Janja Lalich is a researcher, author, and educator specializing in self-sealing systems (cults, terrorist groups, situations of undue influence, and ideological extremism), with a particular focus on recruitment, indoctrination, and methods of influence and control. She is Professor Emerita of Sociology at California State University, Chico and has been studying the social psychology of controversial groups and exploitative and abusive relationships for thirty [...] publications include Take Back Your Life: Recovering from Cults and Abusive Relationships (Bay Tree Press 2006) and Bounded Choice: True Believers and Charismatic Cults (University of California Press 2004).

Karla McLaren is an award-winning author and social science researcher who grew up in a New Age healing cult in the San Francisco Bay Area. Her recent publications include The Art of Empathy: A Complete Guide to Life's Most Essential Skill (Sounds True 2013) and The Language of Emotions: What Your Feelings Are Trying to Tell You (Sounds True 2010).

1. We Weren't There by Choice: Meeting Our Narrators 2. The Transcendent Belief System: Purity, Perfection, and the Eradication of Individuality 3. Charismatic Authority: Exhilarating Vision, Electrifying Charisma, and Total Domination 4. Systems of Control: Official Rules, Formal Structures, and Webs of Authority 5. Systems of Influence: Social Pressures, Rigid Expectations, and Constant Manipulation 6. Landing on Mars: Finding Their Way in an Alien World 7. Surviving and Thriving: Trauma, Resilience, And Integration