Cults in Our Midst (book)

Infobox Book
name = Cults in Our Midst
title_orig =
translator =


image_caption = Cults in Our Midst
author = Margaret Singer
Janja Lalich
Robert Jay Lifton, Foreword
illustrator =
cover_artist =
country = United States
language = English
series =
subject = Cults
genre = nonfiction
psychology
cults
publisher = Jossey-Bass
release_date = September 1996
english_release_date =
media_type = Hardcover
pages = 374
isbn = ISBN 0-7879-0266-7
preceded_by = Captive Hearts, Captive Minds
followed_by = Crazy Therapies,
Bounded Choice

"Cults in Our Midst: The Hidden Menace in Our Everyday Lives" is a nonfiction psychology book on cults, by Margaret Singer and Janja Lalich, Ph.D., with a foreword by Robert Jay Lifton. The book was published by Jossey-Bass in 1996 in hardcover format. In 1997, the book was published in Spanish, as "Las Sectas Entre Nosotros" ["Las Sectas Entre Nosotros/Cults in our Midst,1997, Lauguage:Spanish, ISBN 8474326052] , and in German, as "Sekten: Wie Menschen ihre Freiheit verlieren und wiedergewinnen können" ("Cults: How people lose and can regain their freedom") ["Sekten/Cults in our Midst,1997, Lauguage:German, ISBN 3896700154] .

In this book I will use the term "cult" and "cultic group" to refer to any one of a large number of groups that have sprung up in our society and that are similar in the way that they originate, their power structure, and their governance. Cults range from the relatively benign to those that exercise extraordinary control over members' lives and use thought-reform processes to influence and control members. While the conduct of certain cults causes nonmembers to criticize them, the term cult is not in itself pejorative but simply descriptive. It denotes a group that forms around a person who claims he or she has a special mission or knowledge, which will be shared with those who turn over most of their decision making to that self-appointed leader.Margaret Singer and Janja Lalich. Cults in our Midst (book), 1995, pp. ix-xx. ISBN 0-7879-0051-6.]

A second edition of the book without Lalich as co-author was published in paperback form by John Wiley & Sons, in 2003, with a new title ["Cults in Our Midst: The Continuing Fight Against Their Hidden Menace", April 11, 2003, ISBN 0787967416 , ISBN 978-0787967413 ] shortly before Dr. Singer's death.

Reviews

Cited in secondary works

"Cults in Our Midst" is cited by at least 30 other books on the subject [', Janja Lalich; "The Gap in the Jehovah's Witness Religion And How to Recover", Tracy Ringsdorf; "New Religious Movements: A Documentary Reader", Dereck M. Daschke; "Letting Go: A Parents' Guide to Understanding the College Years", Fourth Edition, Karen Levin Coburn; "Amway Motivational Organizations: Behind the Smoke and Mirrors", Ruth Carter; "Shopping for Faith: American Religion in the New Millennium", Richard P. Cimino; ', Philip Cushman; "Jehovah's Witnesses and the Third Reich: Sectarian Politics under Persecution", M. James Penton; "The Neurophysics of Human Behavior: Explorations at the Interface of the Brain, Mind, Behavior, and Information", Mark E. Furman; "The Religion That Kills: Christian Science: Abuse, Neglect, and Mind Control", Linda S. Kramer; "Children in New Religions", Susan J. Palmer; "Selling All: Commitment, Consecrated Celibacy, and Community in Catholic Religious Life", (Religious Life in a New Millennium, V. 2), Sandra M. Schneiders; "Breathing Spaces: Qigong, Psychiatry, and Healing in China", Nancy N. Chen; "Understanding Terror Networks", Marc Sageman; "The Rise and Fall of Synanon: A California Utopia", Rod Janzen; "The Cultic Origins of Christianity: The Dynamics of Religious Development", (Theology), W. W. Meissner; "Sexualities" (Monograph Published Simultaneously As Women & Therapy , Vol 19, No 4), Marny Hall; "Not by Faith Alone: Religion, Law, and Adolescence", Roger J. R. Levesque; "New Religions as Global Culture" (Explorations. Contemporary Perspectives on Religion), Karla Poewe; "Finding Your Religion: When the Faith You Grew Up With Has Lost Its Meaning", Scotty McLennan; ', Robert Jay Lifton; "Letting Go: A Parents' Guide to Understanding the College Years", Third Edition, Karen Levin Coburn; "Why People Believe Weird Things: Pseudoscience, Superstition, and Other Confusions of Our Time", Michael Shermer; "Complementary and Alternative Veterinary Medicine Considered: An Appraisal", David W. Ramey; "Black Collar Crimes: An Encyclopedia of False Prophets and Unholy Orders", Michael Newton; "Encountering New Religious Movements", Irving Hexham; "Snitch Culture: How Citizens are Turned into the Eyes and Ears of the State", Jim Redden; "Bluebird : Deliberate Creation of Multiple Personality by Psychiatrists", Colin A. Ross; "People Farm", Steve Susoyev; ", Flo Conway.] , including: Robert Jay Lifton's 2000 "Destroying the World to Save It" [Robert Jay Lifton, 2000, ', ISBN 0805065113 , page 348, Note 13.] , on apocalyptic destructive cults; Flo Conway and Jim Siegelman's 1995 "Snapping" [Flo Conway and Jim Siegelman, ', page 374. Note 155., ISBN 0964765004 1995.] ; Janja Lalich's 2006 "Take Back Your Life" [Janja Lalich, ', ISBN 0972002154 , 2006, Appendix D, pages 345, 347, 352, 355.] ; and Philip Cushman's 1996 "Constructing the Self, Constructing America" [Philip Cushman, "", ISBN 0201441926 , 1996, pages 394, 407.] .

