Clarion Review
HISTORY
Escape: My Life Long War Against Cults
Paul Morantz
Hal Lancaster
Cresta Publications
978-0-615-84869-3
Four Stars (out of Five)
An outline of techniques used by cult leaders vibrantly and cleverly offers insight into
human nature.
Attorney Paul Morantz’s second edition of Escape: My Life Long War Against Cults is a
fascinating distillation of forty years of tangling with off-kilter charismatic leaders, viperwielding hit men, and other violent kooks.
The volume describes the rise and fall of the Moonies, Rajneeshees, Symbionese
Liberation Army, and Church of Scientology, as well as Charles Manson and a herd of
unlicensed and unethical psychotherapists. Most of the pages, however, deal with the
complicated history of Synanon. This drug-addiction treatment group morphed into a paranoid, politically connected, paramilitary thug squadron that terrorized lower-rung members and neighbors through the 1960s and ’70s. Morantz’s crusade against Synanon led to a near-fatal attack from a rattlesnake planted in his mailbox, though, ironically, the reptile may have ultimately saved his life, as he had tentative plans to go to Jonestown, Guyana, with the doomedcongressional delegation a few months later.
Morantz effectively outlines the chillingly similar methods used by cults (he prefers the
term “totalist movement”) to control thought and behavior. He has a sympathetic view of those manipulated by megalomaniac cult leaders because such methods are so effective at creating states of psychological rebirth and enlightenment in vulnerable people. He also warns that political leaders have the ability to utilize such techniques to manipulate public opinion, and points to American willingness to unravel long-held civil liberties and rush to war in the wake of 9/11.
Escape is an intense book delivered with a lot of panache. Morantz is a larger-than-life
character, wielding vibrant prose as he describes his legal victories and sometimes out-of-the box escapades to rescue clients and their assets from cult clutches. If there’s a healthy amount of swagger in his descriptions, it seems a pardonable offense given the courage and doggedness displayed in his long-running crusade.
The author’s many witty asides and turns of phrase are enjoyable. One of his childhood
heroes was Captain Nemo from the film version of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Morantz now lumps him in with other cult leaders, noting that “recently, a heroic and resourceful animated fish was named in his honor, which just proves that you can’t keep a good sociopath down.”
A reading list would be a welcome addition to provide references for the many sources
Morantz mentions. While he states that his “aim was to make this the only book you’ll ever need to read on the subject,” those who wish to learn more about various aspects of cults and mind control will want to track down the other materials he mentions.
This is a timely and valuable book that should be required reading for psychology
students and anyone interested in how individual and public opinion can be manipulated. It is packed with information about how cults work and why they are so dangerous, but Morantz relays this dense material with such passion and verve that the pages turn easily.
Rachel Jagareski
Escape: My Lifelong War Against Cults
Paul Morantz, with Hal Lancaster. Figueroa Press, $29.95 paper (312p) ISBN 9780182132201
“Cults are really a study of society in microcosm.” In this recounting of his career, Morantz, a legal expert on cults, persuasively shatters the vision of cultists as losers on the fringes of society: “the most fanatical converts also are the most intelligent.” His overview of cults ranging from the politically fanatic (e.g., the Symbionese Liberation Army) to the seemingly innocuous (e.g., the Unification Church) emphasizes the use of brainwashing to achieve a coercive, yet voluntary, redefinition of reality. Presenting a welter of convincing material, he demonstrates the ravages that manipulative leaders can inflict on naïve initiates. Though many of the groups he describes may seem like museum pieces today, Morantz suggests that our unsettled political and economic climate may provide the atmosphere for a revival of cult activity. If he offers no certain solutions, he forthrightly acknowledges the complex struggle between group dynamics and free speech. He also presents cogent, if conflicted, thoughts upon the possible role of the Internet both as a recruiting tool for cults and as a means of resisting their appeal. Although light on the analytic side, Morantz’s exploration of cults will appeal to the student of modern American history and to those concerned about the potential unraveling of society.
Reviewed on: 10/01/2012
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Tony Ortega
A slow week was suddenly broken wide open as we were hit with an avalanche of new books, promised books, and barely-begun books with one thing in common: Disapproval of David Miscavige’s brand of Scientology.
