Admittedly, Krakauer's book tells the story from an outsider's point of view. But he's explicitly not pointing the finger at all Mormons, and does an excellent job of providing the non-Mormon reader with an unbiased history of the religion, which is fascinating in and of itself. In his characteristic style of nonfiction storytelling, Under the Banner of Heaven is at once engrossing and horrifying.
What's most shocking about the practice of polygamy in this context is not simply that it's illegal - or, as some would contend, immoral on basic principle - but rather that it results in the abuse of women, and teenaged boys and girls. Teenaged girls are married off to men who are 4 to 6 times their age without their consent. They are raped by their husbands and expected to have as many children as possible. Most teenaged boys are kicked out of their communities entirely, abandoned by their families, and left to fend for themselves. The children are provided with a limited education, and have little access to the outside world. The children and women are taught to submit to the will of the patriarchs. Despite the odds against them, some people do manage to escape, and it's largely through them that the rest of us have been able to learn about these communities. Naturally, these survivors stories are biased, but they are also consistent.
There are an estimated 10,000 to 30,000 men, women and children living in polygamous Mormon communities in the U.S. today. The women generally do not work outside the home and are eligible for welfare since they aren't legally married to their husbands. Social service organizations have begun to spring up around these polygamous communities in order to assist the homeless boys. Due to their youth, poor education and lack of marketable skills, without assistance many of these boys would land in the penal system. So not only is there an adverse psychological toll on the women and children who are a product of these polygamous Mormon communities, but there's also a significant economic toll on our society at large.
Clearly, polygamy as practiced by these fundamentalist Mormons is abhorrent. (Notably, most Mormons would agree with this assessment.) In fact, some women in the bookclub found the subject matter so distressing that they refused finish the book. But we cannot eradicate fundamentalist Mormon polygamy by sweeping it under the rug. The first step to solving this problem is to educate ourselves about this long overlooked outrage. Jon Krakauer has done us a service by enlightening us about polygamy as practiced by sects of fundamentalist Mormons in the U.S. today, and he has done it superbly.