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World Famous Cults and Fanatics
Dangerous madmen or divinely inspired prophets? From murdering religious sects like the Assassins and the Thugs, to the orgies of the little known Khlysty and the self-mutilations of the Skloptzi; including modern day killers like the vicious Manson Family and the violent racism of the Ku Klux Klan - this book shows how cults and fanatics had such a powerful effect on the world.
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First published January 1, 2004
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About the author
Colin Wilson
516 books1,278 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.
Colin Henry Wilson was born and raised in Leicester, England, U.K. He left school at 16, worked in factories and various occupations, and read in his spare time. When Wilson was 24, Gollancz published The Outsider (1956) which examines the role of the social 'outsider' in seminal works of various key literary and cultural figures. These include Albert Camus, Jean-Paul Sartre, Ernest Hemingway, Hermann Hesse, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, William James, T. E. Lawrence, Vaslav Nijinsky and Vincent Van Gogh and Wilson discusses his perception of Social alienation in their work. The book was a best seller and helped popularize existentialism in Britain. Critical praise though, was short-lived and Wilson was soon widely criticized.
Wilson's works after The Outsider focused on positive aspects of human psychology, such as peak experiences and the narrowness of consciousness. He admired the humanistic psychologist Abraham Maslow and corresponded with him. Wilson wrote The War Against Sleep: The Philosophy of Gurdjieff on the life, work and philosophy of G. I. Gurdjieff and an accessible introduction to the Greek-Armenian mystic in 1980. He argues throughout his work that the existentialist focus on defeat or nausea is only a partial representation of reality and that there is no particular reason for accepting it. Wilson views normal, everyday consciousness buffeted by the moment, as "blinkered" and argues that it should not be accepted as showing us the truth about reality. This blinkering has some evolutionary advantages in that it stops us from being completely immersed in wonder, or in the huge stream of events, and hence unable to act. However, to live properly we need to access more than this everyday consciousness. Wilson believes that our peak experiences of joy and meaningfulness are as real as our experiences of angst and, since we are more fully alive at these moments, they are more real. These experiences can be cultivated through concentration, paying attention, relaxation and certain types of work.
Colin Henry Wilson was born and raised in Leicester, England, U.K. He left school at 16, worked in factories and various occupations, and read in his spare time. When Wilson was 24, Gollancz published The Outsider (1956) which examines the role of the social 'outsider' in seminal works of various key literary and cultural figures. These include Albert Camus, Jean-Paul Sartre, Ernest Hemingway, Hermann Hesse, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, William James, T. E. Lawrence, Vaslav Nijinsky and Vincent Van Gogh and Wilson discusses his perception of Social alienation in their work. The book was a best seller and helped popularize existentialism in Britain. Critical praise though, was short-lived and Wilson was soon widely criticized.
Wilson's works after The Outsider focused on positive aspects of human psychology, such as peak experiences and the narrowness of consciousness. He admired the humanistic psychologist Abraham Maslow and corresponded with him. Wilson wrote The War Against Sleep: The Philosophy of Gurdjieff on the life, work and philosophy of G. I. Gurdjieff and an accessible introduction to the Greek-Armenian mystic in 1980. He argues throughout his work that the existentialist focus on defeat or nausea is only a partial representation of reality and that there is no particular reason for accepting it. Wilson views normal, everyday consciousness buffeted by the moment, as "blinkered" and argues that it should not be accepted as showing us the truth about reality. This blinkering has some evolutionary advantages in that it stops us from being completely immersed in wonder, or in the huge stream of events, and hence unable to act. However, to live properly we need to access more than this everyday consciousness. Wilson believes that our peak experiences of joy and meaningfulness are as real as our experiences of angst and, since we are more fully alive at these moments, they are more real. These experiences can be cultivated through concentration, paying attention, relaxation and certain types of work.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
March 25, 2019
Fascinating how the book covers cults from almost all regions of the world.
The problem, however, is the monotonous narrative that bombards the reader with so much information that it starts becoming boring after a point. I forgot most of what I had read before even reaching halfway through the book.
The problem, however, is the monotonous narrative that bombards the reader with so much information that it starts becoming boring after a point. I forgot most of what I had read before even reaching halfway through the book.
