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Cults in Our Midst: the Continuing Fight Against Their Hidden Menace Free FREE CULTS IN OUR MIDST: THE CONTINUING FIGHT AGAINST THEIR HIDDEN MENACE PDF Margaret Thaler Singer | 432 pages | 25 Apr 2003 | John Wiley & Sons Inc | 9780787967413 | English | New York, United States Cults in Our Midst - Wikipedia Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read. Want to Read saving…. Want to Read Currently Reading Read. Other editions. Enlarge cover. Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Open Preview See a Problem? Details if other :. Thanks for telling us about the problem. Return to Book Page. Robert Jay Lifton Foreword by. Cults today are bigger than ever, with broad ramifications for national and international Cults in Our Midst: The Continuing Fight Against Their Hidden Menace. 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 Cults today are bigger than ever, with broad ramifications for national and international terrorism. Get A Copy. Paperback Cults in Our Midst: The Continuing Fight Against Their Hidden Menace, pages. More Details Original Title. Other Editions 3. Friend Reviews. To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up. To ask other readers questions about Cults in Our MidstCults in Our Midst: The Continuing Fight Against Their Hidden Menace sign up. Lists with This Book. Community Reviews. Showing Average rating 3. Rating details. More filters. Sort order. Oct 30, else fine rated it it was ok Shelves: cults-and-communesread Fine run-through of the various mind-altering and brainwashing techniques employed by modern cults. Also, I was pleased to see a section devoted to those crappy new-agey motivational programs which are forever being pushed on me by devotees. I work in a store with a large metaphysical section in an area with a large number of actual cult members. They can be hard to avoid. However, if you're actually interested in the history and development of modern cults, this book will be disappointing. It Fine run-through of the various mind-altering and brainwashing techniques employed by modern cults. It's mostly strings of anecdotes with identifying details edited out, relayed with an off-putting tinge of hysteria. Quite probably I would be hysterical too, if, like the author, I'd spent years being terrifyingly hounded by cult members. I also found the section on the dangers of meditation to be a little weird. Again, she provided a string of unattributed anecdotes, including one strange quote from a women who had found herself accidentally Hindu, to Cults in Our Midst: The Continuing Fight Against Their Hidden Menace her claim that meditation alone can produce permanent mental damage. It wasn't very scientific, is I guess where I'm going with that - did these people have underlying problems? Were there any other factors involved? Is it a bad thing to find oneself Hindu? Bottom line: if you're a psych student interested in mind control, this is probably the book for you. If you're a white suburban Christian paranoid about weird asiatic cults stealing your children, ditto. If you're more into a sociological view of religious movements and the development of cults, you won't find what you're looking for here. View 1 comment. Jul 26, Lena rated it really liked it Shelves: non-fiction. Margaret Singer has been studying cults and cult survivors Cults in Our Midst: The Continuing Fight Against Their Hidden Menace decades, and this book is a thorough overview of the many aspects of this complex subject. Written for the mainstream, the book is clearly written and very readable, although her detailed descriptions of the abuse suffered by some cult members can be disturbing. I found the book to be very useful in helping me to better understand where a spiritual group crosses the line from something that benefits its members to something that expl Margaret Singer has been studying cults and cult survivors for decades, and this book is a thorough overview of the many aspects of this complex subject. I found the book to be very useful in helping me to better understand where a spiritual group crosses the line from something that benefits its members to something that exploits them. I found her detailed explanations of the sophisticated ways in which certain groups use deception and peer pressure to manipulate their members to be particularly educational. Cults do an amazing PR job of convincing people that working to benefit the cult ultimately benefits the world. Yet in the vast majority of cases, members find themselves working long hours to do nothing more than help perpetuate the existence of the cult itself, while at the same time becoming more and more estranged from the world they wanted so much to help. It is sobering to consider how much society as a whole suffers from having so many of its talented and idealistic members siphoned off by cults. Sep 29, Mindi Rosser rated it really liked it. Do you know someone who suffered from cults in our modern culture? This book provides relevant background about cult methodology and cult recovery for survivors. Growing up in a cult, I felt that I turned my back upon God and religion when I left the group. I assumed my feelings were unique, the judgment of a higher power angered by my desertion. Through reading Cults in Our Midst, I discovered that every cult survivor feels these em Do you know someone who suffered from cults in our modern culture? Through reading Cults in Our Midst, I discovered that every cult survivor feels these emotions. It's an inherent psychological repercussion. I would highly recommend this book to the following groups: 1. Ex-cult members especially those who are several months removed from their cult 3. Church Ministers to assess the ethics in their own strategies for evangelization 4. Family and friends of ex-cult members to provide guidance about loved one's psychological aftereffects 5. Those fascinated by cults This book answers these common questions: - What is a cult? After reading this book, I felt validated in calling my former religious extremist group a cult. Their practices synced up with nearly all of Cults in Our Midst: The Continuing Fight Against Their Hidden Menace cult characteristics. My group claimed to be a part of mainstream religion, but their actions and doctrine taught otherwise. I caution those within extremist groups to examine their methodologies carefully. It's not the brain-dead who join cults, but typically the intellectual geniuses. Margaret Thaler Singer delivers on her promises to the reader. Her book is a resourceful tool to recover from religious trauma syndrome. This was the second book I have read on cults and I found it Cults in Our Midst: The Continuing Fight Against Their Hidden Menace educational. While I gave the first book high ratings, this one added a bit more because Cults in Our Midst: The Continuing Fight Against Their Hidden Menace added that a cult doesn't have to be religious. It noted on the New Age cults out there that seem to be popular in current society, and gave characteristics of a cult so you could determine if the group you belonged to was actually a cult as well. I found certain parts of the book boring since they weren't relevant to me like rescuing This was the second book I have read on cults and I found it highly educational. I found certain parts of the book boring since they weren't relevant to me like rescuing someone from a cult and helping them to recoverbut I felt the author gave a good amount of information to help someone who actually was in this situation. Aug 17, Willy Wills rated it really liked it. Im not a psychologist and its my first book to read on Cults, all i can say i have been opened on various issues concerning the cults. Im looking to read more books on the subject to dwelve more. But im disappointed the author didn't touch anything concerning Cults in Africa. All the issues are from eurocentric perspective. Im tho i learned the basics ideas on cults. Apr 06, Jessica rated it it was amazing. OMFG, what an amazing book. I didn't know anything when I ordered it other than it's was amazon's best reviewed academic based book on the topic of cults. The only thing I can liken it to as far as being an awesome general public Social Psychology read, is Cialdini's Influence. Singer is emeritus at UC Berkeley and is a clinical psychologist. After reading the book and doing my own research--she is THE authority on cults. They really are in "our midst. We have a historical perception that cults are a problem for marginal people and blame the victims quite readily. The reality is cults claim the lives of all sorts of people, and a great many specifically target the wealthy and educated. It doesn't matter how smart you are--we all at one point or another are vulnerable to the life threatening con of a cult. It talks a good deal about specific cults those that haven't been successful in suing an academic to stop using their name in peer reviewed research. Cults in Our Midst: The Continuing Fight Against Their Hidden Menace by Margaret Thaler Singer Skip to search form Skip to main content You are currently offline. Some features of the site may not work correctly.
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