The Oracle's Daughter: The Rise and Fall of an American Cult

Summary

“Terrifying, gripping, all true. I couldn’t put it down.” —Stephen King

“Excellent…told with rare sensitivity…Hill is an extremely skilled writer, and his conscientious, measured reporting is a gift…The immediacy with which Hill portrays [his subjects’] conflicted longings gives the book the propulsive feel of a novel.” —The New York Times Book Review

A “deeply compelling” (Booklist) chronicle of the rise and fall of a woman-led cult—and the enduring allure of extremism across America’s turbulent religious history.

On a cool fall night in 1999, twenty-six-year-old Sarah Green crept out of her house, retrieved a backpack from its hiding place, and ran for her life. She was escaping not just the Aggressive Christianity Missions Training Corps, a paramilitary religious cult based in the New Mexico desert, but also the cruelty of the cult’s leader—her mother, Deborah.

In this “incredible new book” (CrimeReads), Harrison Hill traces the “extraordinary” twists and turns (NPR) of the group’s development, from its early days as an outgrowth of the 1960s counterculture, through its descent into conspiracy-fueled abuse, to the explosive trial that would lead to its downfall. The Oracle’s Daughter is the story of three women—Deborah, the group’s founder and self-proclaimed oracle; Maura, one of its first members; and Sarah, Deborah’s daughter—bound together by a punitive, baroque set of radical beliefs and practices, including exorcism, kidnapping, and the horrific mistreatment of those who fell out of the leaders’ favor.

Though ACMTC was radical in its beliefs and deprivations, its history provides a window into the broader sweep of American faith. The Oracle’s Daughter also explores the fascinating world of cults—and gives “a bracing sense of how mainstream the fringe can get” (Oprah Daily).