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Heartbreak and Rage: Ten Years Under Sun Myung Moon

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This in one of three best books I've ever read. Heartbreak and Rage details the 10 year journey of one man's experience in the Unification Church. For me, the book elicited a range of emotions. Neufeld brings the reader face to face to with the inner workings of the UC that only someone deeply involved with the church could provide. Other authors can provide an overview of the UC based on research and interviews with ex-members. Neufeld, due to his experience in the UC, provides insights that few others could.

I bought this book looking for knowledge of how the UC operated and how it's use of mind control techniques contributed to increasing its membership. This book certainly provided that. However, Neufeld is able to take this story a step further. Not only is this a story about the Unification Church, it is a story about one's man's search for an identity, his search for self worth. Neufeld becomes the hero of his own story. As I eagerly devoured page after page, I "rooted" for Neufeld to rise up out of the depths of the years of mind control he had been subjected to and defeat (by leaving) the evil Unification Church. This is the true story of this book. Is this the story of Neufeld's quest to free himself from the grips of a totalistic organization and reclaim his life.

If you're looking for a straight, encyclopedic description of how the UC operates, a book like Kingdom of the Cults would better suit you. If you're looking for the story of one man's triumph against a quasi-religious corporation, then Heartbreak and Rage is an excellent choice. I highly recommend this book. I've never written a review on Amazon before because I've never read anything that I felt strongly enough to write about. That was until I read this book. I read the entire book in one day. And when I got to the last, page I wanted more. Stories don't get told and books don't get written much better than Heartbreak and Rage.

Although this book is a memoir, it reads more like an excellent novel. Gordon Neufeld was an intelligent, caring young man who sought relief from the ache of low self-esteem and the longing for a deep love relationship. He was lured into accepting an offer of a free dinner, then cornered into one activity after another, each designed to indoctrinate unsuspecting young men and women into the "Moonies". Even his ability to question the validity of Moon's doctrine was insufficient protection from the devices of the cult. His is a story of good intentions that were so manipulated and exploited that his kindness effectively became his undoing, as he was forced to the extremes of servitude while Moon lived in luxury. Neufeld effectively de-mystifies how a bright young man could be transformed into a cult-minded cog in a very warped machine. So insidious was his indoctrination that I, for one, am greatly relieved that I never had the misfortune of meeting up with the "Moonies", since any young man or woman-- especially one who is seeking truth and meaning-- would be vulnerable to their lies.

I highly recommend this book to all those who are concerned with educating themselves or others about cult indoctrination; knowing cult methods would certainly be useful to those who wish to protect themselves from such "innocent" devices as casual dinners and invitations to lectures. I also recommend it as engaging reading for anyone who enjoys a novel, as there is a surprising love story entwined with a fast-paced account of his nearly constant travels, and the engrossing narrative of his internal struggle. Neufeld is a gifted writer with a past well worth reading.

Books by ex-cult members are interesting (and I've read a fair number) because they seem to disclose the whole story of someone's odyssey into a world that is unfamiliar to most of its readers - in fact, a world most of us can't comprehend, which is why we read these stories in the first place. We ask, how can someone get involved in a religion such as the Unification Church, which demands such complete obedience from its members? How do they give up their families? How can people fundraise and witness for years on end? Most notoriously, how can Unification Church members follow the teachings of the church on celibacy and marriage, even surrendering one's own personal preference and choice for a marriage partner?

That's about as far as most books by ex-cult members get. That is, anti-cult narratives settle for disclosing life in the cult, without honestly telling the story of the individual writing the story, usually by paying little attention to it or avoiding it completely. There might be a little drama about exactly how the person will leave the religion, though of course we know how the story will turn out. But, really, there's much more story to be told, and that's what's unique about Heartbreak and Rage. I mean, I had a hard time beginning to read the book because the title alone so openly expressed much of the turmoil of the author's own relationship with the Unification Church. And while the book naturally tells about the church and the author's experience in it, it also tells about the author's own growth in self-understanding. To me, that was the more interesting part, and should make us wonder just how much was left out of some of those other ex-cult books that sum up everything so neatly for their readers.

