Written By A Cult Survivor And Renowned Expert On Cults And Totalitarianism, Terror, Love And Brainwashing Draws On The Author's 25 Years Of Study And Research To Explain How Almost Anyone, Given The Right Set Of Circumstances, Can Be Radically Manipulated To Engage In Otherwise Incomprehensible And Often Dangerous Acts. Illustrated With Compelling Stories From A Range Of Cults And Totalitarian Systems, From Religious To Political To Commercial, The Book Defines And Analyses The Common And Identifiable Traits That Underlie Almost All These Groups. It Focuses On How Charismatic, Authoritarian Leaders Control Their Followers' Attachment Relationships Via Manipulative Social Structures And Ideologies So That, Emotionally And Cognitively Isolated, They Become Unable To Act In Their Own Survival Interests. Using The Evolutionary Theory Of Attachment To Demonstrate The Psychological Impact Of These Environments, And Incorporating The Latest Neuroscientific Findings, Stein Illustrates How The Combined Dynamic Of Terror And 'love' Works To Break Down People's Ability To Think And Behave Rationally. From Small Local Cults To Global Players Like Isis And North Korea, The Impact Of These Movements Is Widespread And Growing. This Important Book Offers Clarity And A Unique Perspective On The Dynamics Of These Systems Of Control, And Concludes With Guidance To Foster Greater Awareness And Prevention. It Will Be Essential Reading For Mental Health Professionals In The Field, As Well As Policy Makers, Legal Professionals, Cult Survivors, And Their Families, As Well As Anyone With An Interest In These Disturbing Groups. Students Of Social And Developmental Psychology Will Also Find It Fascinating. Introduction -- The Overthrow Of The Rulers Of The Mind -- Fear: It's Screamingly Obvious -- Recruitment : The Accidental Extremist -- Totalist Indoctrination : Isolation In A Crowded Place -- Family And Friends : Not As Close As Chairman Mao -- The Will Of The Fuehrer Is The Party's Law : Totalist Leaders And The Structures They Create -- Secrets And Lies : Ideology And Language In Totalist Systems -- From The Inside Out -- Deployable, But Not Manchurian : It's A Human Thing -- The Flute Player : What Should An Open Society Do? -- Acknowledgements -- Appendix A The Group Attachment Interview -- Appendix B Eye-level Versus Abusive, Authoritarian Relationships. Alexandra Stein. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.

Told by a former high-level member of the Peoples Temple and Jonestown survivor, Seductive Poison is the "truly unforgettable" (Kirkus Review) story of how one woman was seduced by one of the most notorious cults in recent memory and how she found her way back to sanity. From Waco to Heaven's Gate, the past decade has seen its share of cult tragedies. But none has been quite so dramatic or compelling as the Jonestown massacre of 1978, in which the Reverend Jim Jones and 913 of his disciples perished. Deborah Layton had been a member of the Peoples Temple for seven years when she departed for Jonestown, Guyana, the promised land nestled deep in the South American jungle. When she arrived, however, Layton saw that something was seriously wrong. Jones constantly spoke of a revolutionary mass suicide, and Layton knew only too well that he had enough control over the minds of the Jonestown residents to carry it out. But her pleas for help—and her sworn affidavit to the U.S. government—fell on skeptical ears. In this very personal account, Layton opens up the shadowy world of cults and shows how anyone can fall under their spell. Seductive Poison is both an unflinching historical document and a riveting story of intrigue, power, and murder.

