Includes bibliographical references (p. 90-97) and index.

Cults are prone to crime and violence / Robert L. Snow -- Cults are no more violent than other religious groups / David G. Bromley and J. Gordon Melton -- Cults brainwash their members / Margaret Thaler Singer -- Mass suicide can be the logical outcome of a cults religious belief / Dereck Daschke and W. Michael Ashcraft -- Authorities provoke some cult mass deaths / William Norman Grigg -- Cults are corruptions of legitimate religions / Ron Rhodes -- Anti-cult laws are a threat to religious freedom / Moira Shaw -- Anti-cult prejudice denies minority religions a fair hearing / James R. Lewis -- Cults foster us-versus-them attitudes / Arthur J. Deikman -- The threat of a cult depends on the observer's worldview / Eugene V. Gallagher.