Religious Cults in America

by Robert Emmet Long (Editor)

Discusses the different religious cults in the U.S., and focuses on the 1993 incident involving the Branch Davidians in Waco, Texas

171 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 1994

Reviews

[Dollie]

Although somewhat dated, this book of articles concerning various marginal religious movements has a wealth of information about religious cults. ALL religions – Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, whatever – when founded, have been considered cults. I learned more about Jim Jones, David Koresh and Sun Myung Moon. I was amazed at how many people in the US belong to various cults. I also learned for the first time that both myself and my closest friend in high school were cult members, which was a big surprise. I was involved for a couple of years with Transcendental Meditation (didn’t know it was considered a cult until I read this book) and my friend was a member of The Bible Speaks, which she was involved with from the time we graduated in 1974 until her death eight years ago. One thing leads to another and now what I want to know is, why did David Koresh need all those guns and grenades and how long is it going to be before I decide I have to read Helter Skelter again?