Do I dare ask for a reasoned recounting of the literary offenses of Jon Krakauer?

[MikeWaters]

I agree with GN. He knew he had a bit of a muddled mess. He knew his story about the Laffertys, by itself, was not particularly interesting or well done. This would be no "In Cold Blood" (which I have not read). He slopped it together the best he could, and called it a day.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Originally Posted by MikeWaters

He slopped it together the best he could, and called it a day.

And ended up with a runaway best-seller.

[Goatnapper'96]

Originally Posted by Jeff Lebowski

And ended up with a runaway best-seller.

Priestcraft....verily verily he will have his reward. Bronco has got something waiting for his flaming gorge as well!

[SeattleUte]

Originally Posted by Jeff Lebowski

And ended up with a runaway best-seller.

"I tremble for my country when I regard the best-seller list."

--LEON WIESELTIER (April 27, 2008 NY Times)

[SeattleUte]

Originally Posted by MikeWaters

I agree with GN. He knew he had a bit of a muddled mess. He knew his story about the Laffertys, by itself, was not particularly interesting or well done. This would be no "In Cold Blood" (which I have not read). He slopped it together the best he could, and called it a day.

And he's laughing all the way to the bank. A huge bestseller still. Antis can make money from Mormonism too. It's a rich field of potential profits, for faithful and antis alike.

[Goatnapper'96]

Originally Posted by SeattleUte

And he's laughing all the way to the bank. A huge bestseller still. Antis can make money from Mormonism too. It's a rich field of potential profits, for faithful and antis alike.

You know what "they" say you can buy with money!

Besides that his previous work better explains the success of "Under the Banner of Heaven" than "UTBOH" explains it. It is the same reason BYU is starting the year off ranked, this concept that previous national notoriety earned explains perceptions is a concept lost on much of Utenation. For evidence I ask you to pay attention to the stringpulling that will become more and more evident as more and more preseason college football polls are released throughout our upcoming summer.

But for a guy who doesn't expect his team to score against UNLV, you will be pretty content.

[landpoke]

Originally Posted by Goatnapper'96

Hardy Har Har jokester! Make no mistake about it when Elder Bronco sticks his pecker into the Cowboy State's collective Flaming Gorge this upcoming fall and you are once again reminded why Bronco is hung like a horse as well as the reason to buy your KY Jelly at the Provo Walmart before gametime, you will know that you have been smitten at last!

Why does all your braggadocio regarding Bronco's greatness involve homoerotic imagery?

[Goatnapper'96]

Originally Posted by landpoke

Why does all your braggadocio regarding Bronco's greatness involve homoerotic imagery?

It does make my nipples hard, does that count?

[landpoke]

Originally Posted by Goatnapper'96

It does make my nipples hard, does that count?

It's cool. We're all gay for something whether we want to admit it or not.

[SeattleUte]

Originally Posted by landpoke

Or should I just drop it? Don't get me wrong, I fully realize Krakauer's greatest draw is not his writing, but rather the subject matter he chooses and his sometimes vague relationship with facts. That being said I don't recall anything egregiously anti-mainstream Mormon in "Under the Banner of Heaven."

He spent a long time rehashing Mormon history that to many of us is old ground broken by Brodie, Stegner and others, and not nearly as well written. He relied primarily on these works, secondary sources, and broke no new ground. I liked Into Thin Air, thought it was a well written, gripping read, even a classic in its own right, but this book felt sylishly klunky. The one unique element of his book was the true crime story and his thesis that Mormonism's violent culture and past bears a share of responsiblity.

I thought the thesis was a stretch, not well proven or developed, and kind of a truism about all religions in a way. Though I think a case could be made that the net effect of Christianity (Mormonism is Christian, isn't it?) has been to greatly modulate our or males' inherently violent and bloodthirsty nature.