At the next Friday Night Dialogues, author Spencer Schneider will discuss his new book, “Manhattan Cult Story: My Unbelievable True Story of Sex, Crimes, Chaos, and Survival.”
The program takes place Friday, November 18, at 7 PM in the library’s lower-level Community Room. Please use this link to register via the library’s online calendar.
Schneider is a practicing attorney, an ocean lifeguard, and a contributing writer for EAST Magazine. At its core, “Manhattan Cult Story” is a cautionary tale of how hundreds of well-educated, savvy, and prosperous New Yorkers became fervent followers of a brilliant but demented cult leader who posed as a teacher of ancient knowledge.
It’s about double lives, the power of group psychology, and how easy it is to be radicalized — all too relevant in today’s atmosphere of conspiracy and ideologue worship.
“We were invisible,” Schneider wrote. “We had to be. We took an oath of absolute secrecy. We never even told our immediate families who we were. We went about our lives in New York City. Just like you.
“We were your accountants, money managers, lawyers, executive recruiters, doctors. We owned your child’s private school and sold you your brownstone. But you’d never guess our secret lives, how we lived in a kind of silent terror and fervor. There were hundreds of us.”
Please attend what is sure to be an informative and eye-opening presentation.
Marie Bishko is a trustee of the Shelter Island Public Library.