January 15, 2017
The rest of this review, if needed is at [
NMR
]: First of all, let me stress, that the book is on sects, cults, and (mostly just) fanatics. Not, say, cultures, societies (e.g. Illuminati, Masons, etc.), even though they have been touched upon, and left me with a nasty taste of continuity lack. Second, authors took either lesser known stories, or those on which we have too much anecdotal facts. And third – the book seems to be concentrated on three spots on the whole wide Earth, somehow, thus leaving it very small, very narrow, and very lacking.
August 21, 2015
Meh.
It was kinda nostalgic in that I would have read this when I was like 11, but this is nothing I'd recommend to anyone. It was ok. No Jonestown. Kinda weird to leave that out. I did learn about some new things, but I'm not exactly willing to trust this author's research or conclusions. He wavers between some token skepticism and gullibility.
It was kinda nostalgic in that I would have read this when I was like 11, but this is nothing I'd recommend to anyone. It was ok. No Jonestown. Kinda weird to leave that out. I did learn about some new things, but I'm not exactly willing to trust this author's research or conclusions. He wavers between some token skepticism and gullibility.
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October 24, 20134 stars. Find my review at BookLikes: http://LittleMissProcrastination.book...
April 25, 2017
Not at all as insightful is i was hoping.
February 22, 2022
I don't know whether to blame the author or the editor, but this book is poorly written (or edited, with many spelling and date mistakes) and leaves out multiple important cults, sects and details (for example: one fleeting mention of Jonestown, one Scientology reference, nothing on Heaven's Gate.) There's no reference section at all leaving me to question the integrity of some of the author's facts. Would not recommend, there are definitely better reference books out there and they're not hard to find.
June 23, 2020
Madness! Madness! Madness
October 16, 2016
This wasn't what I expected. For some reason, I expected a book that was well-researched and comprehensively covered the topic, rather than essentially descriptions of some cults and people with religious delusions. The style reminded me of some of the Reader's Digest books I loved as a kid, e.g. Almanac of the Uncanny or Strange Stories, Amazing Facts.
There are no citations, so it's not possible to verify any of the information. The chapter ordering is strange and disjointed.
I'm sure some of the information is true, but I assume not much. The book doesn't include some notable cults like People's Temple (Jonestown), Scientology , Rajneeshpuram (Orange People), Order of the Solar Temple, and Heaven's Gate.
It was lacking information on why the people featured believe that they're the messiah, and why others follow them -- e.g. what has led to these beliefs in terms of mental disorders, personal experiences and such. Some of the stories had this background information, but the book would have benefited from an well-researched, overarching introduction and conclusion that explains why cults and fanatics exist and can flourish or self-destruct.
There are no citations, so it's not possible to verify any of the information. The chapter ordering is strange and disjointed.
I'm sure some of the information is true, but I assume not much. The book doesn't include some notable cults like People's Temple (Jonestown), Scientology , Rajneeshpuram (Orange People), Order of the Solar Temple, and Heaven's Gate.
It was lacking information on why the people featured believe that they're the messiah, and why others follow them -- e.g. what has led to these beliefs in terms of mental disorders, personal experiences and such. Some of the stories had this background information, but the book would have benefited from an well-researched, overarching introduction and conclusion that explains why cults and fanatics exist and can flourish or self-destruct.
April 25, 2011
If it hadn't been written by Colin Wilson I wouldn't have chosen to read it, but it was interesting to find out about various people who've pretended to be Messiah's over time and be amazed at the things they've persuaded their followers to do. Colin's usual skeptical investigative style is always amusing to read, but there was too much mutilation, murder and real life horror for my liking.
June 23, 2014
Subject matter was interesting although not particularly well written. I was enjoying the chapter on Nicolae Ceaucescu when it suddenly ended and the next paragraph was about David Koresh, so there was some major problem when this book was being put together. On searching through the entire book, i was not too impressed to discover that the second half of the chapter was nowhere at all!
July 31, 2017
Really interesting, brief history.
August 5, 2011
World Famous Cults and Fanatics
January 20, 2014
An interesting overview over cults - mainly messianic ones - through the ages.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews