLellin deal. This time, theoretically, all of Hofmann's objectives would have been achieved. But Ashworth did not meet him in Salt Lake City on 16 October and the bomb accidentally detonated. Hofmann was seriously injured and the police investigators at the scene quickly found tell-tale clues implicating him in the bombings.
The police pursued the leads discovered at the site of the third bomb to a logical conclusion and built a tremendously convincing circumstantial case against Hofmann. Although it took months, Hofmann was finally charged with the murders and several lesser crimes in February 1986. The evidence presented in the preliminary hearings thoroughly convinced Judge Paul Grant. According to the authors, "At the beginning of the preliminary hearing, Grant had thought perhaps Hofmann was innocent. But by the end, he thought him clearly guilty, a pathological liar with no conscience and no remorse" (p. 454). A plea bargain resulted, with Hofmann pleading guilty to certain of the charges and promising to answer questions about his operations in return for a commitment not to seek the death penalty.
The authors of "Salamander" perform an admirable service by sketching in most of the details of the bombings, the document dealings, and the character of Mark Hofmann. They describe a man who was outwardedly a believing Latter-day Saint but who was motivated in his crimes by a lust for money and an opportunity to embarrass his church. Always gracefully and with a touch of pathos, the authors narrate the complex events leading up to the murders, the peculiar circumstances of the murder investigations, the discovery of the evidence incriminating Hofmann, and the legal fireworks surrounding the case.
A forensic analysis by George J. Throckmorton, the technician who discovered the secret of the Hofmann forgeries, rounds out the volume and conclusively proves the illegitimate origins of 106 documents coming from the dealer, including all of his major finds.
Learning about Forgeries........2002-12-15
I bought this book for my wife, who is a Romantic Suspense writer. I did a keyword search looking for books on forgeries. This is the best book I have found if you want to learn about an example of this particular type of crime.
A normal essential to all mormologists great and small........2002-10-09
This is better that Sherlock Holmes and Agatha Christie married and had a child. Pure power to the mind. All crimes must be paid for as this book revealsed. I hate being lied to since this book reveals the truth of all truth.
Average customer rating:
- A Story From 100 Years Ago...With A Message For Today
- Fascinating Read
- Holy Rollers Rocks
- An incredible, painstaking reconstruction
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Holy Rollers: Murder and Madness in Oregon's Love Cult
Theresa McCracken , and
Robert B. Blodgett
Manufacturer: Caxton Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0870044249 |
Book Description
This is a story that has the elements often found in modern novels - sex, mass insanity, the ddownfall of prominent families, murder, and sensational court trials.
But this story is all true... and it happened a century ago.
Corvallis, Oregon leaders weren't terribly impressed with the Salvation Army dropout who appeared in the community in the early 1900s and announced plans to start a new church. While Edmund Creffiel may have been unremarkable in the eyes of the city fathers, he became something else to many of the city mothers and daughters.
When Creffield and his "Holy Roller" religious cult made headlines in Oregon in 1903, it was page-one news throughout the country. Yet few people in Oregon and Washington today have heard Creffield's name or his incredible story. And the descendants of the people who were involved still refuse to talk about those events of 100 years ago.
Customer Reviews:
A Story From 100 Years Ago...With A Message For Today.......2003-08-25
It happened a hundred years ago. But it could be happening right now. "Holy Rollers; Murder and Madness in Oregon's Love Cult" can be read and appreciated on many levels. On the surface, it's a great true crime potboiler, filled with religion, sex and murder. But its also a cautionary tale about the vulnerability of seemingly normal, well-adjusted people to the seductions of mass insanity. Whether it's Edmund Creffeld in 1905, Adolph Hitler in 1933 or Jim Jones in 1978, we've seen it happen again and again. In fact, the story in this book has a peculiar kind of resonance in that one of the key locations--Waldport, Oregon, also was the place where the Heaven's Gate cult held its first public gathering.
Edmund Creffeld was a Salvation Army dropout who arrived in Corvallis, Oregon in 1900 to start a new church. Within a few short years, he had persuaded some of the community's leading citizens--primarily of the female gender--to join his cult of madness. They literally practiced "holy rolling," sometimes turning themselves over and over for hours and hours at a time, becoming all the more caught up in the cult of Creffeld's strange personality. Creffeld was tarred and feathered (really!) and run out of town. That didn't stop him, nor did a stretch in the state prison. His ultimate, violent end seems almost foreordained.
