I just finished my book,

'Under the Banner of Heaven', and was again amazed at the writing skills of Jon Krakauer. He can take a controversial subject, and through a series of well researched, scupulously documented historical facts, give the reader an overview that explains how and why things 'happened'. As a skilled author, his published works have been featured in Smithsonian, National Geographic Magazine, Rolling Stone, and Architectural Digest, as well as having several best selling books. His writing scares some small minds, especially when he writes about one his favorite subjects, organized religion, because it forces them to face facts they don't like, SO, they just deny, and belittle the messenger, who, in the case of Jon Krakauer spent over FOUR years researching this book. Again, I am not making a judgement on personal spiritual belief, because nobody can prove it either way, BUT, he and I have a problem when spirituality is packaged, along with a liberal amount of 'miracles' and 'talking with God' and sold to the masses, with a caveat of eternal damnation if you don't go along with it. Have decided against reading 'Into the Wild' or 'Into Thin Air', at this time, because I know how they end, and don't wanna go through the experience, again, after seeing the movies. Sometimes, the truth hurts.