The best ex-JW books - and what made them unique... (page 2)

rebel8

I did. It was very painful and took me years to suppress my vomit reflex enough to do it. I was a little worried I'd have homicidal ideation, but I didn't (just a lot of anger).

OnTheWayOut

CoC is about the best when it comes to doctrine. While I loved ISOCF, Ray's second book, most will find it heavy in doctrine and only those that need to read it will do so.

CAPTIVES OF A CONCEPT does an excellent job of sticking to logic and not getting bogged down on doctrine. But its not a personal story.

Kyria Abrahams' I'M PERFECT, YOU'RE DOOMED was a personal story without really touching doctrine except to show how silly it was.

You really have to figure out what your own way is, then don't worry about what else is out there.

Oh, I loved I'M PERFECT ... so much (you either love it or hate it) that I threw out my unfinished work laden with doctrine and started all over with a personal story that explained some of the JW ways without touching doctrines or beliefs.

Paralipomenon

I enjoyed the first half of "I'm perfect..." but the second half lost it's lighthearted feel and starting to feel like depressing rambling. It felt that halfway through the author lost her composure and the hurt she felt became impossible to contain to keep with narative concistency.

One book on my list to read is The Spanking Room. Also, I've never read Combatting Cult Mind Control, I know, I know, it is a staple for any ex-witness to read but the topic doesn't really appeal to me at this time. The Witnesses in my life have made it clear they don't want to talk to me, so there's nothing to combat.

Band on the Run

Unless someone else defects from the GB and is a family member of Freddie Franz, duplicating Franz is difficult. I learned so many things that were always secret. If the history and beliefs are documented already, I would enjoy reading a very personal book about the person's experience, what motivated them to leave, adventures on the path to leaving, and what life is like now.

I could never do a Ray Franz b/c I would just hammer out how looney they are. Franz is tough competition. A companiion to Franz' work would be nice.

My two cents.

FatFreek 2005

Hi Cedars,

As I type, I'm looking at my copy of William J. Schnell's "30 Years a Watch-Tower Slave". I bought it not long ago for $2.95 and it is the abridged edition.

Schell was born in 1905 and attended his last kingdom hall meeting in 1954. While I haven't read his entire account, thanks (in part) to his caustic rhetoric he seems credible on the whole and relates valuable insider information for the 1920's thru the 1940's. I suspect that Ray Franz kept his focus on being empathetic to the reader, factual, and objective partly because of Schnell.

I still intend on finishing the book.

Back in the day, his book was the one to be left on the bookstore or library shelves as he was considered as "evil slave" -- equivalent in those days to the apostate in ours.

Len

binadub

I have thought about writing a book to try to convey to average people what it is like to be a half-way intelligent person, yet swayed to believe incredible things, such as the firm belief we held in my pre-1975 JW past that WE were never going to die. WE were going to make the Earth a paradise.

One of the most valuable things I took away from my JW experience is knowing personally what it is like to seriously believe incredible doctrines. It gives me a greater understanding (or at least I perceive it to be) of things like why a nation of people might follow a leader like Hitler or even Bin Laaden.

On this forum, years ago, I quoted some excerpts from Hassan's Combatting Cult Mind Control, which I thought were very apt for comparing to Jehovah's Witnesses. I forewarned readers before I started quoting that "remember, this is not about Jehovah's Witness, it's about the Moonies." But the apologists still didn't remember that and tried to rebut the quotes as if I were applying them to JWs? It was most interesting. I even responded, "Who's talking about Jehovah's Witnesses?" I have to admit, the comparisons were indisputable. If you're trying to reach JWs who won't read "apostate" literature, I highly recommend giving them a copy of Combatting Cult Mind Control.

Penton's second edition of Apocalypse Delayed was published in 1997. And btw, he posts on the Channel C forum if anyone is interested in discussion with him or would like to get a copy of his book.

~Binadub

Vanderhoven7

In my Library I have:

CoC, ISoCF by R. Franz

Apocalypse Delayed by James Penton

Index of WT Errors / JWs Answered Verse by Verse by David Reed

Sign of the Last Days/ The Gentile Times Reconsidered by Carl Jonsson

The Orwellian World of Jehovah's Witnesses by Gary Botting

Jehovah's Witnesses and Prophetic Speculation by Edmund Gruss

Witnesses of Jehovah by Leonard Chretien

Good News For Jehovah's Witnesses (unpublished as yet)

cedars

Thanks everyone. The overall consensus seems to be that it's important to strike the right balance in a number of areas, most notably between personal narrative / doctrine, light-hearted / gloomy, identifiable for JWs / accessible to the public. I like the point made my binadub that, if written correctly, such a book can convey to the ordinary person how easy it is to be made to believe extraordinary things.

I don't think I can ever live up to Ray's books, but that doesn't mean I can't reference them, along with many other excellent works that are mentioned above, and tie in the significance of fairly recent developments in the Society's history. For example, the Society's blood doctrine has undergone significant changes since many of these books were written, and in researching the issue of child abuse I've noticed the Society are treading more carefully in that area - but still not yielding on crucial issues (i.e. the two witness rule / informing the authorities straight away).

In any case, it looks like I have a fairly long shopping list of books to buy before I break ground. You're certainly giving me plenty of ideas for which direction to take though...

Cedars

slimboyfat

The Orwellian World of Jehovah's Witnesses is an excellent book. It made me realise just how much your freedom is restricted as a Jehovah's Witness, your freedom of thought as much as freedom of action. It has weaknesses but overall its point is well made.

But in general I enjoyed books by non-JW academics more, such as Trumpet of Prophecy by sociologist James Beckford and the book by anthropologist Andrew Holden.

The best ex-JW books - and what made them unique...

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