The word 'cult' conjures a wide variety of images in the mind, from sinister hooded figures lurking in the shadows to strange symbols and ancient scriptures warning of Armageddon. But not all cults are like this. In fact most are outwardly friendly and welcoming, their members normal, well-meaning people in search of answers. However, their search for the truth can often lead people to being manipulated by leaders with darker intentions.

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Forget everything you think you know about Sweden. Anders Fager's stories reveal his native land as a place where dark and unimaginable things happen. Where deep in the woods grisly sacrifices are made to ancient and monstrous deities during blood-drenched orgies. Where two young people's road trip to visit their grandmother takes a turn for the bizarre and nightmarish. Where a woman's comfortable middle-class life is suddenly upended when her boyfriend...

An introduction to some of history's most noteworthy and notorious secret societies and underground cults includes profiles of Opus Dei, the Freemasons, and the Skull and Bones.

In The History of Cults, Robert Schroeder examines movements of the twentieth and twenty-first century in a historical and cultural context, tracing their existence back to the earliest days of mankind. Investigating the essence of their continued appeal with reference to the experiences of ex-members, along with profiles of their often enigmatic creators and leaders, he provides a compelling and sometimes disturbing insight into these mysterious...

Mystery. Manipulation. Murder. Cults are associated with all of these. But what really goes on inside them? More specifically, what goes on inside the minds of cult leaders and the people who join them? Based on the hit podcast Cults, this is essential reading for any true crime fan. Cults prey on the very attributes that make us human: our desire to belong; to find a deeper meaning in life; to live everyday with divine purpose. Their existence creates...

After the long period of cultural decline known as the Dark Ages, Europe experienced a rebirth of scholarship, art, literature, philosophy, and science and began to develop a vision of Western society that remains at the heart of Western civilization today.
By placing the image of the Virgin Mary at the center of their churches and their lives, medieval people exalted womanhood to a level unknown in any previous society. For the first time, men...

"Independent food historian Christina Ward's highly anticipated Holy Food explores the influence of mainstream to fringe religious beliefs on modern American food culture. Author Christina Ward unravels the numerous ways religious beliefs intersect with politics and economics and, of course, food to tell a different story of America. It's the story of true believers and charlatans, of idealists and visionaries, and of the everyday people who followed...

It is one of the most ancient, arcane, and, to some, embarrassing rites of the Roman Catholic Church. Yet the demand for exorcism--and trained exorcists--is booming. Foreign correspondent Tracy Wilkinson reveals how "devil detox" has become an industry, complete with international conventions and plenty of controversy. We meet Father Amorth, who has led a campaign to reestablish exorcism as a respected rite. Based on extensive interviews with Amorth,...