The dramatic first-person account of life inside an ultra-fundamentalist American religious sect, and one woman’s courageous flight to freedom with her eight children. When she was eighteen years old, Carolyn Jessop was coerced into an arranged marriage with a total stranger: a man thirty-two years her senior. Merril Jessop already had three wives. But arranged plural marriages were an integral part of Carolyn’s heritage: She was born into and raised in the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS), the radical offshoot of the Mormon Church that had settled in small communities along the Arizona-Utah border. Over the next fifteen years, Carolyn had eight children and withstood her husband’s psychological abuse and the watchful eyes of his other wives who were locked in a constant battle for supremacy. Carolyn’s every move was dictated by her husband’s whims. He decided where she lived and how her children would be treated. He controlled the money she earned as a school teacher. He chose when they had sex; Carolyn could only refuse—at her peril. For in the FLDS, a wife’s compliance with her husband determined how much status both she and her children held in the family. Carolyn was miserable for years and wanted out, but she knew that if she tried to leave and got caught, her children would be taken away from her. No woman in the country had ever escaped from the FLDS and managed to get her children out, too. But in 2003, Carolyn chose freedom over fear and fled her home with her eight children. She had $20 to her name. Escape exposes a world tantamount to a prison camp, created by religious fanatics who, in the name of God, deprive their followers the right to make choices, force women to be totally subservient to men, and brainwash children in church-run schools. Against this background, Carolyn Jessop’s flight takes on an extraordinary, inspiring power. Not only did she manage a daring escape from a brutal environment, she became the first woman ever granted full custody of her children in a contested suit involving the FLDS. And in 2006, her reports to the Utah attorney general on church abuses formed a crucial part of the case that led to the arrest of their notorious leader, Warren Jeffs.

“One of those life-changing reads that makes you see— or, in this case, hear—the whole world differently.” —Megan Angelo, author of FollowersThe author of the widely praised Wordslut analyzes the social science of cult influence: how cultish groups from Jonestown and Scientology to SoulCycle and social media gurus use language as the ultimate form of power.What makes “cults” so intriguing and frightening? What makes them powerful? The reason why so many of us binge Manson documentaries by the dozen and fall down rabbit holes researching suburban moms gone QAnon is because we’re looking for a satisfying explanation for what causes people to join—and more importantly, stay in—extreme groups. We secretly want to know: could it happen to me? Amanda Montell’s argument is that, on some level, it already has . . .Our culture tends to provide pretty flimsy answers to questions of cult influence, mostly having to do with vague talk of “brainwashing.” But the true answer has nothing to do with freaky mind-control wizardry or Kool-Aid. In Cultish, Montell argues that the key to manufacturing intense ideology, community, and us/them attitudes all comes down to language. In both positive ways and shadowy ones, cultish language is something we hear—and are influenced by—every single day.Through juicy storytelling and cutting original research, Montell exposes the verbal elements that make a wide spectrum of communities “cultish,” revealing how they affect followers of groups as notorious as Heaven’s Gate, but also how they pervade our modern start-ups, Peloton leaderboards, and Instagram feeds. Incisive and darkly funny, this enrapturing take on the curious social science of power and belief will make you hear the fanatical language of “cultish” everywhere.

Did you know? • Freemasonry's first American lodge included a young Benjamin Franklin among its members. • The Knights Templar began as impoverished warrior monks then evolved into bankers. • Groom Lake, Dreamland, Homey Airport, Paradise Ranch, The Farm, Watertown Strip, Red Square, “The Box,” are all names for Area 51. An indispensable guide, Cults, Conspiracies, and Secret Societies connects the dots and sets the record straight on a host of greedy gurus and murderous messiahs, crepuscular cabals and suspicious coincidences. Some topics are familiar—the Kennedy assassinations, the Bilderberg Group, the Illuminati, the People's Temple and Heaven's Gate—and some surprising, like Oulipo, a select group of intellectuals who created wild formulas for creating literary masterpieces, and the Chauffeurs, an eighteenth-century society of French home invaders, who set fire to their victims' feet.

