Bad Moon Rising: How Reverend Moon Created the Washington Times, Seduced the Religious Right, and Built an American Kingdom [Hardcover]

John Gorenfeld (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 2008

What does it say about American politics when a famous 1970s cult leader publishes a Washington newspaper, dresses up in the U.S. Senate offices like King George III, and no one in D.C. seems to care? One night in 2004, at one of Washington's most outrageous dinner parties, members of Congress bought a shining crown and robes to a billionaire mystery man who calls himself the True Father: the Reverend Moon, sushi mogul, conservative philanthropist, and publisher of the right-wing Washington Times. After Salon.com journalist John Gorenfeld broke the story of Moon's  coronation, the New York Times compared the scandal to an act of the Roman emperor Caligula.
 
Now, in a witty work of investigative journalism (as featured on NPR), Gorenfeld explores the rest of the saga--the fascinating, absurd and politically-embarrassing story of U.S. politicians who jet-set with Moon. A cultural icon of the 1970s, Moon was once associated with mass weddings and parents who hired deprogrammers to seize their children from him. But as Gorenfeld discovers in telling the stories of people caught up in his world, Moon has long been the best-kept secret of the Right--despite naming himself Messiah and making megalomaniacal speeches better suited to Marvel Comics than Politico. Join the author on an arresting journey into 40 years of political decline, told through the saga of Moon and his shameless relationships with an all-star cast of GOP celebrities, ranging from Richard Nixon to George H.W. Bush, and from Jerry Falwell to Pat Boone.


"Bad Moon Rising is stunningly good. Stylish, exquisitely researched, and morally courageous, it reveals corruption to a depth and breadth unimagined by mere novelists."

-- Rick Perlstein, author of Before the Storm: Barry Goldwater and the Unmaking of the American Consensus


"A creepy kleptocratic tale of perverse messianic delusion and amoral Washington elitists that would be utterly unbelievable if not for the fact that it's all horrifyingly, ridiculously true."

-- Ken Layne, Gawker


"Most of the press has treated Sun Myung Moon as an entertaining eccentric, overlooking the consequences of his widening reach into the corridors of power in thae United States. John Gorenfeld has produced a book that explains--cogently and persuasively--why we need to seriously consider the Rev. Moon's broadening influence and its implications."

-- Dennis B. Roddy, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette


"The kind of fierce, uncompromising journalism that always matters in a world of ruthless phonies." 

-- Tony Norman, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette


"an excellent new expose...If Don DeLillo had taken a lot of acid and grown a funny bone before he wrote Mao II, this is the book he might have written. What's scary is that it's true. Gorenfeld isn't a sensationalizer; indeed, with material such as Moon provides, he can more than afford understatement."

-- Jeff Sharlet, The Revealer

Editorial Reviews

Review

"an excellent new expose...If Don DeLillo had taken a lot of acid and grown a funny bone before he wrote Mao II, this is the book he might have written. What's scary is that it's true. Gorenfeld isn't a sensationalizer; indeed, with material such as Moon provides, he can more than afford understatement.”

Jeff Sharlet, The Revealer, 3/25/08

From the Author

My first book was an ordeal. After I broke a big story for Salon.com about crazy people dressing up in costumes on Capitol Hill, I was approached by Manhattan publishers and book agents. Hilariously, I spent years trying to be Jon Ronson (the guy who writes about absurd situations) only to be marketed, when I finally found a publisher, like Alex Jones (the guy who warns people about sinister masterminds.) Nevertheless, the inside is still pretty good. I say check it out!

-John

p.s. It makes me sad when conspiracy-minded Amazon reviewers claim I was trying to expose "forces trying to gain control over our democracy." :(

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 329 pages
• Publisher: PoliPointPress; 1st edition (March 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0979482232
• ISBN-13: 978-0979482236
• Product Dimensions: 1.1 x 6.3 x 8.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #244,638 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

John Gorenfeld is a Bay Area writer whose work has shown up in Salon, the London Guardian, Radar and other magazines. He has written about everything from North Korean monster movies to fugitive dot-com criminals.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 32 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Things you didn't want to know March 25, 2008

By Katrs

Format:Hardcover

This is an excellent and well written book. The facts and details are well researched. It's the kind of book that makes you wish you could bury your head in the sand. There are couple of slow parts but that's to be expected in a book that has to layout some detail and background information. It's well worth the time and money spent just to have an understanding of the inner workings and failings of our political system and how greed can create a whole flock of silent sheep.

