American Cult: A Graphic History of Religious Cults in America from the Colonial Era to Today

American Cult: A Graphic History of Religious Cults in America from the Colonial Era to Today PDF Author: Robyn Chapman
Publisher: Silver Sprocket
ISBN: 9781945509636
Category : Comics & Graphic Novels
Languages : en
Pages : 208

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Book Description
From its earliest days, America was a home for spiritual seekers. In 1694, the religious tolerance of the Pennsylvania Colony enticed a Transylvanian monk and his forty followers to cross the Atlantic. Almost two hundred years later, a charismatic preacher founded a utopian community in Oneida, New York, that practiced socialism and free love. In the 1960s and '70s, a new generation of seekers gathered in vegetarian restaurants in Los Angeles, Satanic coffee shops in New Orleans, and fortified communes in Philadelphia. And in the twenty-first century, gurus find their flocks through self-help seminars and get-rich-quick schemes. Across the decades, Americans in search of divine truths have turned to unconventional prophets for the answers. Some of these prophets have demanded their faith, fortunes, and even their very lives. In American Cult, over twenty cartoonists explore the history of these groups with clarity and empathy--digging deep to find the human stories within.

American Cult: A Graphic History of Religious Cults in America from the Colonial Era to Today

American Cult: A Graphic History of Religious Cults in America from the Colonial Era to Today PDF Author: Robyn Chapman
Publisher: Silver Sprocket
ISBN: 9781945509636
Category : Comics & Graphic Novels
Languages : en
Pages : 208

Get Book Here

Book Description
From its earliest days, America was a home for spiritual seekers. In 1694, the religious tolerance of the Pennsylvania Colony enticed a Transylvanian monk and his forty followers to cross the Atlantic. Almost two hundred years later, a charismatic preacher founded a utopian community in Oneida, New York, that practiced socialism and free love. In the 1960s and '70s, a new generation of seekers gathered in vegetarian restaurants in Los Angeles, Satanic coffee shops in New Orleans, and fortified communes in Philadelphia. And in the twenty-first century, gurus find their flocks through self-help seminars and get-rich-quick schemes. Across the decades, Americans in search of divine truths have turned to unconventional prophets for the answers. Some of these prophets have demanded their faith, fortunes, and even their very lives. In American Cult, over twenty cartoonists explore the history of these groups with clarity and empathy--digging deep to find the human stories within.

Mystics and Messiahs

Mystics and Messiahs PDF Author: Philip Jenkins
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0195127447
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 305

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Book Description
In this full-length account of cults and anti-cult scares in American history, Jenkins gives accurate historical perspective and shows how many of today's mainstream religions were originally regarded as cults.

American Messiahs: False Prophets of a Damned Nation

American Messiahs: False Prophets of a Damned Nation PDF Author: Adam Morris
Publisher: Liveright Publishing
ISBN: 1631492144
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 363

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Book Description
A New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice Selection A history with sweeping implications, American Messiahs challenges our previous misconceptions about “cult” leaders and their messianic power. Mania surrounding messianic prophets has defined the national consciousness since the American Revolution. From Civil War veteran and virulent anticapitalist Cyrus Teed, to the dapper and overlooked civil rights pioneer Father Divine, to even the megalomaniacal Jim Jones, these figures have routinely been dismissed as dangerous and hysterical outliers. After years of studying these emblematic figures, Adam Morris demonstrates that messiahs are not just a classic trope of our national culture; their visions are essential for understanding American history. As Morris demonstrates, these charismatic, if flawed, would-be prophets sought to expose and ameliorate deep social ills—such as income inequality, gender conformity, and racial injustice. Provocative and long overdue, this is the story of those who tried to point the way toward an impossible “American Dream”: men and women who momentarily captured the imagination of a nation always searching for salvation.

Cultish

Cultish PDF Author: Amanda Montell
Publisher: HarperCollins
ISBN: 0062993178
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 300

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Book Description
“One of those life-changing reads that makes you see—or, in this case, hear—the whole world differently.” —Megan Angelo, author of Followers “At times chilling, often funny, and always perceptive and cogent, Cultish is a bracing reminder that the scariest thing about cults is that you don't realize you're in one till it's too late.”—Refinery29.com The New York Times bestselling author of The Age of Magical Overthinking and Wordslut analyzes the social science of cult influence: how “cultish” groups, from Jonestown and Scientologists 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.

Cults in America

Cults in America PDF Author: Willa Appel
Publisher: Owl Books
ISBN: 9780030049972
Category : Cults
Languages : en
Pages : 204

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Book Description
This book gives a history of cults and an explanation of their types and methods used today.