After the jump, we’ll tell you about the book that legendary cult-busting attorney Paul Morantz sent us, and discuss some promises that Jesse Prince has made about a book he’s writing, which involves going after former church executive Marty Rathbun. But first, in the video above, Rathbun himself reads to us from the intro to a book he’s writing on how to “cure Scientology with Scientology.”
Rathbun has been telling us that he’s working on multiple books about his more than 20 years as a powerful executive in Scientology and then his subsequent years as one of its most visible critics.
As we’ve noted in the past, Rathbun, who was once the church’s second-highest-ranking official and its notorious enforcer, has proved to be a serious threat to Miscavige’s leadership of Scientology now that he’s out and writing a blog that harshly criticizes the church. Because he still adheres to the ideas of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard, Rathbun’s message — that Scientology isn’t broken, but Miscavige’s version of it is — he’s proved very effective at reaching deep into the ranks of longtime, disaffected church members and leading them out to a growing “independent Scientology” movement.
That message is clearly on display in this introduction that he reads, which features no criticism of Hubbard or of Scientology’s beliefs, but instead suggests that Scientology can be reformed. Rathbun says the book will appear in “four to five weeks,” and that its title will be What’s Wrong with Scientology: Healing through Understanding.
We found it particularly interesting that in order to make this point about reforming Scientology, Rathbun talks at length about another high-profile defector, the actor Jason Beghe. Beghe made news in 2008 when he recorded a lengthy videotaped denunciation of Scientology and its bedrock principles. “Let me see a motherfucking clear,” he said in that video, mocking the idea — which Hubbard proposed from the very beginning of Scientology in the 1950s — that Dianetics could produce a state of mind with superhuman qualities called “clear.”
Beghe has assured me that he is not, in fact, an “independent Scientologist” and that he no longer ascribes to Hubbard’s ideas, but Rathbun doesn’t really make that explicit in the portion he reads in this video. I tried to ask Jason about that yesterday, but I didn’t reach him.
Rathbun’s wasn’t the only book project announced yesterday. At his blog, former Scientologist Jesse Prince revealed that he’s making progress on his own book about the church, which he left in 1992. He explained that he intends to write critically about Rathbun and another former Scientology executive, Mike Rinder, who was the church’s chief spokesman until his defection in 2007.
“After I left it became Marty’s job and priority to eradicate me in any way he could without implicating the church. Marty was very creative with his attempts to eradicate or silence me as an enemy target,” Prince writes.
Rathbun and Prince are giving us peeks at the very beginnings of books which aren’t finished, and they may be getting ahead of themselves. But assuming that these projects do get finished and then are (likely self-) published, it does seem to mark a shift in the way Scientology is being written about.
A spate of remarkable tell-all books by former Scientology employees came out between 2008 and 2011 by Amy Scobee, Nancy Many, Jefferson Hawkins, and Marc Headley. Each contained devastating looks at the church, its leader David Miscavige, and didn’t really spare Hubbard or his ideas. Those books emerged on the scene as the Independent movement grew, and as the Anonymous movement put heavy pressure on the church all over the world. Scientology has visibly suffered from that double-fisted onslaught, but perhaps with the success of so much anti-Scientology activity, the fault lines in that united effort are starting to show more clearly.
On June 30, for example, there’s a conference scheduled in Dublin that will feature ex-Scientologists who still adhere to Hubbard’s ideas, as well as those who don’t, and Anonymous is planning a “mega-raid” for the same weekend there. Even before the conference starts, I’ve noticed some sniping about it at WhyWeProtest.net, where questions have been raised about how someone like Samantha Domingo, an outspoken ex-church member who is an ardent Hubbard and Rathbun supporter, might get along with an ex-Scientologist and Hubbard critic like Tory Christman. (My prediction: swimmingly.)
With Scientology at a critical juncture in its history — as its “Ideal Org” program, for example, farcically tries to give the impression that Scientology is growing when more and more evidence suggests that the church is actually facing serious problems with its ranks shrinking — it would be a shame for Scientology watchers to get distracted by internal squabbling or by trying to settle ancient scores. (Just this old timer’s two cents.)
On a more refreshing note, we received from Paul Morantz a copy of his new book this week. Titled Escape: My Lifelong War Against Cults, it’s a thrilling read that links together half a century of mental manipulation, violence, and legal warfare waged by controversial religious movements.
Morantz is most well known, of course, as the lawyer that Synanon tried to kill in 1978 by putting a rattlesnake in his mailbox. (He was bitten and nearly died, then helped sue the organization out of existence.) But his lawsuits against “totalist movements” (his preferred term) were not limited to Synanon — I really wasn’t aware of how Morantz had fought nearly every religious charlatan who flourished in the 1960s and 1970s.
As I started the book — which Morantz wrote with his former USC Daily Trojan colleague Hal Lancaster — I winced when it opened by bouncing around subjects like “American Taliban” recruit John Walker Lindh, to Mao Tse-Tung’s theories, to American GIs brainwashed during the Korean War. Was Morantz biting off more than he could chew? Soon, his project became clear — he was laying the groundwork for showing how so many controversial groups, particularly those coming out of the 1960s human potential movement, shared the same kinds of ideas, the same kinds of methods, and the same kinds of results.
As I made my way through the chapters, I found things in Charles Manson’s “family,” the Symbionese Liberation Army, Synanon, Jim Jones’s People’s Temple, Werner Erhard’s est, the Unification Church, and Bagwan Shree Rajneesh’s commune that were eerily similar to the tales the Headleys, Scobee, Hawkins, Rinder and others have brought to us out of Scientology. Forced abortions. Extreme hours with little to no pay. Sleep deprivation. Constant, ego-smashing abuse combined with just as constant praise and reassurance. Disconnection from families. Vicious legal strategies intended to ruin reputations and cripple outside interference.
Another recurring theme is that Morantz ended up tangling with nearly all of these organizations in one way or another, and usually found a way to do serious damage to them even when the government couldn’t be bothered. Then, he turns to Scientology and gives a brief yet thorough background on its genesis and history, but in this case his involvement was only tangential — he helped attorney Ford Greene in Gerry Armstrong’s legal battles, and has filed a brief in support of the Headleys’ appeal after their 2008 lawsuit was dismissed by a federal judge (Morantz has not heard yet whether the appeals court will consider his brief).
Even though Morantz didn’t find himself waging the kind of epic struggle he’d had with Synanon, his two chapters on Scientology were helpful because of the way they fit in with the rest of the book. He puts Hubbard’s creation in a larger context that I found fascinating.
•
http://www.midwestbookreview.com/sbw/oct_12.htmSm
small Press Bookwatch
Volume 11, Number 10 October 2012 Home | SPBW Index
The Memoir Shelf
Escape
Paul Morantz
Figueroa Press
Suite 401E, Los Angeles, CA 90089
9780182132201, $29.95, www.figueroapress.com
Cults seek to dominate people against their own best interests. “Escape: My Lifelong War Against Cults” is a memoir from Paul Morantz, who recalls his personal legal battles as a specialist lawyer on cults and brainwashing. He shares his experiences with many cases with cults throughout the past few decades, noting their impact on the justice system and the lives they consume in the process. “Escape” is important reading for those who want an understanding of cults from a legal perspective, very much recommended.
Cult Education Forum (Rick Ross Institute)
“Escape”, just released by Paul Morantz, is more of a personal memoir. But it is written by the lawyer that brought down Synanon and litigated successfully against Scientology and the Unification Church. His perspective is quite meaningful and informative. For example, he discusses how Synanon group training is the basis for so many controversial programs today.
Topazline News
@topazline
Helplines info & links – some are open bank holidays; Mental health; Forgiveness page & books; Negotiating within oneself; Nonviolent communication
9 Aug Cindy Allen @Cynthialysis
How even benevolent ideology or practices can turn into evil: ‘Escape – My Lifelong War Against Cults’ by Paul Morantz http://www.amazon.com/Escape-Lifelong-War-Against-Cults/dp/018213220X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1344508157&sr=1-1&keywords=paul+morantz …
•
Posted: Fri May 11, 2012 5:08 pm Post subject:
________________________________________
Sullly wrote:
Thank you for the book suggestion.