32 of 41 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The Pied Piper of Pusan March 31, 2008

By Gordon Neufeld

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

When looking to explain the ascendancy of the paleo-conservatives in U.S. politics, few commentators have remarked upon the sinister and seminal influence of the enigmatic and unfathomably wealthy Sun Myung Moon. Who else has the resources to unflinchingly lose billions on a newspaper, The Washington Times, merely to champion conservative causes, in the teeth of all evidence and in defiance of all flagrant hypocrisy? John Gorenfeld in Bad Moon Rising chronicles the rise of a pseudo-Messiah to the point of fooling a brace of senators and congressmen into crowning him "King of Peace" at the Senate Dirksen Building in 2004, in a wide-ranging account that moves back and forth from Moon's early years in Korea in the 1950s to his dotage claiming imaginary converts from among the ranks of dead U.S. presidents.

This is the story of a man who would not be deterred, even by his failure to live up to his own teachings, from aspiring to the title of "King of Kings" and leader of all the world. The fact that he must make this claim by subterfuge, by staging events that appear to mean one thing to the general public but another to his own disciples, means little to him. Appearances are all to this would-be Messiah.

If I was to fault this important book in any way, it would be for minor errors of fact. I was a member of Moon's Unification Church from 1976 to 1986, so I know what I'm talking about. In particular, Gorenfeld's claim on page 13, which he repeats on page 75, that the American branch of the Unification Church reached a "one-time peak of thirty thousand members" is simply untrue. The 30,000 figure was a goal that I often heard the members being urged to attain in the late 1970s, when achieving that level of membership was considered crucial to Moon's success in America.... When this goal could not be reached, members took to claiming that it had anyway by including people who had merely attended a Moon-inspired lecture or shown mild interest in the ideas of the "True Father". In truth, even at its peak, the Moon movement likely never exceeded 5,000 full-time, committed members in America.

Another reviewer has complained of the confusing structure of this account, which moves associatively from personality to personaltiy, instead of providing a meticulously chronological record of Moon's rise, fall and (seeming) resurrection. This structure, which works well enough in a magazine article, is indeed confusing in the context of a book. On the other hand, there are 53 pages of notes, which more than answers the claim that the text is insufficiently annotated.

These are quibbles. This book deserves 5 stars because it exposes the heinous influence of a rarely acknowledged foreign influence upon American politics -- one which has provided bottomless cash contributions to conservative causes, and which has in consequence helped to puff up the hubris of the George W. Bush presidency to the point where it may fairly be likened to the Roman imperium.

This is not to say, however, that Moon and his organization actually control any one American political party; Mr. Gorenfeld makes no such claim. Rather, he points out that Moon's enormous wealth has been used to shift the American political dialogue sharply to the right compared with where it stood in the early 1970s. This rightward shift in American politics has occurred without Moon having to give direct orders to any one politician and without his controlling any one political party. It should be added that in recent years the Washington Times has declined in influence because of a schism among the elderly Moon's sons, two of whom are vying to control his movement in the light of Moon's senescence and probable impending death. Nevertheless, the rightward shift in American politics that Moon helped to finance will continue as his most dubious legacy long after he himself has mercifully expired. Read more ›

21 of 28 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Such an important book - and a very good read March 22, 2008

By Christina O'Connell

Format:Hardcover

It's so important for us to understand the forces seeking and gaining control over our democracy - and Moon is certainly one of the more dangerous ones. Gorenfeld has not only done extensive research, he's pulled it all together in a page-turning, great read.

From the Washington Times to the sushi we eat, Moon has so much influence - it's time we knew what his operation was all about.

Thanks you Mr. Gorenfeld for doing some real journalism!

20 of 27 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Brilliant exposition of Sun Myung Moon's obsessive drive for Power March 20, 2008

By Allen Tate Wood

Format:Hardcover

John Gorenfeld may well be this generation of journalists Ishmael. He clearly and authoritatively documents the motives, techniques and extent of Moon's unquenchable drive for power.

The story he tells weaves together many of the hidden or overlooked elements of the right wing's abysmal march to dominion over the congress, the executive and the judiciary. He reveals Moon as the pimp, apologist and handmaiden of unbridled executive power.

The compelling leit-motif to this gigantic
tour de force is the seemingly endless ranks of politicians, bureaucrats, ministers, priests, rabbis, celebrities and ex presidents who have somehow
wound up dancing along with Moon as he heards us all toward the cliff. Hats off to John Gorenfeld!!! Bravo!!!

11 of 15 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Money talks... June 10, 2008

By Phelps Gates VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

I had thought Rev. Moon was old news, long forgotten since his disgrace and prison term. But he's still at it, and livelier than ever! And rolling in money, which he liberally hands out (mostly to right-wing politicians). Gorenfeld examines the rather murky sources of his money, which isn't from US kids selling flowers any more. It seems to come largely from Japanese widows who are buying their husbands out of hell (really!). And he gives a lot of attention to who's getting it. As an NPR producer told the author, politicians are all whores, but I hadn't realized the extent to which preachers were, too (Jerry Falwell got several million from this guy). The accounts of Moon's coronation in Washington, with politicians in attendance, and of his endorsements by 36 former US presidents (from the "spirit world") are jaw-dropping and would be hard to believe if they weren't available right on the Moon web sites themselves!

