Violence involving alternative religions has long been a topic of intense public interest. This volume examines the famous incidents of murder and suicide concerning Jonestown, Heaven's Gate, AUM Shinrikyo, the Branch Davidians, and the Solar Temple, and other, less prominent new religions. It is difficult to imagine the serious study of New Religious Movement (NRMs) without the contributions of James R. Lewis...Most admirably, this volume refuses to posit a general theory of NRM-violence for one very good reason: the evidentiary field is simply too complex and thus resists a deceptively simple, monolithic interpretive/explanatory framework.