New Releases by Gordon Neufeld

Why would an aspiring young writer of fiction and poetry such as author K. Gordon Neufeld join an extreme religion like the Unification Church of the Reverend Sun Myung Moon? How did Neufeld''s involvement in this group impact his creative writing, and how did writing impact his involvement? After leaving the group, how did Neufeld process his experiences through creative writing? Finally, what value can writing have for other survivors of extreme religions? These are the questions this book explores, while providing samples of Neufeld''s creative writing from 1973 to 2013. The four questions are explored in a series of four academic papers presented at conferences of the International Cultic Studies Association. The sample writings range from highly intense personal reflections to zany and irreverent spoofs, and include many sensitive, thoughtful short stories and poems. This collection will be of interest to academics wanting to understand the psychological roots and effects of cultic involvement, and also to general readers who just want to read a good story.

NATIONAL BESTSELLER This parenting classic on one of the most disturbing and misunderstood trends of our time—peers replacing parents in the lives of children—is now more relevant than ever. The latest edition includes new material on how social media and video game culture are affecting our children, and what parents can do. In Hold On to Your Kids, Dr. Neufeld and Dr. Maté explore the phenomenon of peer orientation: the troubling tendency of children and youth to look to their peers for direction—for a sense of right and wrong, for values, identity and codes of behaviour. But peer orientation undermines family cohesion, poisons the school atmosphere, and fosters an aggressively hostile and sexualized youth culture. It provides a powerful explanation for schoolyard bullying and youth violence; it is an escalating trend that has never been adequately described or contested until Hold On to Your Kids. Once understood, it becomes self-evident—as do the solutions.

Mass weddings. Matching ceremonies where people meet their future spouses for the first time. Desperate flower-sellers approaching bar customers late at night. Isolated farms where young men and women are rapidly transformed into fanatical devotees of the Reverend Sun Myung Moon. All these are well-known aspects of life in the Unification Church, often called the "Moonies". In Heartbreak and Rage: Ten Years Under Sun Myung Moon, a Cult Survivor''s Memoir, K. Gordon Neufeld recalls his own participation in all of these events in a powerful and engrossing, and occasionally wistful and tender, memoir. Neufeld recounts his own rise in the ranks of the Unification Church to the position of a leader-in-training at the Unification Theological Seminary, a promotion that indirectly led to his growing disillusionment. Yet even when he found himself rejected by the woman Moon had chosen for his bride, and by the church to which he had been unswervingly dedicated, he refused to give up, but carried on until there was absolutely no way to continue. At last, demonstrating great courage, Neufeld broke free from his state of mental transfixion without the aid of deprogrammers. This is an unforgettable story of persistence, devotion, love and loss.