My only quibble with the book is that it could stand some editing: some sentences are garbled, and there are minor errors of fact (Inchon! grossed $5.2 million, not $5200, for example). But it's a book that deserves a lot more attention than it's been getting. The corruption Moon generates with his money is absolutely staggering (he's sunk a billion dollars into the Washington Times so far).

10 of 14 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Important But Disorganized August 22, 2008

By Stephen Tashiro

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

Important But Disorganized

The interest and importance of the information in John Gorenfeld's book "Bad Moon Rising" rates five stars out of five. The way this information is organized rates about one star. Gorenfeld is a skilled writer of sentences and paragraphs but there is little detectable structure to the book. It jumps from topic to topic and back and forth in time. The same incidents are re-described here and there in various chapters. The punctuation " * * * " appears every few pages to separate various sections, but how one section relates to another is usually not clear.

I speculate that a reader with certain skills and proclivities would enjoy the book. Such a reader would have on the tip of his tongue the names many politicians, religious leaders, and journalists. He would also enjoy (or at least have objectivity about) criticism of prominent conservative personalities. To a reader with those prerequisites, the book would be like hearing juicy gossip about people that he already knows. The jumping around from victim to victim and year to year would not be so distracting.

The information in the book is fascinating. A summary is this: Reverend Moon and his Unification Church espouse beliefs and practices that are repulsive, amusing and bizarre to any person who holds traditional conservative religious or political beliefs. Organizations controlled by Moon have been convicted of tax evasion (for which Moon himself served prison time in the USA) and fraud (e.g. in Japan, certain spiritual mediums convince eldery widows that their dead husbands wish them to make contributions to Rev. Moon's organizations). Yet many conservative political figures and journalists accept money from organizations controlled by Rev.... Moon and associate themselves with the activities of those organizations. The Unification Church seeks to influence the US media. It controls the UPI wire service (not to be confused with the API wire service). Moon also controls the Washington Times newspaper ( not to be confused with the Washington Post or New York Times newspapers). Fox News commentators sometimes cite articles from the Washington Times.

A reader who does not have the patience to put up with Gorenfeld's chaotic presentation can nevertheless enjoy browsing the book and marveling at the claims of Rev. Moon and his followers.
A brief sampling of these is:

1. Jesus failed in his mission to save mankind and Rev. Moon is the Messiah who will accomplish this mission. Hence it is not correct for Christians to use the cross a symbol of their faith since this symbolizes failure. Instead, they should use a crown, which symbolizes Rev. Moon.

2. Children should look to Rev. Moon as their "True Parent" instead of being loyal to their birth parents.

3. The secular governments of the nations of the world should be replaced with governments run by followers of Rev. Moon.

4. It right to lie for a good cause and God tells lies.

5. Through a human medium, thirtysix dead US presidents have issued statements from beyond the grave that support Rev. Moon.

6. Rev. Moon interceded to get Hitler out of hell.

7. Men should punish their penises every day by using pliers to cut the skin a little bit.

Gorenfeld does not attribute Moon's influence on certain conservatives to any sort of vast conspiracy on the part of conservatives. The Unification Church and its front organizations select prominent conservative figures as allies in preference to selecting liberals. One historical reason for this trend is that Rev. Moon is nominally a staunch anti-communist. The number of conservative politicians, journalists and religious leaders who have some association with the Unification Church is not proof that liberals are morally superior. It merely shows that liberals are less often targets.

The relationships that public figures have with the Unification Church can take many forms. Some possiblities are:

1. The person may tricked into giving a boilerplate endorsement of Moon via a front organization. (e.g. After Dwight Eisenhour left Office, he was wiling to hear a group of child singers called "The Little Angels". When the group wished him to meet with a "special guest", the guest turned out to be Rev. Moon.)

2. Front organizations of Rev. Moon may give unsolicited help to the person (e.g. pro-Nixon demonstrations) and then expect a return favor.

3. The person my give a boilerplate endorsement of Moon in order to obtain money from his organizations. Such a person may understand what he is doing but rationalize it by thinking that he is tricking the Unification Church. The person may feel that the Unification Church is too wacky to be a political threat to government and may ignore the harm done by its cult activities.

4. The person may give substantial endorsements and assistance to Moon in an actual quid pro quo arrangement.

Gorenfeld presents the observable facts about particular public figures (e.g. George H. W. Bush, Jerry Falwell). It is left to the reader to infer how each public figure manages his relationship with Rev. Moon. Although the book is disorganized, it does have an index. It also has "notes by pages" in an appendix (rather than numbered footnotes within the text).

There is some truth to a cliche such as "Every US citizen should read this book from cover to cover". However, as civic duties go, this would be an onerous one. Read more ›