The word "cult" conjures up different images and brings to mind far too many names to ever fully list.

The goal of some cult leaders was wealth and power, while others were after comfort or sex. The darkest and most notorious cults and their leaders sought to spread their evil messages through violence and mass murder, through war and genocidal acts. From the Thuggee cult that inspired the term "thug" to the brown shirts of Germany who would become the most destructive cult of all time, the Nazis.

The cults and cults leaders covered in this book are:

• The rise and fall of Tony Alamo and his church, the Alamo Christian Foundation.
• The infamous Japanese doomsday cult, Aum Shinrikyo, and its leader Shoko Asahara. They used nerve gas in the subways of Tokyo to execute a horrific domestic terror attacks on March 20, 1995.
• Ervil LeBaron was a Mormon fundamentalist cult leader who orders killings by blood atonement, which is allowed in the religion.
• Marshall Applewhite and his Heaven's Gate cult engaged in a chilling act of mass suicide.
• NXIVM is among one of the most fascinating cults out there. It pandered to wanna be's and used multi-level marketing tactics to recruit. Money, sex, and power were the goals of the cult's leader Keith Raniere.
• The Order of the Solar Temple cult is a well known cult in Europe. In America, though, the stories of this nefarious cult is not well known at all. The cult was run by Joseph Di Mambro and Luc Jouret. This doomsday cult ultimately ended in murder and suicide, as many of them do.
• The Thuggee. Remember the cold-hearted, human sacrificing cult from the Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom? Well, the assassins you saw really existed - and they go down in history as the most notorious, cold-hearted, and dreaded thug group to ever exist.
• David Koresh, born under the name Vernon Wayne Howell, was a cult leader. He was the leader of the Branch Davidians, and he claimed he was a prophet. The end for this false prophet would come in fire and murder in a place just outside of Waco, Texas.

When people think of the Nazis, Adolph Hitler, and the Holocaust are often the first thoughts to come to mind. While Hitler organized this cult of oppression and murder, its roots started somewhat earlier. The more we know about this death cult, the more likely the world will be to avoid similar tragedies in the future. In the end, Hitler may be the prototype for all cult leaders and his achievements the darkest dreams come to life of most of them. His Nazi cult the definition of the word hate. Hitler's name has become an abomination, mention only to damn those who would attempt to walk in is blood stained footsteps.