Shoko Asahara was born Chizuo Matsumoto in Japan in 1955. He founded Aum Shinrikyo in 1995. The religious principals are a combination of several Eastern religions, and also some Christian elements. He referred to himself as a Christ and a Lamb of God, which I found to be really odd, given the beliefs of Eastern religions. This cult was a doomsday cult, only the end of the world would come in the form of nuclear devastation. He told his followers the world was going to end in 1997, which it clearly did not. He also said the United States would instigate a World War III, and of all the things he said, this one may be the only plausible one. They got up to a lot of shenanagins, including holding cult members against their will, creating disturbances, and even murdering one member who tried to leave. They created an assassination list for people who spoke against the cult and the members, which included members of the media and government. They tried to cause an anthrax problem by spraying anthrax spores all over the place, but it didn't work. The first major incident was the Matsumoto Incident, where the cult used sarin gas they manufactured to kill eight and injure over 500 more. Police only got one person for that attack, but this entire plot was finally brought to light after the more infamous 1995 Tokyo Subway Attack. In that incident, members released sarin gas into trains during rush hour. This wound up killing 13 people, seriously injuring 54 people, and affecting 980 more people in some way. They found all kinds of drugs and weapons in cult buildings after these attacks, which shouldn't have really been a shock. 17 cult members were convicted and sentenced to death, with the executions being carried out in 2018.

This book is on The Last Podcast On The Left reading list, so if you are following that list, or are a fan of that podcast, add this to your to be read list. The book was well researched, and offered a great deal of information about Aum Shinrikyo, Shoko Asahara, and the things they got up to. The cult was still active into the 2000's, changing the name and symbol. The current name is Aleph. I cannot believe that this cult is still active and was still having documented shenanagins going on as recently as 2019!! You would think they would have moved on after all this stuff happened and the founder and leader that was supposed to be the Christ, who was a clear scam artist, was put in prison and then executed, but they apparently are in really deep. The most recent attack in 2019 occurred when one of the members rammed a crowd of people with his car in retaliation for executions. This was a wild ride.