In This Searing Memoir Of Survival In The Spirit Of Stolen Innocence, The Daughter Of Warren Jeffs, The Self-proclaimed Prophet Of The Flds Church, Takes You Deep Inside The Secretive Polygamist Mormon Fundamentalist Cult Run By Her Family And How She Escaped It. Born Into The Fundamentalist Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter-day Saints, Rachel Jeffs Was Raised In A Strict Patriarchal Culture Defined By Subordinate Sister Wives And Men They Must Obey. No One In This Radical Splinter Sect Of The Mormon Church Was More Powerful Or Terrifying Than Its Leader Warren Jeffs—rachel’s Father. Living Outside Mainstream Mormonism And Federal Law, Jeffs Arranged Marriages Between Under-age Girls And Middle-aged And Elderly Members Of His Congregation. In 2006, He Gained International Notoriety When The Fbi Placed Him On Its Ten Most Wanted List. Though He Is Serving A Life Sentence For Child Sexual Assault, Jeffs’ Iron Grip On The Church Remains Firm, And His Edicts To His Followers Increasingly Restrictive And Bizarre. In Breaking Free, Rachel Blows The Lid Off This Taciturn Community Made Famous By John Krakauer’s Bestselling Under The Banner Of Heaven To Offer A Harrowing Look At Her Life With Warren Jeffs, And The Years Of Physical And Emotional Abuse She Suffered. Sexually Assaulted, Compelled Into An Arranged Polygamous Marriage, Locked Away In Houses Of Hiding As Punishment For Perceived Transgressions, And Physically Separated From Her Children, Rachel, Jeffs’ First Plural Daughter By His Second Of More Than Fifty Wives, Eventually Found The Courage To Leave The Church In 2015. But Breaking Free Is Not Only Her Story—rachel’s Experiences Illuminate Those Of Her Family And The Countless Others Who Remain Trapped In The Strange World She Left Behind. A Shocking And Mesmerizing Memoir Of Faith, Abuse, Courage, And Freedom, Breaking Free Is An Expose Of Religious Extremism And A Beacon Of Hope For Anyone Trying To Overcome Personal Obstacles.

A Stunning Firsthand Account Of The Creation Of A Modern Cult Under Conman Larry Ray And The Horrifying Costs Paid By His Young Victims: His Daughter's College Roommates In September 2010, At The Beginning Of The Academic Year At Sarah Lawrence College, A Sophomore Named Talia Ray Asked Her Roommates If Her Father Could Stay With Them For A While. No One Objected. Her Father, Larry Ray, Was Just Released From Prison, Having Spent Three Years Behind Bars After A Conviction During A Bitter Custody Dispute. Larry Ray Arrived At The Dorm, A Communal House Called Slonim Woods 9, And Stayed For The Whole Year. Over The Course Of Innumerable Counseling Sessions And Family Meetings, The Intense And Forceful Ray Convinced His Daughter's Friends That He Alone Could Help Them Achieve Clarity. Eventually, Ray And The Students Moved Into A Small Manhattan Apartment, Beginning Years Of Manipulation And Abuse, As Ray Tightened His Control Over His Young Charges Through Blackmail, Extortion, And Ritualized Humiliation. Daniel Barban Levin Was One Of The Original Residents Of Slonim Woods 9. Ray Coached Daniel Through A Difficult Break-up, Slowly Drawing Him Into His Web. After Two Years Of Escalating Psychological, Physical, And Sexual Abuse, Daniel Found The Strength To Escape From Ray's Influence And Take Control Of His Own Life. In April 2019, A New York Magazine Cover Story, The Stolen Kids Of Sarah Lawrence, Exposed Ray's Crimes To The World. In February 2020, He Was Finally Indicted On Charges Of Extortion, Sex Trafficking, Forced Labor, And Money Laundering. Beginning The Moment Daniel Set Foot On Sarah Lawrence's Idyllic Campus And Spanning The Two Years He Spent In The Grip Of A Megalomaniac, This Brave, Lyrical, And Redemptive Memoir Reveals How A Group Of Friends Were Led From Campus To A Cult Without The World Even Noticing.

