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We Have the Stars: A Memoir
Remember the ‘Moonies’ selling flowers on the street in the '80s to raise money for the Reverend Moon’s Unification movement? I do. I was one of them. After my college roommate left me stuck with the rent, I moved into a group house run by the church and went on a spiritual quest that found me unexpectedly matched and married to a stranger in Madison Square Garden in 1982. But my spiritual quest had begun before I joined the movement and continues to extend beyond dogma. This story recounts a variety of unanticipated ventures during thirty-three years of involvement with the movement while exploring the boundaries of love over truth, and truth over convenience.
“Anyone who thinks s/he knows ‘how cults operate’ should read this book.”
—Eileen Barker, Professor Emeritus, London School of Economics, founder of INFORM, and author of The Making of a Brainwashing or Choice?
“Pam does not mince words, nor flinch. Finding one’s true self and destiny isn’t pretty or magical, and the path she is still on runs along cliff edges in the dark. Nobody's outcome is guaranteed; Goliath could have squashed David like a bug. My reader’s urge to have deep conversations with the author, with coffee, wine, encouragement and some shouting, is so very strong.”
—Larry Moffitt (no relation), Vice President of The Washington Times Foundation and author of Searching for Notes to my Younger Self
“We Have the Stars is gripping as a story, and its strong details put readers in the middle of a complex journey that jolts and surprises. Those details wrap the readers comfortably, changing what could be just another cult “I joined, I learned, I left,” into a memoir that explains the spiritual quest of the Moonies from a serious insider. It is compelling because this insider grew emotionally and spiritually while involved. Strict lifestyles, like chaste marriages, are presented with stylish writing akin to Barbara Kingsolver. Jolts and surprises take us past the spiritual aspects of the Moons, to a page-turning spiritual quest that morphs into multiple love stories.”
—Doug Stuber, editor of the series, Poems from the Heron Clan, author, and former professor at Chonnam National University in Gwangju, South Korea
This riveting autobiography follows multiple decades of the author’s life, with its intertwined threads of spirituality, love, and conflict. Engaging, enlightening and occasionally shocking, this exceptionally well-written work will immerse you in a number of intense emotional situations, and leave you wondering if you would have handled them with the same grace and fortitude as she did. Highly recommended.
—Keith Howells, Software Executive
“Anyone who thinks s/he knows ‘how cults operate’ should read this book.”
—Eileen Barker, Professor Emeritus, London School of Economics, founder of INFORM, and author of The Making of a Brainwashing or Choice?
“Pam does not mince words, nor flinch. Finding one’s true self and destiny isn’t pretty or magical, and the path she is still on runs along cliff edges in the dark. Nobody's outcome is guaranteed; Goliath could have squashed David like a bug. My reader’s urge to have deep conversations with the author, with coffee, wine, encouragement and some shouting, is so very strong.”
—Larry Moffitt (no relation), Vice President of The Washington Times Foundation and author of Searching for Notes to my Younger Self
“We Have the Stars is gripping as a story, and its strong details put readers in the middle of a complex journey that jolts and surprises. Those details wrap the readers comfortably, changing what could be just another cult “I joined, I learned, I left,” into a memoir that explains the spiritual quest of the Moonies from a serious insider. It is compelling because this insider grew emotionally and spiritually while involved. Strict lifestyles, like chaste marriages, are presented with stylish writing akin to Barbara Kingsolver. Jolts and surprises take us past the spiritual aspects of the Moons, to a page-turning spiritual quest that morphs into multiple love stories.”
—Doug Stuber, editor of the series, Poems from the Heron Clan, author, and former professor at Chonnam National University in Gwangju, South Korea
This riveting autobiography follows multiple decades of the author’s life, with its intertwined threads of spirituality, love, and conflict. Engaging, enlightening and occasionally shocking, this exceptionally well-written work will immerse you in a number of intense emotional situations, and leave you wondering if you would have handled them with the same grace and fortitude as she did. Highly recommended.
—Keith Howells, Software Executive
416 pages, Kindle Edition
Published November 27, 2023
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