Might take you a while to work your way through all the book suggestions in this thread
Speaking of books, saw today there’s a new book out:
Escape: My Lifelong War Against Cults – Paul Morants & Hal Lancaster
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Escape: My Lifelong War Against Cults
by Paul Morantz, Hal Lancaster (Goodreads Author)
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“Escape—My Lifelong War Against Cults” tells the story of attorney Paul Morantz’s nearly 40-year battle with many of this nation’s most notorious cults,including the Manson family, the Symbionese Liberation Army, Jim Jones’ People’s Temple, Synanon, est, the Moonies and Scientology, among others. Morantz has spent most of his career fighting to free victims of often violent sects and to curb abusive cult activities through ground-breaking litigation. His efforts at educating the public and the legal community about the dangers of cults and brainwashing helped change long-held misconceptions and outdated laws. But they also led to deep personal losses and multiple death threats. In the midst of a legal battle with Synanon that consumed nearly a decade of his life, followers of the once-acclaimed drug rehabilitation center turned paranoid cult attempted to murder him by stuffing a four-foot-long rattlesnake in his mailbox.
The book provides the often-alarming details of his involvement with nearly every major cult that has emerged in this country since the 1970s. He tells of a polite young man he befriended while working a summer job after college who was transformed into a murderous Manson henchman. He provides a unique perspective on the still-bewildering story of heiress Patty Hearst’s crime spree with the Symbionese Liberation Army. He reveals the little-known details of the custody battle that was one of the driving forces behind the massacre and mass suicides at Jonestown. Morantz also recalls the chilling tale of the Oregon guru whose followers attempted to poison an entire town and the bizarre, science fiction-based origins of Scientology, the longest-running and most successful cult in history.
ReligionNewsBlog
Religion news articles about religious cults, sects, world religions, and related issues
Archive for May, 2012
Escape by Paul Morantz
May 18th
Posted by Liam in News
2 comments
Escape by Paul Morantz: A deep investigative look at the cults lying under the rug of the American experience, from Synanon and Charles E. Dederich (C.E.D.) to EST and everything in between, by the great investigator, Paul Morantz, who appears in my CEDU documentary. I have a bundle of footage of Paul on these topics that deserve to be featured in a larger documentary about these topics… if there are film-makers or writers working on projects covering the history of cults in American, you have to read and know the work of Paul Morantz.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating read, August 9, 2012
By
Donna – See all my reviews
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This review is from: Escape: My Lifelong War Against Cults (Paperback)
Thiis is a well written book. This true story is amazing…grabs you from the very beginning. Hard to believe this actually happened. So interesting, so informative, so frightening and yet there is humor incorporated thru out. Easy, fast good read.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars A book about cults that ‘tells it like it is’, August 9, 2012
By
Cynthialysis – See all my reviews
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This review is from: Escape: My Lifelong War Against Cults (Paperback)
There are plenty of good books about cults that convey to readers the problems of being associated with cults, or of having a family member who has become involved. Many of us do not realise that the situation can happen to virtually anyone, and this book describes in easy-to-read language what can happen when it does. What begins as reasonable or even benevolent ideology and practices can turn into something evil, gradually or in identifiable stages. Sometimes this occurs when personal incidents in the leader’s life change things irrevocably for others, including those who simply live nearby.
For an authentic account of some of the ideologies and problems of involvement in cults – and trying to get away – Paul Morantz’s book is a winner. At the moment it does not seem to be available from Amazon UK, but it has been well worth my ordering it from the US.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Stunned by mountain of evidence, July 18, 2012
By
Karen Fowler – See all my reviews
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This review is from: Escape: My Lifelong War Against Cults (Paperback)
I’d known about some of the incidents described in the chapters about Synanon but when you see all them, back to back, in their entirety, weighted with evidence, it’s difficult to dismiss the accusations as mere allegations. I found Mr. Morantz’s dedication and sincerity to undo some wrongs done to his clients, as heroic. His heroism nearly cost him his life. I highly recommend this book to anyone that has an interest in cults and mind control.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars wonderful view at the other side, June 28, 2012
By
c bowman – See all my reviews
This review is from: Escape: My Lifelong War Against Cults (Paperback)
great book love hearing the other side of the story the media did not tell u
and how this closes the chapter to many things
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars great bok, June 28, 2012
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donna – See all my reviews
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This review is from: Escape: My Lifelong War Against Cults (Paperback)
your book arrived yesterday after a long wait.