The conclusion of Heartbreak and Rage doesn't just conveniently replace the absence of the Unification Church with a mainstream religion, or some other acceptable way of showing the author's successful departure from the Unification Church, and his return to life outside the church. No, life is complex, which Heartbreak and Rage shows by concluding that the meaning for its writer is writing itself. So the end of the book suggests that life after an experience such as the Unification Church isn't a simple, comfortable, safe transition home, but the beginning of a further, more meaningful, even more intense odyssey.

If you've ever wondered how a person gets caught up in a cult, if you've ever thought it couldn't happen to you, Heartbreak and Rage takes you along on the journey. Rather than being a dissertation after the fact, this memoir is the journey into a cult and back out again, in 'real time'. As I read I found myself caught up in the exhaustion, the uncertainty, the relentless pace that the author lived during those years. The story unfolds without telegraphing the future, and though intellectually we know the author frees himself from the cult (as he wrote the book), emotionally the memoir takes you deep into the experience, where his escape seems unlikely. The details in the memoir are stunning, the interiors of Moonie landscapes (from converted barns, to New York Hotels) across America and even to the U.K., to insider information of the cult itself, and the emotional experience of the author. Did you ever wonder what happens to the couples you saw on news stories in the mass weddings arranged by Sun Myung Moon? The author deals honestly with his experience with his arranged "wife". A fascinating book, well written, and well worth reading.

A thorough and honest look into the recruitment, conversion, day-to-day (exhausting) lifestyle, and the slow, painful walk away from total devotion to the Unification Church. Gordon Neufeld makes it easy to understand how one is recruited and how difficult it is to ever succeed inside a coercive group. He showed incredible perseverance and willingness to be a faithful follower but the group refused to see its foibles and change. Throughout the book one can see how the group pressure to conform and perform left followers too exhausted and with too little self-esteem to object. Mr. Neufeld introduces mind control and provides a brief description.

As a Moonie myself for 14 years, from 1971 until 1985, I can vouch for the honesty and accuracy of Gordon's account of life in the Moonies. I found his account gripping and it brought up many memories for me, both good and bad. I came to believe that Moon is a charlatan, and represents an idea of God that is not one that I would want to worship. I still believe, however that everybody has a right to follow whatever religious belief they like regardless of how bizarre. My own years in the Moonies taught me many soul and life lessons and I would not have it any other way.

Thank you gordon for a very well written and honest account, which can only add to the sum of our understanding of human life and humanity's varied search for connection to spirit.

caroline aquala.

Wow! Heartbreak and Rage: Ten Years Under Sun Myung Moon by Gordon Neufeld is an incredible story! He gives a wonderful and honest account of his years as a Mooonie. I believe this book will help many, many people.

I have read dozens of stories of people's experiences in cults and counseled many more who are trying to exit. Regardless of the cult, each story has eerie similarities. The love bombing, gentle cohersion, information control and commitment to some massive struggle to save the world. This story had all of those aspects, but it also included a glimpse into the personality traits underlying the author's struggle. A good read for anyone wanting to know the 'why' behind people's choice to join a cult.

As a former member of the Unification church and father to 4 kids born into the church, I want to thank Gordon for getting this information out to the public. Sun Myung Moon has not gone quietly into the night instead the abuse that both Gordon and I suffered through still exists. That same abuse and bizarre theology that teaches Moon is the true parent of mankind is now being taught to the 2nd geneation of the moonies. Some of these kids are leaving college or postponing their education to fundraise and witness to Moon. Some go as far away as Korea to attend 40 day workshops taught by this Korean shaman , who is supposed to be channeling some of Moon's dead relatives. I spent years getting my wife and children out of this sick organisation. Every minute was well spent.

Another important point is that Moon's influence in our nation's capitol is something Americans should be very concerned about.

Moon's activities, which include recently crowning himself "King of America" in a Senate office building is almost to surreal to believe. That he had a well known Senator reserve the room is equally disturbing.

Gordon paints the true Rev. Moon and how his church operates. I can testify that Gordon's observations are accurate.

The author chose the perfect title for his book. Also, it is very well written and detailed in its content. It's a sad state of affairs that a cult like Moon's has prospered as it has in the U.S.A. This, of course, can be attributed to his vast, and unexplained wealth that has given him tremendous influence within the Republican Party and among so-called Christian conservatives. It's time that someone in the federal government began asking questions about Moon's political connections and started following the Money Trail.