From slogans to mantras : social protest and religious conversion in the late Vietnam War era

Description

Maintains that the failure of political activism led many former radicals to become involved in such groups as the Hare Krishnas, Scientology, Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church, the Jesus movement, and the Children of God, and argues that numerous activists turned from psychedelia and political activism to guru worship and spiritual quest both as a response to the failures of social protest and as a new means of achieving social change. [book cover] 1. Introduction: Defining a Generation 1 -- 2. Religion, Drugs, and the Question of Political Engagement 6 -- 3. Political Frustration and Religious Conversions 25 -- 4. Radical Rhetoric and Eastern Religions 44 -- 5. Conversions to Syncretic and Western Religions 94 -- 6. Conclusion: Mystical Antagonism and the Decline of Political Protest 151 -- Appendix Reexamining the Scholarship on Protesters' Religious Conversions 191.