You Guide Me

When you have a week or so to dig into a great book, do so by digging into Jon Krakauer's Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith.

While convoluted with intertwining stories, histories and personal accounts the book takes you from a violent murder in the 1980s and traces the reasoning back to the inception of Mormonism and its Saints by "the prophet" Joseph Smith. And if learning about the bizarre foundation of the religion weren't enough, Krakauer takes you all the way through the religion's violent history and seclusion including the splitting of the church into many different sects.

You'll learn of the traditional aspect of the church, the historical and philosophical beginnings or the belief as well as different aspects that evolved from Smith and following leaders such as Brigham Young (don't worry, polygamy and bigamy are fully covered in the book). And a deeper understanding of the Morman belief that God's law is inherently higher than the law of man provides a fuller understanding of the continued defiant mindset of the Latter Day Saints.

The book walks the reader through the inspiring and the frustrating aspects of the faith and ultimately let's each person make form their own opinions about Mormonism. It's most definitely worth reading.