Destroying the World to Save It is an examination of cults, specifically as they relate to terrorism and apocalyptic violence. A Booklist review states that “psychiatrist and National Book Award^-winner Lifton comes this astonishingly intimate portrait of Aum Shinrikyo, the Japanese cult that became world-famous when it released a nerve gas called sarin into the Tokyo subway. Lifton, who has written extensively both on Japan and on terrorism and genocide, interviewed former members of the cult, and his profile of Aum`s leader, the charismatic con man Shoko Asahara, is extremely detailed and rather creepy. But the book is much more than a story of a single cult. It`s an exploration of the idea of cults: how they grow, who joins them, who leads them.” More Reviews