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Author: Lindsay Andrews
Publisher: Outskirts Press
ISBN: 9781977230508
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 222
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Book Description
Trapped tells the story of a young woman, recently graduated from an Eastern college and teaching in a small New Mexico town who follows her boyfriend into joining the Druids, a pseudo-religious cult in the desert. While living in the remote arid landscape, her mind and body are controlled by the cult leaders who take away her possessions, her boyfriend, connections to her past, and even her identity by giving her a new name. After six months, with the help and love of her family, she escapes, but for the next forty years learns to live with the trauma and scars as a victim of cult mind control. Today, disparate groups and their fervent followers tout ideologies that prey on human vulnerability using mind control techniques to advance their agendas making Trapped an important book for all ages to read and discuss.
Author: Lindsay Andrews
Publisher: Outskirts Press
ISBN: 9781977230508
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 222
Get Book Here
Book Description
Trapped tells the story of a young woman, recently graduated from an Eastern college and teaching in a small New Mexico town who follows her boyfriend into joining the Druids, a pseudo-religious cult in the desert. While living in the remote arid landscape, her mind and body are controlled by the cult leaders who take away her possessions, her boyfriend, connections to her past, and even her identity by giving her a new name. After six months, with the help and love of her family, she escapes, but for the next forty years learns to live with the trauma and scars as a victim of cult mind control. Today, disparate groups and their fervent followers tout ideologies that prey on human vulnerability using mind control techniques to advance their agendas making Trapped an important book for all ages to read and discuss.
Author: Ellen J. Taylor
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781792079641
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 310
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Book Description
She only wanted to be a Mother to her own children-FLDS Cult leader had other plans. Sarah was born in 1979 in the FLDS compound. At eighteen, Sarah entered into an arranged marriage to Richard S Allred who was the grandson and personal bodyguard to leader Rulon Jeffs, and later Warren Jeffs. Sarah was the first of five wives and was often used to set the example. Sarah's husband was given Warren's prized daughter as his third wife who became Warren's source to control Sarah's family. As the Leadership adjusted, her world turned upside down. Rich was taken to a secret project to begin "Zion," and only those who are worthy could go. Rich came for her children, but Sarah was not worthy. She wasn't allowed to see or have contact with her children. Sarah came to realize Warren Jeffs was grooming her daughter to eventually become his wife. She wrote a letter, refusing to give permission. While traveling on a four-wheeler, the vehicle flipped and fell on her. She was in the hospital fighting for a month to survive told she would most likely be a paraplegic if she did survive.A few months later, still trying to heal from the accident, Sarah was told God no longer had a use for her. Therefore Sarah was cast out, thrown into a world she was taught to abhor and fear from birth.
Author: Benjamin Risha
Publisher: WildBlue Press
ISBN: 1952225078
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 300
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Book Description
A man shares his story of growing up in a late 20th-century American cult—and how he escaped—in this gripping autobiography. As the adopted son of two cult leaders, Benjamin Risha was raised to someday assume a place of leadership in the Alamo Christian Foundation, with the Bible, and his parents’ interpretations of it, as his guide. He believed the prophecies of his adoptive mother and father, Tony and Susan Alamo, including them being the two prophets foretold in the Book of Revelations who precede the second coming of Jesus Christ, them rising from the dead after they died, and such dire warnings as the ground opening up to swallow non-believers into hell. And he was sure that Susan Alamo could raise the dead as promised. However, when none of it happened, and the foundation slid from bucolic communal lifestyle to insufferable criminality that included absolute obedience to the Alamos, and polygamous marriages with girls as young as eight years old, Benjamin knew he had to escape. If he were caught trying to escape, he would be severely beaten, forced to go without food and water for his sins, and shamed in the community. So, he embarked on a journey to locate his birth parents, discover the truth about a world he knew nothing about . . . and find himself. In The Son of Seven Mothers, Benjamin Risha takes readers on a harrowing journey that few in the United States can imagine. And eventually he must choose between the life he knows and was “chosen” to lead, and his freedom.
Author: Sarah Rose
Publisher: CreateSpace
ISBN: 9781475259384
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 294
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Book Description
This book is the true account of how I gave my life to a cruel and criminally insane cult leader, and how I was miraculously able to take it back and emerge a stronger and more compassionate person. Escape is the first book that tells an insider's story of daily life ruled by a psychopathic cult leader. The book shows how easy it is to become brainwashed by a charismatic personality into thinking that torture, starvation, and complete isolation are essential to a spiritual life. It is also a cautionary tale for the parents and family members of anyone belonging to a cult, and for people recovering from cults, extreme religions, or abusive relationships.