The book is required reading, along with Peter Olsson, M.D.'s "", in Edward Lottick, M.D.'s King's College, Pennsylvania course on "American Cults" [ [http://www.icsahome.com/infoserv_conferences/2007brussels/2007_abstracts_resumes.htm American Cults] , Edward Lottick, M.D., course, King's College, Pennsylvania. retrieved 1/17/06, International Cultic Studies Association.
American Cults - Edward Lottick, M.D. - "I have just completed my third time presenting my semester course at King's College on American Cults. Although the course is upper level for junior and senior students, it is basically introductory contemporary cultic studies. Class size has ranged from 20 to 30 students mostly without any significant prior cult experience. Assigned reading includes Margaret Singer's Cults in Our Midst, Peter Olsson's Malignant Pied Pipers of Our Time, and an assembled compendium of relevant historic news and journal articles from the past several decades. The course has been offered during alternating semesters as a psychology elective. This past semester's class was 20 students composed of 10 psychology majors, 5 criminal justice majors, and a pre-med, pre-law, elementary-education, nursing, and audio-visual major."] as of January, 2006.

"Cults in Our Midst" was cited as a reference in the FBI's 1999 Project Megiddo report [http://permanent.access.gpo.gov/lps3578/www.fbi.gov/library/megiddo/megiddo.pdf Project Megiddo] , FBI Strategic Assessment, October 20, 1999, retrieved 3/7/07.] .

Related lawsuit

In 1996, Landmark Education sued Singer, for defamation. Singer mentioned Landmark Education in "Cults in our Midst"; it was unclear whether she labeled Landmark Education as a cult or not. Singer issued a statement pursuant to a settlement agreement stating that she did not intend to call Landmark a cult, nor did she consider it a cult. [Dr. Margaret Singer, statement, [http://www.landmarkeducation.com/uploaded_files/694/msing.pdf Landmark Education, website, files] ] Singer removed the references to Landmark Education from subsequent editions of the book. She also stated at deposition that she had "no personal, firsthand knowledge of Landmark or its programs."

Amanda Scioscia reported in the Phoenix New Times that Singer never called Landmark a cult, but that she described it as a "a controversial New Age training course". She also stated that she would not recommend the group to anyone, and would not comment on whether Landmark uses coercive persuasion for fear of legal recrimination from Landmark [Amanda Scioscia, 2000, Phoenix New Times, [http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/Issues/2000-10-19/news/feature_print.html "Drive-thru Deliverance"] Singer said she never called it a cult in her book, but simply mentioned it as a controversial New Age training course. In resolution of the suit, Singer gave a sworn statement that the organization is not a cult or sect. She said this doesn't mean she supports Landmark. "I do not endorse them -- never have," she said. Singer, who was in her 70s at the time, said she can't comment on whether Landmark uses coercive persuasion because "the SOBs have already sued me once." "I'm afraid to tell you what I really think about them because I'm not covered by any lawyers like I was when I wrote my book."Singer said, however, that she would not recommend the group to anyone.]

References

External links

* [http://www.factnet.org/singer.htm Excerpts from Cults In Our Midst] , Factnet.org
* [http://www.rickross.com/reference/recovery/recovery1.html Chapter 11: Leaving the Cult / Recovery] , RickRoss.com
* [http://www.rickross.com/groups/landmark.html#singer Landmark Education vs. Singer] , litigation public documents pertaining to Landmark Education's case involving "Cults in Our Midst"
* [http://www.gedisa-mexico.com/libros/GSE789.HTM Review in Spanish] , "Las Sectas entre nosotros"

Gallery of covers

See also

*Margaret Singer, Ph.D.
*Robert Jay Lifton
*Janja Lalich, Ph.D.
*Rick Ross