This book was pretty bogged down with parentheticals and footnotes which is a bummer because the subject matter is pretty interesting. There's also an appendix, his thoughts on the 2003 edition, a Mormon response to the 2003 edition, bibliography and index. It's a lot!

While splicing in pieces of Dan and Ron Lafferty, the book cuts back and forth between famous Mormon battles and momentous occasions. I found it hard to follow the Lafferty piece but I can understand dumping all the history in one piece and then all the Lafferty portion following would make for an intense read, so splitting it up makes sense. I just found it kind of hard to follow and keep up. We go back to the early 1800s, if not earlier, and follow families with multiple spiritual wives.

I think I've read all of Krakauer's books and this was my least favorite, in terms of writing style. It was a tough slog, imho!

I liked seeing Mikel Gilmore Shot In/Through The Heart(?) as a prequel to one chapter, I loved that memoir.