The Cult Controversy

This dated (1997) review of "cults" - a word we don't hear much anymore; from WashingtonPost.com makes for kind of interesting browsing. Some of the links are broken but it covers a lot of the familiar names, including -

L Ron Hubbard, Sun Myung Moon, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, Hare Krishnas, Charles Manson, Jim Jones, Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, The Posse Comitatus, Lyndon H. LaRouche Jr., David Koresh, Heaven's Gate and others.

I'm not sure what a cult is but for my money, if you want to read about the dangers of mass movements, a good book is The True Believer from the San Francisco Longshoreman Philospher Writer - Eric Hoffer.

Even if you don't give a hoot about mass movements, Eric Hoffer is a cool guy to learn about. No formal education and probably one of the wisest writers of the 20th century.