Author: K. Gordon Neufeld
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781976958236
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 39
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Book Description
Mass weddings. Matching ceremonies where people meet their future spouses for the first time. Desperate flower-sellers approaching bar customers late at night. Isolated farms where young men and women are rapidly transformed into fanatical devotees of the Reverend Sun Myung Moon. All these are well-known aspects of life in the cult known as the Unification Church, often called the "Moonies". In Heartbreak and Rage: Ten Years Under Sun Myung Moon, a Cult Survivor's Memoir, K. Gordon Neufeld recalls his own participation in all of these events in a powerful and engrossing, and occasionally wistful and tender, memoir. In Part Three, Neufeld recounts the dilemma he finds himself in after two years of study at the Unification Theological Seminary. For the first time in his cult life, he no longer feels he must obey the leaders automatically. Instead, he believes the cult's failure to achieve greater success is precisely because the cult leaders require members to repress their feelings. Neufeld resolves to be an empathetic listener and to encourage other members to express their real feelings; in short, he determines to justify his existence by love, and not by works. As he wrestles with his dilemma, he writes his thoughts down in a small diary which he keeps while in Boston. Upon his return to the Unification Theological Seminary in September, he is abruptly sent away by the Seminary leaders. Neufeld opts to go to Los Angeles to undergo Primal Therapy, a radical treatment he had investigated before he joined the Unification Church. While working with other cult members, he sets aside money for the treatment. However, during this waiting time, he is called to a gathering of members in New York, where Moon matches him up to a woman he had never met, who is now to become his eternal spouse. Yet Moon has not yet selected a date for the actual wedding ceremony, so in the interim, all the matched members must remain celibate. In Neufeld's case, he must get to know his fiancée by correspondence only, since she lives in England and Scotland. Once back in Los Angeles, Neufeld returns to his plans to undergo Primal Therapy. As time goes on, he realizes that his fiancée is deeply troubled and is at risk of leaving the cult, so he drops his therapy in order to travel to see her. There, he quickly falls in love with her. Yet his situation is impossible: the cult will not permit him to live with his new love, and she must remain in England, while he must return to Los Angeles. One year later, Neufeld is again abruptly called to attend a cult mass wedding ceremony at Madison Square Garden in New York; yet, even after the wedding ceremony, he must continue to remain celibate and to wait at least three more years before he can live with his beloved. Gradually, as his financial position becomes more and more difficult, and as his fiancée again pleads with him to visit her, Neufeld concludes that he must abandon his Primal Therapy treatment. Later, in a desperate effort to raise money to visit his fiancée, he returns to his parents' home in Canada, so he can work legally. During his time in Calgary, Neufeld remains loyal to Moon, but he finds himself in a city where no other Unification Church members live. But before he can afford the trip overseas to see his fiancée, she writes him to tell him it is over. Now, Neufeld must decide whether to remain in the cult, or to leave.
Author: K. Gordon Neufeld
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781949756555
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 174
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Book Description
Mass weddings. Matching ceremonies where people meet their future spouses for the first time. Desperate flower-sellers approaching bar customers late at night. Isolated farms where young men and women are rapidly transformed into fanatical devotees of the Reverend Sun Myung Moon. All these are well-known aspects of life in the Unification Church, often called the "Moonies." In Heartbreak and Rage: Ten Years Under Sun Myung Moon, a Cult Survivor's Memoir, K. Gordon Neufeld recalls his participation in all of these events in a powerful and engrossing, yet sometimes wistful and tender, memoir. Even when he was rejected by the woman Moon chose for his bride, and by the church to which he was dedicated, he refused to give up. This is an unforgettable story of persistence, devotion, love and loss. Now, in this new second edition of his memoir, Neufeld brings the reader up to date, by recounting the wonderful life and love he has found following publication of the first edition. Though the first edition ends on a pensive, yet slightly sad note, the second edition is much more reassuring, showing that even the most difficult circumstances, once endured, can lead to a life of creative fire and redeeming love.
Author: Sarah Edmondson
Publisher: Chronicle Books
ISBN: 1797201468
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 243
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Book Description
As seen in the HBO docuseries THE VOW: The shocking and subversive memoir of a 12-year-NXIVM-member-turned-whistleblower, and her inspiring true story of abuse, escape, and redemption. "'Master, would you brand me? It would be an honor.' From the second I climb onto the table, acutely aware that I am lying in the sweat of my sisters, I will have blocked that out. Lying there completely naked, I am at my most vulnerable but determined to prove my strength. I try to keep my legs closed as my body wills itself to protect my most private area. . . . I tell myself: I am a warrior. I birthed a human. I can handle pain. But nothing could have ever prepared me for the feel of this fire on my skin." Scarred is Sarah Edmondson's compelling memoir of her recruitment into the NXIVM cult, the 12 years she spent within the organization (during which she enrolled over 2,000 members and entered DOS—NXIVM's "secret sisterhood"), her breaking point, and her harrowing fight to get out, to expose Keith Raniere and the leadership, to help others, and to heal. Complete with personal photographs, Scarred is also an eye-opening story about abuses of power, female trust and friendship, and how sometimes the search to be "better" can override everything else. • In the tradition of Unorthodox by Deborah Feldman, Escape by Carolyn Jessop, and Troublemaker by Leah Remini • This tell-all follows Sarah from the moment she takes her first NXIVM seminar, to the invitation she accepts from her best friend, Lauren Salzman, into DOS, to her journey toward become a key witness in the federal case against its founders • Evokes questions about friendship, ethics, good and evil, making it a brilliant selection for book clubs Audio edition read by the author.
