The Cult at the End of the World: The Terrifying Story of the Aum Doomsday Cult, from the Subways of Tokyo to the Nuclear Arsenals of Russia

Lots to learn here. Had Japan's culture( that included a guarantee that all of one's basic needs, [food , shelter, health care, etc]) be provided by the government, (not to mention other culture issues), the younger generation may not have been so bored with their existence, and may not have been so tempted to break the mold of drudgery that surrounded them. What a great lesson can be learned about policing new religions and ignoring complaints about their charismatic leaders, but only if the story is told in the proper light. We can barely remember the Subway Sarin Gas attacks (it's been twenty years), because only a handful of people died. The reality of the situation is that this Cult AUM could have killed more people than all of the kamikaze's of Pearl Harbor did. I gave this book 5 stars for the amount of research that it took to produce this work, as well as the closure it promises to those who get caught up in the electrifying chase. Very disturbing tale of the wrong brain with money to burn.

I was only a child when this happened, but I went off to Japan for eight years and five of them I spent in Asahara's home prefecture, Kumamoto. When I was an exchange student this was brought up in Japanese Religion class as well, so I wanted to learn more. This is an amazing book, some of it unbelievable, the things Aum Shinrikyo got away with. Truly fascinating. I also highly recommend the author David Kaplan's book, Yakuza.

*The Cult at the End of the World* brings back the transcendental eastern religion heyday of the ‘80’s when suddenly your friends and coworkers were seeking enlightenment with flavor of the day gurus. Most everyone around that time had their brushes with cultists of various degrees of hardcore. The Aum movement under Shoko Asahara reflects the horrific dark side of the dream. The biggest fear was bio/chemical warfare, which began in labs around the world as early as 1949. One leaves this book all the more suspicious about the Corona virus.~~~~~~~~“If Japan’s youth retreated into these far-out worlds, one could understand why. For many, there was nowhere else to go. Students spend 240 days at school. The emphasis is on following rules and on rote memorization. Students are not encouraged to analyze or challenge; questions are not asked in Japanese classrooms. They are there only to swallow facts and spit out answers like human computers.The system has helped breed a generation of nerds, of technically literate, highly knowledgeable young people who lack basic social skills and little understanding fo the world outside.”~~~~~~~~~~~~There are some 80,000 “made” members and associates of the yakuza—four times the size of the American Mafia.

Fascinating, although terrifying, read.

This is the story of a cult that came to possess more destructive power than any non state supported organization in history. It is terrifying to think of what they could have gotten away with in a little more time. Along the way they were assisted by some of the most capable and educated members of society. The Japanese police dropped the ball here. Of course, the Waco fiasco didn't help matters. Many believe the authorities have to back off whenever a religious organization is involved. Clearly it is not that simple. It is a shame many won't read this because it happened in far away Japan.Kaplan's writing style is not so gripping; hence four stars. But this is still a book that needs to be read by many more people around the world.

As several other reviewers have noted, this story is so strange that it would be impossible to believe if it were not true. It is the story of Shoko Asahara, nee Chizuo Matsumoto: a fat, possibly blind, hardscrabble con artist who somehow transforms his scam of the moment, the Aum Association of Mountain Wizards, to Aum Supreme Truth, a cult of tens of thousands of adherents worldwide who gave away their life's savings, and apparently all capacity of independent thought or moral judgment to this unlikeliest of messiahs.Murder, kidnapping, Nazi-like medical experimentation, drug taking, and sexual abuse follow. In a moment verging on parody Asahara declares that the world is threatened by a conspiracy that includes the Jews, Bill Clinton, the Queen of England and Madonna. Mr. Asahara, please meet Mr. LaRouche and Mr. Bin Laden.This alone would be awful enough, but Asahara had truly global ambitions: first to stage a coup d'etat in his native Japan, and then initiate an Armageddon that would destroy the world. For these purposes he penetrated nearly every Japanese public institution including the army and the police and set about obtaining by hook or crook weapons of mass destruction: chemicals, biological agents, nuclear weapons, and - I kid you not -- death rays.Asahara's scheme would culminate in Aum's poison gas attack on the Tokyo subway system that killed 14 and injured thousands more. Asahara was eventually apprehended and as of October 2001 his trial continues to drag on. Aum continues to exist in Japan, though with a much smaller membership, much smaller coffers, and one hopes a much smaller capacity for inflicting mayhem.This book is disturbing on its own terms; it is particularly disturbing in light of the events of September 11: Asahara succeeded to a frightening extent and he had huge disadvantages relative to what Al Qaeda must possess today. Rather that working from an established religion and the resentments of potentially millions of adherents, Asahara had to invent theology on the fly and recruit his following from scratch. Moreover he had to constantly fund raise to keep his group in operation: he had no family wealth or network of contributors to fall back on. Finally, and most importantly, while the Japanese police certainly come off as incompetent in this telling, Asahara had no state support, indeed had to constantly deal with legal harassment and threats. It is truly frightening to think about how far he got given the obstacles he faced and how far someone equally charismatic and diabolical could go if dealt a better hand of cards.The only reason I don't give this book 5 stars is that I didn't feel that it ever got into the heads of the Aum adherents. But given how strange this story is, perhaps that is asking too much of any author.

Book came in great condition. A fascinating read with many additional rarely reported details that complete personal research. At times tough to stomach it, there is just about nothing left to imagination and any questions one might have get answered.Only issue is the publication date (1996) which causes for a couple of small parts to be incomplete it flat out wrong, which doesn’t affect the general story though