I wanted to tell you that I could not put it down.It was refreshing to see a different side of the story, then what the media normaly paints.
Thank you for sharing your wonderful life with myself and other readers
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Should be required reading for all, September 30, 2012
By
Stasha – See all my reviews
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This review is from: Escape: My Lifelong War Against Cults (Paperback)
I just finished reading this book five minutes ago. I tore though it, as I did Carol Mither’s book “Therapy Gone Mad”. I bought this book because I was so caught up in the story Mither’s told, and the lawyer, Paul Morantz, who sued the therapy group that basically became an abusive cult. I have to say, I recommend reading both books! The Escape book goes into detail on cases I grew up haunted by, and to be honest, I had to skip the chapter on Jones Town. After reading the chapter on the Manson Family, I just couldn’t read the other horrific story from my time being a kid in Southern California. I am haunted by the news of their crimes, as were all the kids I knew. Why are so many of the crazy cults from California? Someone should look into that. Anyway, this is really a must read. I think kids should read it so they recognize when they might be in a group that resembles a cult. I feel sorry for all the people who were scarred by these abusive situations, and I feel sorry for the people still in them. My message to you: Life is hard out here, there are times of confusion, and it is rough figuring out what to do sometimes without some guru telling you all the “answers”. But life out here is better than life in some oddball club where everyone on the outside is some kind of deficient loser. Ok, love the book. Someone should make a movie about this Morantz guy.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book!, September 27, 2012
By
Stacey – See all my reviews
This review is from: Escape: My Lifelong War Against Cults (Paperback)
The author of this book writes from an interesting and refreshing perspective. By reading his personal interactions between himself and the persons caught up in these unfortunate situations, you really get a feel for his passion for what he does and for his clients. The book uses humor and fascinating stories to keep the reader engaged. Great book!
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5.0 out of 5 stars Chilling, September 12, 2012
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Carol Mithers – See all my reviews
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This review is from: Escape: My Lifelong War Against Cults (Paperback)
Many lessons of the 1960s and 1970s have been forgotten. Morantz’s book is an important reminder, as well as a comprehensive and utterly chilling account of some of the scariest dynamics of that time — with important lessons for the future.
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5.0 out of 5 stars cults and culture, October 15, 2012
By
topangagirl455 – See all my reviews
This review is from: Escape: My Lifelong War Against Cults (Paperback)
Paul Morantz’s memoir, Escape, my lifelong war against cults, is a fascinating read. Through his descriptions of his legal (and almost lethal) skirmishes with various cults we learn the stories behind the lurid headlines we have seen in the newspapers and on our TVs about cults: Charles Manson, Synanon, Scientology, Jim Jones, the list is surprizingly long. The book provides a tremendous education about them, and is worth reading for this alone. But the book is more. It is a personal memoir, and we come to learn about Paul Morantz. He is funny, he is entertaining, he is humble, he is proud, he is a hero, he is an educator, he is a friend, he can be repetitive, but he is a damn good read. But the book is even more. Paul Morantz, it turns out, is a lay philosopher, and he generalizes his concerns about cults to systems of belief in general, to religion, politics, and the very future of the human race. Paul may have a terminal illness, and that evidently prompted his writing this book. But we all have the terminal condition called Life, and mine has been broadened and enlightened by reading about Paul’s.
FACTNET
FACTnet
F.A.C.T.net Inc.
Fight Against Coercive Tactics Network
Not all lawyers should be at the bottom of the sea… Paul Morantz, anti-cult litigator, is one of them…
FACTNet news editors note: It is truly my pleasure to introduce a Knight in the fight against destructive high control groups. Especially one who is more then talk. You can talk the “Cult Phenomenon” to death like the academia love to do or you can bare arms against a sea of troubles and by opposing them at least they feel the sting of laws broken and finances lost. I personally as an ex-member applaud you and cheer out “Onward” because there is another standing right behind the one you just knocked down…
Paul Morantz is an attorney at law specializing in the prosecution of fanatical cults or religious leaders. He is most recognized for his cases against Synanon, a drug rehabilitation group in the 1970s, which attempted to kill Morantz and derail his efforts to rescue members of the group. Since then, Morantz has continued practicing law specializing in the prosecution of those whose victims claim to have been brainwashed. Morantz served as pro bono appellate counsel in Molko vs. Unification Church in 1988, which became the first case where the California Supreme Court recognized brainwashing as a criminal action and allowed victims the right to sue for damages.