"Classic Returns!....In this expanded edition of the 1978 original, Conway and Siegelman continue their study of the altering of the American psyche, which has led to the rise of religious cults, super Christian sects, private citizen militias, and other phenomena that dominate today's headlines. Probably more timely now than when first published, this is an important title for academic and public libraries." - Library Journal "Their book is judicious, sensible, well-researched and very frightening." - New York Times Book Review "It is a book of investigative reporting at its best." - New York Post "What Woodward and Bernstein were to Watergate, Conway and Siegelman may well be to the cults." - United Press International "Credible and chilling . . . The second edition of SNAPPING is as important a resource in understanding spreading societal chaos as the first edition was in explaining the chaos of cults." - Minneapolis Star-Tribune "Important. . . . this book provides a tool to exercise judgment, monitor incoming information, and interpret what has become an increasingly intrusive battle for our minds. . . . At its core, it is language that holds the key to our mental health or to our destruction. What George Orwell's 'Animal Farm' is to literature, 'SNAPPING' is to non-fiction." - Albuquerque Journal "In a prophetic vein. . . . SNAPPING is not only fascinating and frightening reading, it is also extremely well-written. . . . The escalating pattern of cult fanaticism and religious-political terror that the authors call a 'death spiral' seems to be widening. If we do nothing to understand and ultimately reverse that pattern, it will pull more and more innocent people into its vortex." - Cleveland Jewish News "For anyone threatened with snapping, this book is a dispassionate, valuable study of an often frightening phenomenon." - People "There is no doubt that Conway and Siegelman are opening the door on areas of human understanding that have never been examined and that are in urgent need of study." - New Society "SNAPPING is an exciting and responsible and original piece of research that has taught this old poop amazing new ways to think about the human mind." - Kurt Vonnegut "SNAPPING is by far the best and most scientific treatment of the cult problem yet published. For the scientist, politician, clergy or parent, it is valuable and wonderfully readable." - John G. Clark, M.D. Asst. Clinical Professor of Psychiatry Harvard Medical School "Conway and Siegelman . . . place cultic behavior in the wider context of the communication revolution of our time. . . Indeed, SNAPPING unfolds as a traveling detective investigation. . . . they very capably trace and analyze the course of the phenomenon and . . . contribute greatly to our understanding of it." - The Cult Observer "Conway and Siegelman are onto something important. . . . SNAPPING is a fascinating book with frightening implications." - Edward T. Hall, author of The Silent Language "[The] classic book on cults, still the best book ever. . . . Believe me, folks, these are the real experts." - Geraldo Rivera

  From its earliest days, America served as an arena for the revolutions in alternative spirituality that eventually swept the globe. Esoteric philosophies and personas—from Freemasonry to Spiritualism, from Madame H. P. Blavatsky to Edgar Cayce—dramatically altered the nation’s culture, politics, and religion. Yet the mystical roots of our identity are often ignored or overlooked. Opening a new window on the past, Occult America presents a dramatic, pioneering study of the esoteric undercurrents of our history and their profound impact across modern life.

This 2018 30th anniversary edition honors the 40th anniversary of the tragedy in Jonestown, Guyana. On November 18th, 1978, over 900 people including a U.S. congressman Leo Ryan died because of Cult Leader Jim Jones. Over 300 were children forced to drink cyanide-laced Kool-Aid by their parents who believed they were doing God’s will. The techniques of undue influence have evolved dramatically, and continue to do so. Today, a vast array of methods exist to deceive, manipulate, and indoctrinate people into closed systems of obedience and dependency. If you are reading this updated book for the first time, please know that you have found a safe, respectful, compassionate place. This book can help you protect or regain your sanity, freedom, and health. It can also help you protect others from the use of mind control techniques. In this 30th anniversary volume you will find: • New stories of people who fell under the sway of cults and other forms of undue influence but who were able to break free. • New information on the many sophisticated ways that social media are now used for mind control. • Updates on the many types of organizations that use mind control. • Information on the neuroscience behind mind control. • A look at what legislators, courts, mental health professionals, and ordinary citizens can do to resist mind control and make our world a safer place. Sadly, the essential information in this book is still not widely known or understood. People around the world remain largely unprepared for the new realities of mind control. But you are far from helpless. There is a great deal you can do to stay safe, sane, and whole - and to help the people you care about to do the same. And if someone you love is already part of a mind control group, there is much you can do to help them break free and rebuild their life. This book will give you the tools you need. As you read this book, you will learn to develop, use, and trust your critical thinking skills; your intuition; your bodily and emotional awareness; your ability to ask the right questions; and your skill at doing quick, useful research. You will also learn to create a healthy balance of openness and skepticism. As you will see, the entire process begins and ends with discernment.

In this haunting work of journalistic investigation, Haruki Murakami tells the story of the horrific terrorist attack on Japanese soil that shook the entire world.On a clear spring day in 1995, five members of a religious cult unleashed poison gas on the Tokyo subway system. In attempt to discover why, Haruki Murakmi talks to the people who lived through the catastrophe, and in so doing lays bare the Japanese psyche. As he discerns the fundamental issues that led to the attack, Murakami paints a clear vision of an event that could occur anytime, anywhere.

For the first time in paperback, Tim Reiterman’s Raven provides the definitive history of the Rev. Jim Jones, the Peoples Temple, and the murderous ordeal at Jonestown three decades ago. This PEN Award–winning work explores the ideals-gone-wrong, the intrigue, and the grim realities behind the Peoples Temple and its implosion in the jungle of South America. Reiterman’s reportage clarifies enduring misperceptions of the character and motives of Jim Jones, the reasons why people followed him, and the important truth that many of those who perished at Jonestown were victims of mass murder rather than suicide. This widely sought work is restored to print after many years with a new preface by the author, as well as the more than sixty-five rare photographs from the original volume.

The #1 True Crime Bestseller of All Time―7 Million Copies SoldIn the summer of 1969, in Los Angeles, a series of brutal, seemingly random murders captured headlines across America. A famous actress (and her unborn child), an heiress to a coffee fortune, a supermarket owner and his wife were among the seven victims. A thin trail of circumstances eventually tied the Tate-LeBianca murders to Charles Manson, a would-be pop singer of small talent living in the desert with his "family" of devoted young women and men. What was his hold over them? And what was the motivation behind such savagery? In the public imagination, over time, the case assumed the proportions of myth. The murders marked the end of the sixties and became an immediate symbol of the dark underside of that era.Vincent Bugliosi was the prosecuting attorney in the Manson trial, and this book is his enthralling account of how he built his case from what a defense attorney dismissed as only "two fingerprints and Vince Bugliosi." The meticulous detective work with which the story begins, the prosecutor's view of a complex murder trial, the reconstruction of the philosophy Manson inculcated in his fervent followers…these elements make for a true crime classic. Helter Skelter is not merely a spellbinding murder case and courtroom drama but also, in the words of The New Republic, a "social document of rare importance." 50 pages of black-and-white photographs

From the private investigator who cracked open the case that led to the conviction of Warren Jeffs, the maniacal prophet of the polygamous Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints (FLDS), comes the page-turning, horrifying story of how a rogue sect used sex, money, and power disguised under a façade of religion to further criminal activities and a madman's vision. In Prophet's Prey, Brower implicates Jeffs in his own words, bringing to light the contents of Jeffs's personal priesthood journal, discovered in a hidden underground vault, and revealing to readers the shocking inside world of FLDS members whose trust he earned and who showed him the staggering truth of their lives.

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • NATIONAL BOOK AWARD AND NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD FINALIST • From the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Looming Tower comes “an utterly necessary story” (The Wall Street Journal) that pulls back the curtain on the church of Scientology: one of the most secretive organizations at work today. • The Basis for the HBO Documentary.Scientology presents itself as a scientific approach to spiritual enlightenment, but its practices have long been shrouded in mystery. Now Lawrence Wright—armed with his investigative talents, years of archival research, and more than two hundred personal interviews with current and former Scientologists—uncovers the inner workings of the church. We meet founder L. Ron Hubbard, the highly imaginative but mentally troubled science-fiction writer, and his tough, driven successor, David Miscavige. We go inside their specialized cosmology and language. We learn about the church’s legal attacks on the IRS, its vindictive treatment of critics, and its phenomenal wealth. We see the church court celebrities such as Tom Cruise while consigning its clergy to hard labor under billion-year contracts. Through it all, Wright asks what fundamentally comprises a religion, and if Scientology in fact merits this Constitutionally-protected label.

