At long last he was unencumbered, emancipated from the stifling world of his parents and peers, a world of abstraction and security and material exce… - Jon Krakauer

I think I understand that religious faith which makes the holy brave and strong; my strength is just somewhere else — it's in myself...I do not fear what may await me, though I'm equally confident that nothing awaits.

I was irresistibly drawn to write about Latter-Day Saints not only because I already knew something about their theology, and admired much about their culture, but also because of the utterly unique circumstances in which their religion was born: the Mormon Church was founded a mere 173 years ago, in a literate society, in the age of the printing press. As a consequence, the creation of what became a worldwide faith was abundantly documented in firsthand accounts. Thanks to the Mormons, we have been given an unprecedented opportunity to appreciate — in astonishingly detail — how an important religion came to be.

This forms the nub of a dilemna that every Everest climber eventually comes up against: in order to succeed you must be exceedingly driven, but if you're too driven you're likely to die.