Rest in Peace, Robert J. Lifton

Esther Ruth Friedman
Oct 6
1 min read

Last month, the world lost pre-eminent cultic studies scholar, Robert J Lifton. Shortly after I stumbled out of my mom & pop cult, I stumbled onto his book, Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism: A Study of “Brainwashing” in China.

Lifton interviewed Westerners imprisoned in Chinese Re-education camps during the Korean War. He outlined the sophisticated Communist indoctrination processes. I still remember realizing that “school”, the mom & pop cult of my misadventure, checked every box. My notes are scrawled on margins throughout, including this one:

A page from Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism by Robert J. Lifton

That was in 2011. As you can see, I’ve rifled through that book a few times. So, I post this to thank Dr. Lifton for his work. It changed my life. If you want to understand cults and coercion, I highly recommend Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism: A Study of “Brainwashing” in China. It’s not a beach read, but worth slogging through.