Cults in Our Midst: The Continuing Fight Against Their Hidden Menace Revised and Updated Edition

In this newly revised edition of her definitive work on cults, Singer reveals what cults really are and how they work, focusing specifically on the coercive persuasion techniques of charismatic leaders seeking money and power. The book contains fascinating updates on Heaven's Gate, Falun Gong, Aum Shinrikyo, Hare Krishna, the Reverend Sun Myung Moon, and the connection between cults and terrorism in Al Qaeda and the PLO.
Singer (emeritus, psychology, U. of California at Berkeley) warns that a multitude of cultic groups are exploiting followers throughout the United States using deliberate "mind manipulations" or "thought-reform processes." She categorizes the "three thousand to five thousand cults in the United States" as belonging to one of two categories: groups that use organized psychological and social persuasion policies to promote attitudinal change and establish long-term control of recruits and commercially sold "self-improvement" organizations that use similar persuasion processes, but do not intend long-term control. It is these persuasion processes that are at the heart of Singer's concern. She describes how they operate and how they can be countered. Annotation (c) Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
Cults today are bigger than ever, with broad ramifications for national and international terrorism. In this newly revised edition of her definitive work on cults, Singer reveals what cults really are and how they work, focusing specifically on the coercive persuasion techniques of charismatic leaders seeking money and power. The book contains fascinating updates on Heaven's Gate, Falun Gong, Aum Shinrikyo, Hare Krishna, the Reverend Sun Myung Moon, and the connection between cults and terrorism in Al Queda and the PLO.