He documents this journey in his book “Escape: My Lifelong War Against Cults,” a thrilling read that’s also educational. It links half a century of mental manipulation, violence, and legal warfare waged by controversial totalistic movements.

Chapter after chapter details the similarities of cults and their megalomaniacal leaders. It’s revealing to see the same elements in Charles Manson’s “family,” the Symbionese Liberation Army, Synanon, Jim Jones’ Peoples Temple, Werner Erhard’s est, the Unification Church, Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh’s commune and even Scientology.

Many of these cults have their own version of forced abortions, extreme hours with little to no pay, sleep deprivation, and constant ego-smashing abuse combined with praise and reassurance. Also common are disconnection from families, and diabolical legal strategies intended to ruin reputations and cripple outside interference.

But Paul’s heroics have come at a steep price. In 1978, his fiancé left him out of fear for her children. And then 10 years ago, Paul was diagnosed with a serious blood disorder linked to rattlesnake venom. Paul’s forced to live on bi-monthly transfusions. (He jokes, “I’ve developed simpatico with Dracula.”)

In “Escape” Morantz skillfully traces Chinese leader Mao Tse-tung’s theories of brainwashing he used on his own people and also on American POWs during the Korean War. Paul lays the groundwork for showing how many controversial groups here at home, particularly those coming out of the 1960s human potential movement, shared the same ideas, methods and, all too often, the same tragic results.

“After my mother died eight months ago, my dad, being all alone, went to the elders in the congregation he attended to see if he’d be allowed to visit with me. They said that since I was his son, he could visit with me at his house. But he could not discuss religion - nor could he share a meal with me at the same table.”

“A study by the Rand research institute released in May found that fewer than half of employees at offices with wellness programs undergo clinical screenings and assessments, and less than than 20 percent take part in either weight loss or smoking cessation programs.

Employees who did head to the nearest gym or Prancercise track at their employer’s behest did lose weight—but only about a pound a year over the course of three years, Rand found. Those lackluster findings were bolstered by another study from the University of California, which showed that 'participating in work-based wellness programs does not lower blood pressure, blood sugar, or cholesterol and rarely leads to weight loss,' Reuters reported. And just 2 percent of the employers Rand surveyed had reported measurable cost savings through the programs.”

How many times must a child assure you it's O.K., as an unprovoked aside, before you understand someone's been repeatedly assuring them of it?

I hate when people lied to me as a child.

I hate watching them lie to other kids even more.

It's exploitation, and manipulation, pure and simple.

Leave the fucking kids out of it,...

"This seems to be a trend with teenagers that is far from healthy. They become obsessed and paranoid and can accuse people with very little evidence of being a reptilian."

"Five years ago I did think I would find that single yoga tradition. But yoga constantly transformed and developed over time. Although there are a couple of main goals, there's nothing that shows up in every single yoga path.

For some traditions it was heightened consciousness and an end to suffering, a way to get out of the cycle of birth, death and re-birth that is so painful. But for other yoga traditions some of the goals were things like supernatural powers and the ability to control other people."

Nobody ever joins a cult. One joins a nonprofit group that promotes green technology, animal rights, or transcendental meditation. One joins a yoga class or an entrepreneurial workshop. One begins practicing an Eastern religion that preaches peace and forbearance. The first rule of recruitment, writes Margaret Singer, the doyenne of cult scholarship, is that a recruit must never suspect he or she is being recruited. The second rule is that the cult must monopolize the recruit’s time. Therefore, in order to have any chance of rescuing a new acolyte, it is critical to act quickly. The problem is that family and friends, much like the new cult member, are often slow to admit the severity of the situation. “Clients usually don’t come to me until their daughter is already to-the-tits brainwashed,” says David Sullivan, a private investigator in San Francisco who specializes in cults. “By that point the success rate is very low.”

Private Investigator David Sullivan, who specialized in rescuing people out of cults, died October 11 in his San Francisco home at the age of 62, following a recurrence of cancer.