UNDER THE BANNER OF HEAVEN is not your typical true-crime drama; there is a crime and a detective―played by Andrew Garfield― trying to solve it, but it is also an intricate examination of faith, fundamentalism and the truth behind a shocking crime.
The seven-episode FX series, which premiered on Hulu on April 25, details the deaths of Brenda Wright Lafferty and her 15-monthold daughter Erica in 1984. The two were killed at their home in Utah by Brenda’s brothers-in-law, Ron and Dan Lafferty, after they had received a “revelation” from God. The brothers were found guilty of murder in 1985: Dan received two life sentences which he is currently serving; Ron was sentenced to death, but died of natural causes in prison at the age of 78 in 2019.
In addition to the killings and subsequent police investigation, the series also explores the creation of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS), and Brenda Wright Lafferty’s life.
Show creator Dustin Lance Black tells Newsweek, “I want to celebrate her courage because to be curious as a Mormon woman, particularly in that time, was courageous. Once I got to know her family, and her family trusted me with her journals, entrusted me with the letters she wrote to her sister at the time, I felt very close to Brenda, very inspired by Brenda.”
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Bans Off Our Bodies
MoveOn and Abortion Access activists rally outside the U.S. Supreme Court on May 3 after the leak of a draft opinion overturning the Court's landmark Roe v. Wade decision.
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Travel should be an act of discovery, not a checklist to complete. Slow travel is an invitation to explore things at a pace that allows you to absorb your surroundings as you move through them-on terms that are meaningful for both you and the people and places you encounter. It may seem counterintuitive that by doing less, you will see more, but that's exactly the idea we propose in our book, Kinfolk Travel (Artisan). Following are a sampling of the destinations from the book, meant to inspire thoughtful travel and spark deeper ways of thinking about new journeys and destinations.
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