Ever since ancient times cults, with their religious faith and “chosen
way of life”, have generated debates, negative feelings, hatred even. As
intricate and puzzling as the people who create and adhere to them, it
is the social phenomena originating and accompanying their evolution
that still incite the responsible researcher. Our days have witnessed,
in relation to this or that cult, everything from astonishment,
repulsion, intrigued disbelief, amazement, social isolation, newspaper
headlines, to crimes, collective suicides, modern slavery, drugs, sex
and violence.For these few (and many more) obvious reasons, this latest
book on cults is in our opinion of great importance. Besides its rich
and well documented content, the book surprises with its multilateral
and enlightening approach, allowing the reader to understand the
present, as well as past cults in all their complexity.In our opinion,
the scholarly quality of its successive chapters qualify the book to be
one of the best recent works in that area of interest.Prof. Sorin
Alamoreanu, Ph.D.