1993 Outer Rim Press Copyright 1993 by Mark E. Laxer

No part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without written permission from the publisher, unless the intent is to benefit humankind.

Reviews:

“While his portrait of a charismatic leader’s slide into madness is gripping, perhaps more important here is Laxer’s disclosure of some of the motives impelling young people to immerse themselves in cults the work is well written.”
--Library Journal

“This is a very important work It is today’s Darkness at Noon.”
--Herb Rosedale, President, American Family Foundation

“One of the most important books written for a very vulnerable population.”
--Roberta Davis, WRCT-FM, Squirrel Hill, Pittsburgh

“Mark Laxer does a great service in his deeply personal portrayal of life within a cult. His struggle to attain independence is a poignant quest of a seeking spirit.”
--Jacob Longacre, Lutheran Minister

“All students of human nature will delight in Mark Laxer’s insightful story of his personal journey into a new kind of American cult that interweaves pseudo-spiritual goals with money making, computer, hi-technology ambitions. He shows us the subtle techniques used to seduce bright college students and graduates into this cult and the powerful forces that bind members to their charismatic leader. My students have enjoyed the narrative and learned much from this analysis of the psychology of cult indoctrination in Take Me For A Ride.”
--Dr. Philip Zimbardo, Stanford University, Initiator of the Stanford Prison Experiment

Update:

After weathering a $30 million lawsuit meant to silence his “Take Me For A Ride: Coming of Age in a Destructive Cult” (1993), Mark Laxer went on to write “The Monkey Bible” (2010) with companion rock opera “The Line” by Eric Maring and “Rama Trauma Trump: I Left the Cult and Now Look What Happened” (2020) - a nonfiction graphic novel illustrated by Marcie Vallette. Contact author for free digital copies of aforementioned books and rock opera.

Additional resources:

Grateful acknowledgment is made to Simon & Schuster, Inc., for permission to reprint an excerpt from Gandhi: A Memoir by William Shirer. Copyright (c) 1979 by William Shirer.

Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 93-085777
ISBN 0-9638108-3-9
Initially printed and posted in the United States of America