Robert Jay Lifton has written over twenty books, including many seminal works in the field such as the National Book Award–winning "Death in Life: Survivors of Hiroshima" and "The Nazi Doctors." He has taught at Yale University, Harvard University, and the City University of New York.
In "Losing Reality: On Cults, Cultism, and the Mindset of Political and Religious Zealotry" he proposes a radical idea: that the psychological relationship between extremist political movements and fanatical religious cults may be much closer than anyone thought. Exploring the most extreme manifestations of human zealotry, Lifton highlights an array of leaders who have sought the control of human minds and the ownership of reality.
