AMY B. SISKIND received her Ph.D. in sociology from the Graduate Faculty of the New School for Social Research in 1995. She has published numerous articles and presented at many conferences on the topic of new religious movements, utopianism, and the phenomena of high control groups. Her works span the disciplines of sociology, psychology, and history. Siskind has taught at the State University of New York, Purchase, Hunter College, and New York University.