T. McCracken and Robert Blodgett have combined their talents to produce an amazing story. Thanks to exhaustive research in newspapers and other contemporary sources, they're able to re-create the wild ride of Creffeld and his cult in vivid, day-to-day detail. I finished the book in a single sitting; I predict you will, too.--William C. Hall
Fascinating Read.......2003-06-10
This was definitely a page-turner! I live in this area. So, it was interesting to imagine that this went on right here! I had never heard about it, and I have lived here for the last 25 years. Makes me want to examine all the houses and areas they went to.
The book is written with a newspaper sensationalism kind of feel, but that shouldn't bother you too much.
Holy Rollers Rocks.......2002-10-23
The authors give us a true account, set in "the good old days", showing us that murderous cults didn't start with the Manson family, and religious fanatacism isn't an import nurtured only in foreign lands. Immediate and enthralling as any real crime story currently on the shelves or TV, this page-turning ride has just the right amount of wry, observational wit to balance the horrors. I loved it.
An incredible, painstaking reconstruction.......2002-05-12
Collaboratively researched and written by T. McCracken and Robert B. Blodgett, Holy Rollers: Murder And Madness In Oregon's Love Cult is the "truth is stranger than fiction" story of the "Holy Roller" religious cult that made brutal newspaper headlines in 1903. It all began when Salvation Army dropout Edmund Creffield arrived in Corvallis, Oregon and founded a new "church". The city fathers were less than impressed -- but not so their wives and daughters! A century later, descendants of the people involved in the macabre events of Creffield's Holy Roller Cult still refuse to discuss what happened. Holy Rollers is an incredible, painstaking reconstruction and revealing expose that create a gripping book that offers especial insight into the dark side of mass psychology, religious hysteria, and unbridled charismatic religious authority.
Customer Reviews:
Too Amazing To Be True.......2006-03-23
Brilliantly researched true crime story on two bizarre people who made the unfortunate mistake of meeting and marrying. His fourth wife and her sixth or seven husband. You really get an inside look at 2 incredibly dysfunctional people and the effect they have on themselves and others.
WOW!!.......2004-01-04
In my opinion, this was a well written book. Quite lengthy but well written nonetheless. This is also an amazing story.
Interesting Story..........2003-10-16
This is a good story, I enjoyed the book a great deal. However, it is not well written. If I had a nickle for everytime the author wrote, "[so-and-so] was pissed." I'd be rich.
Fascinating Story.......2003-05-20
I found this story to be totally fascinating. I wish I could find a way to see this story on the tape that was played on Maury Povich. It is a must read!
Unbelievable criminal proceedings for a sadistic jerk!.......2003-05-19
John Christ was a plastic surgeon in Houston, Texas. He had a history of a violent temper and spousal abuse when he entered his third marriage. His new wife, Carol, was a divorced nurse with two children. This was her sixth marriage. From the early months of their marriage, he tried to make her over, performing multiple cosmetic surgeries on her and even piercing her most private parts in front of several of his colleagues. Their relationship became stormier over time until they were fighting constantly.
On May 9, 1992, Dr. Christ shot Carol with a .45 caliber pistol. The bullet entered her face just in front of her ear. It traveled through her sinuses and nasal cavity, ruptured her left eye, and exited her left cheek just below the cheekbone. She received multiple fractures from the bullet throughout much of her face. The temporal and inferior frontal lobes of the brain were bruised, leaving permanent damage.
When Christ tried to fire a second shot, her managed to get his forefinger and missed Carol completely. He went to the kitchen, threw the clip in the garbage, and began making telephone calls. He reported to 911 that they had shot each other. Then he called his ex-wife to say he could not pick up their daughter.
A series of trials followed that are unbelievable. The jury deadlocked in the first trial. It was ruled a mistrial and another trial started. That time he was convicted of attempted manslaughter and sentenced to 20 years. The jury expressed regret that they could not give him more time. Twenty years was the maximum penalty allowed.
At the time of the writing, Carol had undergone 20 surgeries. She will need frequent surgeries for the remainder of her life due to bone reabsorption, tissue atrophy, and prosthetics wearing out. She was unable to perform her duties as a nurse and is receiving disability compensation.
This is a good book containing 445 pages. I recommend it, but prepare to be absolutely enraged when you begin reading it.
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