Destroying the World to Save It (Magill’s Literary Annual 1991-2005)
At a glance:
- Author: Robert Jay Lifton
- First Published: 1999
- Type of Work: Sociology and psychology
- Time of Work: The 1970’s to the 1990’s
- Setting: Japan
- Genres: Nonfiction, Sociology, Psychology
- Subjects: 1970’s, 1980’s, Cults, Terrorism or terrorists, 1990’s, End of the world, Japan or Japanese people, Psychiatry or psychiatrists
- Locales: Japan
On March 20, 1995, members of a Japanese religious cult called Aum Shinrikyo released deadly sarin gas at five Tokyo subway stops. Eleven commuters died in the attack and up to five thousand were injured, some becoming chronically ill. The killers acted at the direction of the cult’s leader and guru, Asahara Shoko, in the belief that they were initiating a chain of events that would lead to “Armageddon,” a final, world-destroying battle, after which Aum Shinrikyo would rule what was left of humanity on a regenerated, purified planet. Weeks later, the cult planted bags of cyanide...
[The entire page is 2270 words long]
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