An Age Of Wisdom, An Age Of Foolishness : The Davidians, Some Forerunners, And Our Age / Robert S. Fogarty -- Davidians And Branch Davidians : 1929-1987 / William L. Pitts, Jr. -- The Davidian Tradition : From Patronal Clan To Prophetic Movement / David G. Bromley, Edward D. Silver -- Construction And Escalation Of A Cult Threat : Dissecting Moral Panic And Official Reaction To The Branch Davidians / Stuart A. Wright -- Self-fulfilling Stereotypes, The Anticult Movement, And The Waco Confrontation / James R. Lewis -- Babies Were Being Beaten : Exploring Child Abuse Allegations At Ranch Apocalypse / Christopher G. Ellison, John P. Bartkowski -- (cont.) Manufacturing Consent About Koresh : A Structural Analysis Of The Role Of Media In The Waco Tragedy / James T. Richardson -- Cops, News Copy, And Public Opinion : Legitimacy And The Social Construction Of Evil In Waco / Anson Shupe, Jeffrey K. Hadden -- Public Narratives And The Apocalyptic Sect : From Jonestown To Mt. Carmel / John R. Hall -- Sects And Violence : Factors Enhancing The Volatility Of Marginal Religious Movements / Thomas Robbins, Dick Anthony -- Religious Discourse And Failed Negotiations : The Dynamics Of Biblical Apocalypticism In Waco / James D. Tabor -- (cont.) Waco, Federal Law Enforcement, And Scholars Of Religion / Nancy T. Ammerman -- Breaching The Wall Of Separation : The Balance Between Religious Freedom And Social Order / Rhys H. Williams -- The Waco Tragedy : Constitutional Conncerns And Policy Perspectives / Edward Mcglynn Gaffney, Jr. -- The Implosion Of Mt. Carmel And Its Aftermath : Is It All Over Yet? / Dean M. Kelley. Edited By Stuart A. Wright. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.

The bestselling, devastating account of three sisters torn apart, abused and exploited at the hands of a community that robbed them of their childhood. It reveals three lives, separate but entwined, that have experienced unspeakable horror, unrelenting loyalty and unforgettable courage. From as early as three years old, Juliana, Celeste and Kristina were treated as sexual beings by their 'guardians' in the infamous religious cult known as the Children of God. They were made to watch and mimic orgies, received love letters and sexual advances from men old enough to be their grandfather, and were forced into abusive relationships. They were denied access to formal schooling, had to wander the streets begging for money, and were mercilessly beaten for 'crimes' as unpredictable as reading an encyclopaedia. Finally, unable to live with the guilt of what had happened to her children, their mother escaped with Kristina, cutting herself off from her remaining children in a bid to save at least one child. Desperate to save her sisters, Kristina eventually returned to the place of her torture to free Celeste. Years later, Juliana found the courage to escape, knowing that the child she was carrying would be subjected to the same fate if she did not. Now the three sisters have finally come together to reveal in full and horrific detail their existence within the Children of God cult. Their stories reveal a community spread throughout the world and its legacy of anorexia, depression, drug abuse, suicide and even murder. Lives are ripped apart and painstakingly mended with a shared strength that finally enabled the sisters to free themselves from the shadows of their past.

One of the most essential works on the 1960s counterculture, Tom Wolfe's The Electric Kool-Aid Test ushered in an era of New Journalism.This is the seminal work on the hippie culture, a report on what it was like to follow along with Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters as they launched the "Transcontinental Bus Tour" from the West Coast to New York, all while introducing acid (then legal) to hundreds of like-minded folks, staging impromptu jam sessions, dodging the Feds, and meeting some of the most revolutionary figures of the day."An American classic" (Newsweek) that defined a generation. "An astonishing book" (The New York Times Book Review) and an unflinching portrait of Ken Kesey, his Merry Pranksters, LSD, and the psychedelic 1960s.