"Charlene Edge has written a brilliant and engrossing warning to the future by dissecting the past. ... What she exposes to bright liberating daylight is just how our political and religious worlds actually function based on the mesmerizing enticement of belonging to an "in-group." -Frank Schaeffer, author of Crazy for God: How I Grew Up as One of the Elect, Helped Found the Religious Right, and Lived to Take All (or Almost All) of It Back "A magnificently written life story that sheds light on the enticing ways of cult recruitment and indoctrination ... Undertow will sweep you away." -Janja Lalich, PhD, Professor Emerita of Sociology at California State University, Chico. Author of Bounded Choice: True Believers and Charismatic Cults "This thoughtful, beautifully-written memoir is a window into the gradual but compelling pull cults have on unsuspecting and well-meaning people of faith ..." -Todd French, PhD, Assistant Professor of Religion at Rollins College "... Edge's heartfelt and earnest journey will leave you in awe of what the human spirit can conquer when it launches out in the search for truth. Well-written, compelling, and inspiring." -Kristen Skedgell, author of Losing the Way "How could a smart woman join a cult that asked of her everything, and took her all in the process? ... you'll find yourself wanting to reach into the pages to pull the author out of harm's way. ... There is something in this book for anyone who has ever wholeheartedly embraced a questionable theology." -Susan Campbell, author of Dating Jesus: A Story of Fundamentalism, Feminism, and the American Girl "Undertow is a gift to young people and their families who want to understand the inner workings of fundamentalist cults." -Steve Muratore, publisher of award-winning political blog the Arizona Eagletarian "Edge's heartfelt and heartbreaking memoir takes us behind the scenes to reveal how easily a handful of religious charlatans betrayed the trust placed in their hands. ..." -Robert Ruff, Emmy Award-winning television news producer "A fascinating insider's account of day-to-day life inside a cult ... with its endless sacrifices, compromises, and increasingly convoluted doublethink ..." -Arthur Goldwag, author of Cults, Conspiracies, and Secret Societies "Charlene Edge writes with clarity and sensitivity. This memoir on her experiences in The Way International will help readers understand the subtleties and complexities of cultic groups." -Michael D. Langone, PhD, Executive Director of the International Cultic Studies Association "This well-written exposé of life in a Christian fundamentalist cult reads like a novel and portrays, in lucid detail, how the author was seduced into joining the cult. ... she helps us understand how she lived with the founder's fantasies for seventeen years of her life. ... how she got out is as illuminating as how she got in. It is a must read." -Rita Bornstein, PhD, President Emerita of Rollins College, author of Legitimacy in the Academic Presidency: From Entrance to Exit "A tenderly written, intensely personal narrative about being swallowed alive by a cult. Edge's encounters with the abusive Victor Paul Wierwille and her firsthand observation of how The Way's Research Department twisted the Scriptures are enlightening and chilling." -Karl Kahler, author of The Cult That Snapped: A Journey Into The Way International "With balance and grace, Edge gives the reader a compelling portrait of the group's leader and his fraught relationship with his followers that stands as a warning beacon to all those drawn to charismatic prophets and their high-demand communities." -Phillip Charles Lucas, PhD, Professor of Religious Studies at Stetson University, co-editor with Thomas Robbins of New Religious Movements in the Twenty-First Century
