Morticia has some book recommendations for us:
“If you haven’t read them already, I recommend Jon Krakauer’s Into Thin Air (multiple deaths on Everest, including a man freezing to death while he talks to his wife in New Zealand via satellite phone); also Into The Wild (young man seeks enlightenment in the wilderness, freezes and starves, skeleton found in sleeping bag). Also by Krakauer, the gruesome and blood-soaked Under the Banner of Heaven, all about Mormons, today and yesterday. Massacres! Blood atonement! Murdered mothers and babies! Heartwarming!”
I have personally read two of the books and can vouch for their excellence (the one I haven’t read, Into The Wild, is on my “to read” list). Here are my original reviews of them:
Into Thin Air
I picked this up at the San Francisco airport when I was sitting through a long-delayed wait for my brother and his family’s arrival, and I was absolutely annoyed when their plane landed and I had to put the book down. I’d never given much thought to Mt. Everest or the conditions that those who climb it must endure, but this book, about the doomed 1996 Everest expedition, had me hooked from the first page to the last. Of course, I wouldn’t necessarily take Krakauer’s word at face value (see Anatoli Boukreev’s book The Climb for an alternative perspective on the tragedy), but that doesn’t make his story any less compelling. Anyone want to join me in a climb of Everest to look at the bodies???
Under the Banner of Heaven
I’m ashamed to admit my naivety, but I never knew that Mormons could be so morbid! I mean, I’ve always thought of them as quite insane, but in a happy-happy-joy-joy wholesome Osmond holy underwear “no caffeine please” kind of way. But after reading this fascinating book, well, I’ve gained an entirely different perspective! Jon Krakauer exposes the grim truth behind Mormon fundamentalism, which (like most fundamentalist beliefs) basically amounts to a group of selfish men figuring out that when it comes to endulging in their darkest fantasies, there’s no better scapegoat than God.
You want to kill your brother’s wife?
“God told me to do it!”
You want to screw around with as many women as possible without guilt?
“God told me to do it!”
You want to slaughter people who don’t share your beliefs who happen to be passing through your territory?
“God told me to do it!”
You want to impregnate your 12-year-old daughter?
“God told me to do it!”
There’s literally NOTHING that you can’t get away with!
And sadder still are the women who have been indoctrinated into this cruel sub-culture which teaches little girls that obedience is the supreme virtue. This naturally results in brainwashed girls like Elizabeth Smart feeling that she must willingly submit to her kidnapper “husband” without any attempt to escape, and it makes a 12-year-old girl feel that she is “sinful” if she resists her father’s incestuous advances because God told him to do it. There are some truly sickening stories within these pages.
More than anything else, “Under the Banner of Heaven” is a compelling warning against the very real dangers of blind faith, regardless of what particular belief a person may ascribe too. A chilling read.
(These books and more can be found at my Amazon store, The Library Eclectica.)
I’ve read all of those books, they’re all awesome. Of all the physical dangers described in Into Thin Air and Into the Wild, Under the Banner of Heaven horrified me the most. The willingness with which people surrender their minds is horrifying and I’ll never, ever stop being appalled by the religiosity and hypocrisy of some people.