Encyclopedic Handbook of Cults in America

Encyclopedic Handbook of Cults in America PDF Author: J. Gordon Melton
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 9780815311409
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 428

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Book Description
First Published in 1993. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

American Cults

American Cults PDF Author: Jim Willis
Publisher: Visible Ink Press
ISBN: 1578598265
Category : True Crime
Languages : en
Pages : 405

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Book Description
America has spawned hundreds of cults. Charismatic leaders periodically burst into the news for the most awful of reasons. We are awash with stories of brainwashed members’ struggles to leave. Meet the messianic leaders, see the indoctrination and manipulation, look at their beliefs, and read the stories of some of America’s most notorious, eccentric, and unusual cults! From false religions and offshoots of traditional religions to political, financial, sexual, and hate groups, American Cults: Cabals, Corruption, and Charismatic Leaders looks at 40 groups and leaders, including their histories, deceits, manipulations, and twisted ideologies. Some rely on systems of obedience, submission, and dependency. More than a few have mystifying beliefs. Others are dark and murderous. You’ll encounter curious, bizarre, and sometimes upsetting stories of … Charming, manipulative, and exploitative leaders—Jim Jones, Jim Baker, David Berg, David Koresh, and many, many others. The breakaways from traditional religions—Father Divine and the Peace Mission, Jehovah’s Witnesses, the Westboro Baptist Church, the Gospel of Prosperity, and many more. Political, Ponzi, metaphysical, and science schemes—the cult of the scientific method, pyramid schemes, political cults, the Unification Church, and much more. Aliens, extraterrestrials, and the cosmos—Church of Scientology, Raëlians and Heaven’s Gate, to name a few. End-times and doomsday cults—rapture beliefs, Edgar Cayce, the Ant Hill Kids and more. Racial, radical, and social media cults—QAnon, Ku Klux Klan, Oath Keepers, Antifa, and others. Sex, perversity, and submission—NXIVM, Sullivanians, Rajneesh, and many more. American Cults looks at why America is such a fertile ground for cults, how some people got caught in their webs, and how some managed to escape! With more than 120 photos and graphics, this tome is richly illustrated. Its helpful bibliography provides sources for further exploration, and an extensive index adds to its usefulness.

The Anatomy of Illusion

The Anatomy of Illusion PDF Author: Thomas W. Keiser
Publisher: Charles C. Thomas Publisher
ISBN:
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 166

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Book Description


Things Bright and Beautiful

Things Bright and Beautiful PDF Author: Anbara Salam
Publisher: Penguin UK
ISBN: 0241982243
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 282

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Book Description
'A claustrophobic compelling read that'll suck you into its heart of darkness' Independent Advent Island in the South Pacific, with its coconut palms and thick green jungle, should be Eden for missionary Max and his young wife Bea. But plagues of insects and rats, sweltering heat and local 'devil chasers' soon turn paradise into hell on earth. Just as Bea begins to adapt to island life, an unexpected guest arrives and Advent Island turns against its would-be saviors. Trapped in the jungle with her increasingly unhinged husband, Bea must fight tooth-and-nail for her freedom, and for her life. 'Lyrical, suspenseful, darkly comic' Observer 'Excellent, blackly funny. A novel whose growing environmental and psychological horrors you can feel crawling across your skin' Daily Mail 'Phenomenally disturbing' Spectator 'Oozing with vivid descriptions and a deeply claustrophobic atmosphere . . . quite unlike anything else you'll read this year' Heat

The Allure of Immortality

The Allure of Immortality PDF Author: Lyn Millner
Publisher: University Press of Florida
ISBN: 0813059437
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 508

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Book Description
Wall Street Journal’s Five Best Books About Cults For five days in December 1908 the body of Cyrus Teed lay in a bathtub at a beach house just south of Fort Myers, Florida. His followers, the Koreshans, waited for signs that he was coming back to life. They watched hieroglyphics emerge on his skin and observed what looked like the formation of a third arm. They saw his belly fall and rise with breath, even though his swollen tongue sealed his mouth. As his corpse turned black, they declared that their leader was transforming into the Egyptian god Horus. Teed was a charismatic and controversial guru who at the age of 30 had been "illuminated" by an angel in his electro-alchemical laboratory. At the turn of the twentieth century, surrounded by the marvels of the Second Industrial Revolution, he proclaimed himself a prophet and led 200 people out of Chicago and into a new age. Or so he promised. The Koreshans settled in a mosquito-infested scrubland and set to building a communal utopia inside what they believed was a hollow earth--with humans living on the inside crust and the entire universe contained within. According to Teed’s socialist and millennialist teachings, if his people practiced celibacy and focused their love on him, he would return after death and they would all become immortal. Was Teed a visionary or villain, savior or two-bit charlatan? Why did his promises and his theory of "cellular cosmogony" persuade so many? In The Allure of Immortality, Lyn Millner weaves the many bizarre strands of Teed's life and those of his followers into a riveting story of angels, conmen, angry husbands, yellow journalism, and ultimately, hope.