A Double Oof From Maureen Down

Via Instapundit, we learn that Maureen Dowd may have played a little loosely with the phrase "When I was a kid ...."

Consulting the full article, I did a little research into this fellow below, who wrote a book dealing with aspects of Mormonism, given MoDo used him as a source to disparage Mormonism.

I called Mr. Krakauer — who also wrote the best sellers “Into Thin Air” and “Into the Wild” — to get his opinion of Mitt’s religion speech.

What better resource than the New York Times Review of Books. Yeah, he's the guy I'd called if I wanted an objective opinion, ... or, perhaps not. He usually devotes himself to mountain climbing and seems to have a taste for the outlandish, extreme, criminal, or outrageous in whatever he approaches.

''Under the Banner of Heaven'' wants to talk about it now. It wants to link the double murder of Erica and her mother, Brenda Lafferty, committed by two of her brothers-in-law, to a larger and no less bloody tableau of Mormon extremism throughout American history. In collecting evidence, Mr. Krakauer ventures out to a lunatic fringe of polygamous self-appointed prophets, where the Mormons and the Martians are almost interchangeable.

... this book provides more voyeuristic astonishment than curiosity or understanding.

He is even able to connect them to the fanatics found on Mount Everest in his enormously successful ''Into Thin Air,'' a bravura display of his nonfiction storytelling skills. While Mr. Krakauer is clearly interested in obsessive, risk-taking mavericks (and described them so well in the act of mountain-climbing), this book does not evolve naturally from that one.

Comments

[Phoenix]

"...he's the guy I'd call if I wanted an objective opinion,..."

I would. I've read his books and many of his columns in Outside magazine. The guy is excellent and no pushover for anyone's bias. He has a lengthy personal note at the end of "Under the Banner of Heaven" detailing how his initial intention of telling that story turned into an exegesis of the Mormon faith during his immense research. It changed him, and he explained how it made the narrative even more difficult to write. If anything, he is honest, and he sure as hell doesn't waste the reader's time with superfluous bullshit to make some self-aggrandizing point.

The New York Times Book Review should be the last place to find out about a book or a writer.

[Mo MoDo]

I haven't read Under The Banner of Heavan, but Krakauer is a respected journalist. I'm sure he did a lot of research for the book. Dowd is a columnist and allowed to express opinions and let others express theirs.