In the first in-depth research of its kind, sociologist and cult expert Janja Lalich, Ph.D. interviewed 65 individuals who were born in or grew up in 39 different cultic groups spanning more than a dozen countries. What’s especially interesting is that they each left the cult on their own, without outside help or internal support. This research is now being written up in a new book entitled Escaping Utopia: Growing Up in a Cult, Getting Out, and Starting Over, to be published in 2017 by Routledge. Lalich and award-winning author (and fellow cult survivor) Karla McLaren, M.Ed. craft Lalich’s original and groundbreaking research into an accessible and engaging book, the first of its kind focusing on this particular population. Lalich and McLaren explore fundamental questions about human nature, human development, group dynamics, abuse and control, and the triumphs of the human spirit in the face of intense and extended suffering.
