The Love Bombers

By Gloria D. Miklowitz

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0440949998
• ISBN13: 9780440949992
• Release Date: March 1982
• Publisher: Dell Pub Co
• Length: 199 Pages
• Weight: 0.35 lbs.

Customer Reviews

In Adam's Fall...

...we sinned all, as the popular passage in an early children's reader proclaims. Jenny, 17 and Jeremy, 18 are ten months apart and both have started college. Jeremy gets pulled away from his studies by the charismatic Father Adam and his cult. Called "love bombers" because of the initial stages of cult indoctrination involve showering potential members with love and postive strokes and affirmation, Jeremy falls prey to the group. Shy and lacking in esteem, the boy feels he has found his niche among the cult. Jenny fears the worst when Jeremy writes home, requesting that money be sent to him at an anonymous post office box. She tries to infiltrate the cult and, very nearly becomes a member as well. An excellent look at the psychology of cults and how people can be drawn into them. One character, Tom, somehow managed to keep from being indoctrinated by cult teachings and planned his escape. One cannot help but cheer his escape from the group. Tactics such as: - Love bombing, the initial stage. - Never leaving a new person alone at any time lest they might hear something that might keep them from joining the group. - Constant indoctrination of cult ideology all with the idea of keeping people from thinking, analyzing and assessing the information. If people are given time to stand back and analyze the group dynamics and ideologies, the likelihood of them joining decreases. - Taking personal possessions such as purses and keys from new members so they can't readily escape. - Twisting Scriptural passages to suit immediate purposes and always for personal gain. - Having an emissary speak for the group leader; chastising the group for selfishness and laying guilt trips on people. In this book, Father Adam wanted the group to sew a curtain. An emissary came to the party that was planned for Father Adam and he chided the Adamites for not thinking about "that poor, lonely man" who has given so much to this selfish group who thinks, "I did my part. I sewed my curtain. I brought in more new people." Margaret Peterson Haddix' book, "Leaving Fishers" is another excellent book about mind control; cults and the way cults operate.