Mark E. Laxer

Mark Laxer’s quest to understand the bigger world landed him in the inner circle of a brilliant, charismatic guru gone mad. This culminated in a $30 million lawsuit and the publication of Take Me For A Ride: Coming of Age in a Destructive Cult (1993). Laxer continued the quest by writing The Monkey Bible (2010) which–with Eric Maring’s companion rock opera The Line–asks science, religion and mythology what it means to be human.

Laxer's third book--Rama Trauma Trump: I Left the Cult and Now Look What Happened--is the true graphic story of a young man who joins a spiritual group that starts out cool but gradually, over years, turns abusive. The young man leaves the group, tries to come to terms with the past, and years later is surprised to find that the larger culture looks an awful lot like the cult he had left. Ultimately, Rama Trauma Trump is the story of friendship and loyalty which transcends the mind-bending power of charismatic leaders.