The Accidental Terrorist

In 1987, as a young Mormon missionary far from home, William Shunn made the phone call that would change his life—and very nearly cost him his freedom. Homesick, and with the full might of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints arrayed against him, he unwittingly found himself on the path blazed a century and a half earlier by the prophet Joseph Smith himself—a path that meant setting aside man-made laws to follow a higher course . . . into more dangerous places. 

Mixing personal reminiscence with American history, this richly ironic story of a reluctant missionary in Canada peels back the veil of secrecy around the private lives and rituals of those well-scrubbed men and women behind the black name tags, and shows the lengths to which even the most law-abiding of Americans can be driven to prove his devotion to a demanding God and religious community. 

This is the first appearance in print of the story that enthralled thousands of listeners as a podcast, and which Cory Doctorow praises as "incredible, hilarious, sad and instructive . . . The whole thing is recounted in engrossing detail."