A review by michelleful
The Accidental Terrorist: Confessions of a Reluctant Missionary by William Shunn

5.0

Read this as part of my ongoing quest to understand Mormonism. This was a superb memoir of one of those clean-cut, white-shirted Mormon missionaries one sees all over the world, interleaved with a short biography of Joseph Smith, the founder of the Church of the Latter-day Saints. I thought it gave superb insight into how these young men (and sometimes young women) must feel as they go through the drudgery of their work, having doors slammed in their face multiple times a day, and what could motivate them to do all this for two long years for negative pay (though given a stipend, they largely have to pay their own expenses). In this case, we follow the author's journey and see what could possibly motivate him to call in a bomb threat on an airplane while on his mission (trust me, it'll make total psychological sense).

Overall, very absorbing. There were times in this book where I was on the verge of screaming advice at him - sign of a good book! (If I could've given him advice at any time, it would probably have been at the start, telling him not to do it! - after all, none of the top brass in the current church served 2-year missions!)