San Antonio College Library

The book "reveals the beliefs and practices of many modern sects and cults. It explains where they came from.

How do seemingly "normal" or "ordinary" citizens suddenly find themselves committed to a group whose leader promotes criminal activities and isolation from families and friends? What should you do if a loved one becomes indoctrinated by a potentially dangerous cult? By providing specific accounts of dangerous cults and their destructive acts, Snow illustrates how seemingly innocent groups can turn pernicious when under the sway of a charismatic leader...

In a work of striking breadth and clarity, Paul Conkin offers an even-handed and in-depth look at the major American-made forms of Christianity-a diverse group of religious traditions, each of which reflects a significant break from western Christian orthodoxy. Identifying six distinctive types, Conkin examines the major denominations representative of each original variety of American Christianity: restoration (Churches of Christ, Disciples of Christ);...

Examines a number of diverse religious groups such as the Branch Davidians, Heaven's Gate, and Scientology, and discusses their individual and sometimes controversial doctrines and philosophies, legal issues involving abuse, and contains biographical sketches on their leaders.

Alternative religious groups have had a profound influence on American history-they have challenged the old and opened up new ways of thinking about healing, modes of meaning, religious texts and liturgies, the social and political order, and the relationships between religion and race, class, gender, and region. Virtually always, the history of alternative religions runs parallel to that of dissent in America. Communities of dissent is an evenhanded...

Almost every day you hear of a new religion-or rediscover an old one. It used to be that you only heard of these religions when missionaries spoke at your church. Now their followers send missionaries to our doorsteps.

"From Shirley MacLaine's spiritual biography Out on a Limb to the teenage witches in the film The Craft, New Age and Neopagan beliefs have made sensationalistic headlines. In the mid- to late 1990s, several important scholarly studies of the New Age and Neopagan movements were published, attesting to academic as well as popular recognition that these religions are a significant presence on the contemporary North American religious landscape. Self-help...

"At the age of twenty-one, Leslie Van Houten was sentenced to death, along with Charles Manson and several of his other disciples, for the infamous murder rampage spanning two nights in August 1969. Leslie, who was present at the Rosemary and Leno LaBianca murders, cheerfully accepted her sentence, wishing only that she had better served Manson in carrying out his apocalyptic vision of "Helter Skelter." When the United States temporarily suspended...

Includes brief case histories of MOVE and Jonestown.