Brown keeps a journalist's perspective on this controversial topic, telling the story and interviewing all the participants without coming down on one side or the other. Instead he gives us a bit of the humanity of these larger-than-life spiritual figures. The whole book is pretty masterfully done. I was impressed with Brown's impartiality and the grace with which he handled the material: he doesn't sensationalize the events, or hype up the drama, or engage in gossip (and the gossip he reports from others is stated matter-of-factly as it was told to him). He really works to tell this story in such a way that the reader can draw her own conclusions.