Morantz wrote the story for the 1978 television movie Deadman’s Curve, based on the lives of Jan and Dean. The original story Morantz wrote was published in Rolling Stone Magazine in 1974 and was scheduled to be the cover, but Nixon resigned soon after and the story was pushed off the cover. Morantz also has published an article in the Los Angeles Times about John Walker Lindh, the American man caught fighting with the Taliban. The article is an argument for understanding some of the psychological mechanisms which may have led to Lindh joining the Taliban and raises the question of whether he may have been brainwashed.
[edit] Attempted murder conspiracy
On October 10, 1978, Morantz was bitten by a rattlesnake which had been placed in his mailbox by members of the drug rehabilitation institution, Synanon. Two members of the organization had cut the rattle off of the snake and placed it in Morantz’s Pacific Palisades home. Neighbors had reported seeing a suspicious vehicle making rounds near Morantz’s home and reported the license number to the police. The police found that the license plate had been registered to an address at Synanon and an officer checked the grounds at Morantz’s house, but found nothing out of the ordinary and no one informed Morantz of the activity. Upon returning home, Morantz was bitten on the wrist as he grabbed for the mail. Morantz stumbled outside and yelled for help from neighbors who quickly came to his assistance and called for an ambulance. Morantz was rushed to the Santa Monica Emergency Room where anti-venom could be administered and was subsequently transferred to the Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center where he made a recovery over the next several days.
Months earlier, Charles Dederich, founder of the Synanon program, had made recorded announcements over the internal P.A. system at Synanon’s compounds. These announcements made mention of enemies of Synanon and encouraged acts of violence towards them and their families. Dederich specifically mentioned targeting lawyers such as Morantz in these speeches. After the attack on Morantz, Synanon’s compound in Badger, Tulare County was searched and authorities recovered the tape recordings of these speeches. Dederich and the two members of Synanon who had carried out the attack were arrested and pleaded no-contest to conspiracy to commit murder. Instrumental in the exposure of the Synanon conspiracies was the local newspaper, Point Reyes Light, whose work on Synanon won the 1979 Pulitzer Prize for Meritorious Public Service. In 1991, Synanon’s doors closed as a result of a successful tax lawsuit which concluded that Synanon was not entitled to its charitable tax free basis as it had been attacking people in violation of public policy. Morantz assisted the Department of Justice with this case. -http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Morantz
Pauls website…http://www.paulmorantz.com/
Some great pieces on some of Paul’s cases…
Escape from Unification Church…
Story of Rajneesh and bioterrrism…
Story of my relationship with Tex Watson…
Story of my involvement with Stoen and bankruptcy case…
Story of worse psychotherapy cult in history…
ESCAPE FROM THE CENTER FOR FEELING THERAPY (The Cult of Cruelty)
http://www.paulmorantz.com/
February 9, 2013
By
Kirsten Z – See all my reviews
This review is from: Escape: My Lifelong War Against Cults (Paperback)
A really great read. I couldn’t put it down and read it in a night! I was left with a better understanding of what makes a cult and the destructive forces of Us vs. Them thinking. I also understand the enormous impact Synanon had on our current tough love treatment of addicts.
Paul Morantz risked his life so that cult member’s friends and family could get their loved ones back in their lives. He still suffers from the rattlesnake bite that almost killed him. He is a real mensch and in my opinion should be treated as a national treasure.
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5.0 out of 5 stars COURAGE, February 13, 2013
By
jimfree – See all my reviews
This review is from: Escape: My Lifelong War Against Cults (Paperback)
Really enjoyed reading all the info in this book. And Paul Morantz fought a battle that nearly cost his life, and damaged his health, but never gave up on his battles against all these cults. Outnumbered and outspent he still managed to prevail most of the time. That took courage. Everyone knows a bit about his cases, but there is lots of info here that is new.Escape: My Lifelong War Against Cults