Author: Jayanti Tamm
Publisher: Crown
ISBN: 030745164X
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 306
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Book Description
In this colorful, eye-opening memoir, Jayanti Tamm offers an unforgettable glimpse into the hidden world of growing up “cult” in mainstream America. Through Jayanti’s fascinating story–the first book to chronicle Sri Chinmoy–she unmasks a leader who convinces thousands of disciples to follow him, scores of nations to dedicate monuments to him, and throngs of celebrities (Sting, Pope John Paul II, Nelson Mandela) to extol him. When the short, bald man in flowing robes prophesizes Jayanti to be the “Chosen One,” her life is forever entwined with the charismatic guru Sri Chinmoy, who declares himself a living god. A god who performs sit-ups and push-ups in front of thousands as holy ritual, protects himself with a platoon of bodyguards, and bans books, TV, and sex. Jayanti’s unusual and increasingly bizarre childhood is spent shuttling between the ashram in Queens, New York, and her family’s outpost as “Connecticut missionaries.” On the path to enlightenment decreed by Guru, Jayanti scrubs animal cages in his illegal basement zoo, cheerleads as he weight lifts an elephant in her front yard, and trails him around the world as he pursues celebrities such as Princess Diana and Mother Teresa. But, when her need for enlightenment is derailed by her need for boys, Jayanti risks losing everything that she has ever known, including the person that she was ordained to be. With tenderness, insight, and humor, Jayanti explores the triumphs and trauma of an insider who longs to be an outsider, her hard-won decision to finally break free, and the unique challenges she confronts as she builds a new life.
Author: Daniella Mestyanek Young
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
ISBN: 1250280125
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 351
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Book Description
"A painful and propulsive memoir delivered in the honest tones of a woman who didn’t always think she’d live to tell her story." —The New York Times A Buzzfeed Best Book of September In the vein of Educated and The Glass Castle, Daniella Mestyanek Young's Uncultured is more than a memoir about an exceptional upbringing, but about a woman who, no matter the lack of tools given to her, is determined to overcome. Behind the tall, foreboding gates of a commune in Brazil, Daniella Mestyanek Young was raised in the religious cult The Children of God, also known as The Family, as the daughter of high-ranking members. Her great-grandmother donated land for one of The Family’s first communes in Texas. Her mother, at thirteen, was forced to marry the leader and served as his secretary for many years. Beholden to The Family’s strict rules, Daniella suffers physical, emotional, and sexual abuse—masked as godly discipline and divine love—and is forbidden from getting a traditional education. At fifteen years old, fed up with The Family and determined to build a better and freer life for herself, Daniella escapes to Texas. There, she bravely enrolls herself in high school and excels, later graduating as valedictorian of her college class, then electing to join the military to begin a career as an intelligence officer, where she believes she will finally belong. But she soon learns that her new world—surrounded by men on the sands of Afghanistan—looks remarkably similar to the one she desperately tried to leave behind. Told in a beautiful, propulsive voice and with clear-eyed honesty, Uncultured explores the dangers unleashed when harmful group mentality goes unrecognized, and is emblematic of the many ways women have to contort themselves to survive.
Author: Sandra Kay
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
ISBN: 9781723105265
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 286
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Book Description
For decades the author did not realize the symptoms of PTSD and ADHD she was experiencing were due to the childhood trauma she was subjected to while a member of the Church of Scientology's Sea Organization. At the age of 17, as one of the first residents of the "Big Blue" (the landmark building in Los Angeles), she not only witnessed the largest FBI raid in history, she was also a member of the infamous 1977 PAC RPF (Rehabilitation Project Force) where she pulled 18-hour shifts performing heavy labor to renovate the new headquarters. What followed were years of sleepless nights as a member of the United States Guardian's Office while the Church battled the government to keep L. Ron Hubbard's wife, Mary Sue Hubbard, out of jail for her role in illegal government break-ins known as Operation Snow White. Sandra left in the 80's only to find herself haunted by the ghosts of the Church for decades. She found solidarity through her work with refugees from Cambodia and Africa and healing through her work as a photographer. She has bonded with her fellow cohorts known as the Children of Scientology, breaking the stigma of isolation so many second-generation cult survivors have struggled with. Her memoir shines the way for the children of the world who have experienced similar trauma (through genocide and war), by advancing the conversation on Adverse Childhood Experiences and how this universal crisis affects over 34 million people in the U.S. alone, transcending all racial boundaries. Her journey spans over five decades and 30 countries culminating in a truth-to-power indictment against Scientology, one of the most powerful cults in existence today, known for their celebrity followers and their well-documented attacks against their victims and critics to keep the truth from coming out. Never once has the Church taken any responsibility for their actions.
