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Inside Out: A Memoir of Entering and Breaking Out of a Minneapolis Political Cult
A gripping literary memoir of life inside an extremist political group.
368 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2002
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
March 16, 2020
This is a great first hand account of a little acknowledged subject, political cults. I picked it up because I was in one myself, the Lyndon LaRouche Presidential campaign. The political cult of this author was called The O. It was (still is?) a Maoist/Marxist spinoff from the radical left of the 1970s. Her memoir is a brave, honest account of how she got drawn in, mind controlled, and eventually reclaimed her self to walk out of that terrible thing. I ordered the book because I recently completed a memoir of my experience in the LaRouche cult, and wanted to compare with hers. Both of us were in our respective groups for about 10 years. A long time!!
I admire and esteem this author for her courage and self confidence to tell such a story. It helped me a lot, reading and relating to her experience under subversive mind control. In my experience of 11 years, from 20 to 31 years old, it never dawned on me once, until four months AFTER escaping the group, that I'd been in a cult!
I'm grateful that cult literature and documentaries are being published more widely as of late. The more we're aware of how cults operate, the less vulnerable our young people, but really all of us, will be to them, from spiritual/religious, personal growth, business, or political cults.
P.S. I'm now reading Steven Hassan's "Combatting Cult Mind Control," for the 2nd time. The first time I read it was in 2012, just a few months after breaking out from LaRouche. Had I not read the book then, I might never have realized I was in a cult!
I admire and esteem this author for her courage and self confidence to tell such a story. It helped me a lot, reading and relating to her experience under subversive mind control. In my experience of 11 years, from 20 to 31 years old, it never dawned on me once, until four months AFTER escaping the group, that I'd been in a cult!
I'm grateful that cult literature and documentaries are being published more widely as of late. The more we're aware of how cults operate, the less vulnerable our young people, but really all of us, will be to them, from spiritual/religious, personal growth, business, or political cults.
P.S. I'm now reading Steven Hassan's "Combatting Cult Mind Control," for the 2nd time. The first time I read it was in 2012, just a few months after breaking out from LaRouche. Had I not read the book then, I might never have realized I was in a cult!
July 16, 2018
This is an incredible book. You really can tell by the cover that this will not always a smooth or easy read. Nevertheless, it really sheds light on the time period. As someone who has worked for over 20 years in a co-op that started in the time period this book covers -- in a different city that had some similar issues -- it really gave me a deeper understanding of what the original members went through.
As someone who has also been a committed political activist at times, I could see where people could fall into the conclusions the author fell into and later regretted. I admit by the end I laughed in a few places I wasn't supposed to -- You can just leave! You don't need to write a manifesto to justify it! -- but I do get it. Trying to change the world for the better is hard and there are many traps along the way.
I think this book is a must-read for folks in the co-op world and people trying to understand the '70s/'80s political landscape.
As someone who has also been a committed political activist at times, I could see where people could fall into the conclusions the author fell into and later regretted. I admit by the end I laughed in a few places I wasn't supposed to -- You can just leave! You don't need to write a manifesto to justify it! -- but I do get it. Trying to change the world for the better is hard and there are many traps along the way.
I think this book is a must-read for folks in the co-op world and people trying to understand the '70s/'80s political landscape.
November 6, 2021
Unique experience, but her writing is super scattered. Like I’d read a few pages and get confused where in the story I was, or what I just read. Still, the O was very secretive and you won’t find much written about them. So I’d still recommend Inside Out if you’re looking for books about political cults.
January 10, 2023
It’s an interesting story about a Maoist group operating in Minneapolis, led by a shadowy figure who perhaps had his own (differing) agenda.
However, the writing is not great, and this was a tough read for that reason. Still, as a peek through the window at a mostly-still mysterious subculture, I’m glad I read it.
However, the writing is not great, and this was a tough read for that reason. Still, as a peek through the window at a mostly-still mysterious subculture, I’m glad I read it.
May 21, 2017
I really wanted to read this book and discover what it was like to live in and flee a cult. However, I found this to be a very difficult read. Not because of the subject matter but rather because the format and the writing were impossible for me to follow.
February 16, 2008
My brilliant friend, Dr. Stein, wrote this amazing memoir of entering and breaking out of a cult. Great first-hand account of the political turmoil of the 60s and 70s and the great passions of the people. Her adventures take us from London, to San Fran to Minneapolis. This book is timely in a post 9/11 environment: it makes significant contributions to the study of fanaticism, totalism, ideology, passion, and social psychology. Her book speaks to important issues such as the fragmentation of a postmodern world on individual and collective levels; after reading her work, it is not difficult to better understand how educated, passionate, intelligent, and fantastic people might get involved in cults. In an individualistic world that has us striving to be like everyone else via "self-improvement", Stein helps the reader to realize the cult-like organizations and possibilities around us everyday! Beautiful insight.
"Having experience, as many of us did, with, not only the counter-culture version of Maoism (as practiced by, for instance, having ten minutes of criticism-self-criticism at the end of every food co-op meeting, or women's group, or child-care collective meeting), but also having been politically weaned on women's consciousness-raising groups and other products of the women's movement, the assessment process fit well in the natural progression we were going through of trying to link the political with the personal." (p. 26).
"Having experience, as many of us did, with, not only the counter-culture version of Maoism (as practiced by, for instance, having ten minutes of criticism-self-criticism at the end of every food co-op meeting, or women's group, or child-care collective meeting), but also having been politically weaned on women's consciousness-raising groups and other products of the women's movement, the assessment process fit well in the natural progression we were going through of trying to link the political with the personal." (p. 26).
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews